CSV de ejemplo
| Department | Headcount |
|---|---|
| Engineering | 84 |
| Sales | 52 |
| Customer Support | 37 |
| Marketing | 29 |
| Finance | 18 |
| Operations | 15 |
How to Create a Bar Chart
A step by step walkthrough for turning a spreadsheet into a published bar chart in PlotSet, from shaping the sheet to exporting or embedding the finished chart.
Unos 6 minutosBy the end of this guide you will have a published, interactive bar chart built from your own spreadsheet: sorted, labelled, coloured on purpose, and either embedded on a page or exported as an image for a deck. Not a screenshot of someone else's example, your own categories and your own numbers, going through the same click path a real PlotSet chart takes from upload to publish.
If your spreadsheet is already in two columns, category and value, this takes about five minutes. Add ten more if you are still cleaning up a messier export: merging duplicate category names, deciding what to do with a stray blank row, or pulling one column out of a wider report. Budget the six minutes below and treat the rest as a buffer.
Los datos que necesitas
Two columns, one row per category: the category name first, the number second. No totals row, no merged cells, one header row.
Keep the category column as plain text. If a spreadsheet turns "Q1" or a department code into a date or a formula result, PlotSet will chart the underlying value, not the label you intended.
One number per category. If you are tracking a category across several time periods, that is a grouped or stacked bar chart, not this one: see the grouped bar chart guide for the extra column that setup needs.
Delete any totals or subtotals row before uploading. A "Total" row uploaded as data becomes a bar of its own, usually the tallest one, and throws off the sort.
Blank cells in the value column render as zero-length bars rather than being skipped. Fill them in or remove the row.
Los pasos
El camino exacto en PlotSet, desde una plantilla en blanco hasta el gráfico terminado.
- 01
Open the bar chart template
From the PlotSet dashboard, start a new project and choose the Bar Chart template. It loads with sample data already in place so you can see the exact column layout PlotSet expects before you touch your own file.
Todas las guías empiezan aquí. Elige la categoría y luego la plantilla. Es la misma cuadrícula sea cual sea el tipo de gráfico que busques. - 02
Shape your sheet into two columns
Put the category name in the first column and its number in the second, one row per category. If your source data is a pivot table or a report with subtotals, strip those out first: the upload should be nothing but categories and values.
- 03
Upload your file or connect a sheet
Use the data panel to import a CSV or .xlsx file, paste rows directly from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet if you want the chart to pick up edits later without a re-upload. PlotSet reads the first row as headers automatically.
La vista de datos, aquí en un proyecto de gráfico de barras. Sube un CSV, saca los números de una imagen con Magic Import o sincroniza una Google Sheet. El panel es el mismo en todos los tipos de gráfico. - 04
Map the category and value columns
Confirm which column feeds the category axis and which feeds the bar length. This is usually automatic when your headers are clear, but check it manually if your sheet has extra columns PlotSet might have guessed wrong on.
Las asignaciones deciden qué columna se convierte en la etiqueta, cuál aporta los valores y cuál define el color. Auto Binding las deduce de tus encabezados, así que revísalas en lugar de darlas por buenas. - 05
Sort the bars
Switch the sort to descending by value unless your categories already have a natural order, such as age brackets or survey ratings. A sorted chart shows the ranking at a glance; an unsorted one makes the reader hunt for it.
- 06
Add value labels and drop the gridlines
Turn on labels at the end of each bar so the exact number is readable without measuring against the axis. Once every bar carries its own number, the background gridlines are usually redundant and the chart reads cleaner without them.
- 07
Pick one colour and a title
With a single series, one consistent colour is correct: colour is not carrying any information here, so a rainbow of bar colours only adds visual noise. Save a second colour for a highlight if you want to draw attention to one specific bar. Add a chart title that states the comparison, not just the metric.
La pestaña Preview de un gráfico de tipo Bar Chart. Todos los controles de estilo están en el panel enmarcado: apariencia, encabezado, pie de página y las opciones propias de este tipo de gráfico, cada grupo en su propia pestaña. - 08
Publish, embed or export
Publish for a live, interactive chart with hover tooltips and a shareable link, grab the embed code to drop it into a page, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF if you need a static image for a deck or a report.
Empieza con la plantilla de Bar Chart, que ya trae datos de ejemplo cargados, y sustitúyelos por los tuyos.
Abrir la plantillaPublícalo, incrústalo o expórtalo
El último tramo es igual en todos los tipos de gráfico: Share convierte el gráfico en un enlace público en vivo y un código de incrustación, y Export lo guarda como un archivo estático.
Share: enlace público y código de incrustación
Al activar el código de incrustación y el enlace público, el gráfico queda publicado. El enlace se lo puedes enviar a cualquiera sin problema, y el código de incrustación se coloca en cualquier página como un iframe que conserva los tooltips al pasar el cursor y toda la interactividad. Si editas el gráfico más adelante, haz clic en Recreate para llevar esos cambios a ambos.
Export: SVG, PNG o JPG
Export guarda una copia estática en el tamaño que necesites. El SVG se mantiene nítido a cualquier escala y se puede seguir editando en una herramienta de diseño; PNG y JPG son la opción segura para diapositivas y documentos. El multiplicador de escala es lo que te da una imagen nítida en una pantalla retina.
Consejos de estilo para un Bar Chart
Horizontal bars for long category names
If your categories are anything longer than a short code, department names, product names, survey questions, keep the chart horizontal. Long labels get a full line each with no rotating or truncating, which is the main reason to reach for a bar chart over a column chart in the first place.
Start the value axis at zero, always
Bar length is the encoding, so a truncated axis exaggerates every gap on the chart. If you are tempted to zoom in on a narrow range of similar values, add value labels instead and leave the axis at zero.
Cap it around twenty five bars
Past roughly twenty five categories, a bar chart turns into a wall of thin lines nobody can compare. Filter to your top group (top 10, top N by region, whatever the story actually needs) and mention in the title or a caption that it is a subset.
Reserve colour for one comparison at a time
If you do need a second colour, use it for exactly one thing: the category you are calling out, or a threshold like "above target" versus "below target." Two colours used for one clear reason read better than four colours used for none.
Errores comunes al hacer un Bar Chart
The bars come in alphabetical order, not ranked
This means the sort setting is still on the default (usually by category, not by value). Open the sort control in the chart settings and switch it to sort by the value column, descending.
One bar is far taller than the rest for no obvious reason
Check the raw data for a totals or subtotals row that got uploaded along with the real categories. Delete that row from the source sheet and re-upload, or remove it directly in PlotSet's data table.
A category is missing or merged with another
This usually means two rows in the source spreadsheet had category names that differ only by trailing spaces, capitalization or a stray character. Clean the category column in your spreadsheet (a TRIM formula catches most of it) before re-uploading.
Aprende más sobre el Bar Chart
¿No estás seguro de que el Bar Chart sea la opción correcta? Descubre qué es, cuándo usarlo y cuándo no.
Bar Chart: preguntas frecuentes
Two columns and one header row: category names in the first column, one number per category in the second. CSV and .xlsx both work, and a pasted range from any spreadsheet tool is fine too.
Crea tu Bar Chart ahora
Gratis para empezar con más de 300 plantillas. No se necesita tarjeta de crédito.