CSV de ejemplo
| Country | Life Expectancy 2000 | Life Expectancy 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 81.2 | 84.1 |
| United States | 76.6 | 79.3 |
| Brazil | 70.1 | 75.6 |
| Russia | 65.5 | 72.7 |
| India | 62.6 | 70.8 |
| Nigeria | 46.8 | 62.6 |
How to Create a Dumbbell Chart
A step by step walkthrough for turning two columns of before and after numbers into a published dumbbell chart in PlotSet, from shaping the sheet to exporting or embedding the result.
Unos 7 minutosTwo dots per category, joined by a line: that is how to create a dumbbell chart from your own spreadsheet, sorted by the size of the change and coloured so a reader can tell which dot is which, and either embedded on a page or exported as an image. Not a demo with placeholder rows, your own categories and your own two numbers, run through the same click path a published PlotSet chart takes.
If your data is already three columns, category and two values, this takes about seven minutes. Add a few more if your numbers are currently spread across two separate rows per category (a long format export) rather than sitting side by side, since that is the one reshape a dumbbell chart actually forces on you before it will draw a connector at all.
Los datos que necesitas
Three columns, one row per category: the category name, the first value, the second value. No separate rows for each value, one header row, and the two value column headers become the legend labels for the two dots.
Both values live on the same row. If your export has one row per country per year, a long or tidy format, pivot it into wide format first: one row per country, one column per year. PlotSet cannot pair rows across a stacked layout on its own.
Name the two value columns clearly, for example the actual years or state names rather than "Value 1" and "Value 2". PlotSet uses those header names for the dot legend, and vague headers make a vague legend.
Keep both value columns numeric. If either one has a stray unit, a percent sign or a currency symbol typed into the cell, PlotSet reads it as text and drops the row from the chart instead of plotting it.
A blank cell in either value column means that category has no second dot to connect. Fill it in with the real number or remove the row rather than leaving a half-drawn pair.
Los pasos
El camino exacto en PlotSet, desde una plantilla en blanco hasta el gráfico terminado.
- 01
Open the dumbbell chart template
From the PlotSet dashboard, start a new project and choose the Dumbbell Chart template, listed under connected dots. It loads with sample data already bound so you can see the exact three column layout before touching 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 category, value one, value two
One row per category, with both numbers on that same row. If you exported from a database or a BI tool, check now whether it came out long (one row per category per period) and pivot it wide before moving on.
- 03
Upload the file, or connect it live
Import a CSV or .xlsx file from the data panel, paste rows straight from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet so the chart can be refreshed later without a re-upload. PlotSet reads the first row as your column headers.
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 two value columns
Confirm which column feeds the category axis and which two feed the pair of dots. This is usually correct automatically when your headers are clear; check it by hand if your sheet carries extra columns PlotSet had to guess between.
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 by the size of the gap
Switch the sort from alphabetical to sort by difference, descending. This is the step that actually makes the chart useful: it turns a list of categories into a ranking of where the change was biggest, which is usually the real question your reader has.
- 06
Colour the two dots and pick a connector style
Give the first value and the second value clearly different colours, since telling the pair apart is the first thing a reader needs to do. If some categories rose while others fell, colour the connector by direction too, or a mixed chart reads as if everything moved the same way.
La pestaña Preview de un gráfico de tipo Dumbbell 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. - 07
Add gap labels and set the value axis
Turn on the difference label at the end of each connector so the exact change is readable without measuring. The value axis does not need to start at zero here, dots encode position rather than length, so you can trim it to the actual range of your data to make small gaps in large numbers visible.
- 08
Publish it, embed it, or export the pairs
Publish for a live, interactive chart where hovering a pair shows both values and the difference, grab the embed code for a page, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF if you need a static image for a deck.
Empieza con la plantilla de Dumbbell 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 Dumbbell Chart
Label the first and last row directly
A legend tells the reader which colour is which, but putting the actual value names, for example the two years, next to the top pair of dots means most readers never have to look for the legend at all.
Colour by direction when it flips
If some categories increased and others decreased, use one colour for connectors that went up and a second for connectors that went down. Otherwise a reader assumes every pair moved the same way, and about half the chart gets misread.
Trim the axis, but say so
Starting the value axis near your lowest value rather than at zero is normal for a dumbbell chart and makes small differences legible. If the range is genuinely tight, add a line in the caption noting the axis does not start at zero, since a reader skimming fast can otherwise misjudge scale.
Cap it around thirty categories
A dumbbell chart holds far more rows than a grouped bar chart before it gets unreadable, but past roughly thirty pairs the connectors start to blur together. Filter to the categories with the largest gaps and note in the title that it is a subset.
Errores comunes al hacer un Dumbbell Chart
The chart shows single dots with no connecting line
This almost always means the second value column came in as text rather than a number, often from a stray percent sign or currency symbol in a cell. Check the column's data type in PlotSet's data table and clean the raw values in your source sheet.
Both dots in every pair are the same colour
PlotSet defaulted the two value columns to a single series colour. Open the styling panel and assign the first and second value distinct colours, since a single colour turns the chart into an unlabelled range instead of a comparison.
The pairs will not line up after uploading
The source data is in long format, one row per category per value, instead of wide format with both values on the same row. Pivot the sheet so each category appears exactly once with two value columns, then re-upload.
Aprende más sobre el Dumbbell Chart
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Dumbbell Chart: preguntas frecuentes
Three columns and one header row: the category name, then two numeric value columns on the same row, such as a 2000 figure and a 2023 figure for each country. Long format data with a separate row per value needs to be pivoted wide first.
Crea tu Dumbbell Chart ahora
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