Exemple de CSV
| 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.
Environ 7 minutesTwo 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.
Les données dont vous avez besoin
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.
Les étapes
Le parcours exact dans PlotSet, d'un modèle vierge à un graphique terminé.
- 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.
Chaque guide commence ici. Choisissez la catégorie, puis le modèle : c'est la même grille quel que soit le type de graphique visé. - 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 vue données, ici sur un projet de graphique en barres. Importez un CSV, extrayez les chiffres d'une image avec 'Magic Import' ou synchronisez une Google Sheet. Le panneau est identique pour tous les types de graphique. - 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.
Les associations déterminent quelle colonne devient l'étiquette, laquelle fournit les valeurs et laquelle pilote la couleur. 'Auto Binding' les devine à partir de vos en-têtes : vérifiez-les plutôt que de les tenir pour acquises. - 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.
L'onglet 'Preview' pour un graphique Dumbbell Chart. Tous les réglages de style se trouvent dans le panneau entouré en rouge : apparence, en-tête, pied de page et les options propres à ce type de graphique, chacun dans un onglet distinct. - 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.
Partez du modèle Dumbbell Chart avec des données d'exemple déjà chargées, puis remplacez-les par les vôtres.
Ouvrir le modèlePublier, intégrer ou exporter
La dernière ligne droite est la même pour tous les types de graphique : 'Share' transforme le graphique en lien public actif et en code d'intégration, 'Export' l'enregistre sous forme de fichier statique.
Share : lien public et code d'intégration
Activer le code d'intégration et le lien public revient à publier le graphique. Le lien peut être envoyé à qui vous voulez sans risque, et le code d'intégration s'insère dans n'importe quelle page sous la forme d'une iframe qui conserve les infobulles au survol et l'interactivité. Si vous modifiez le graphique par la suite, cliquez sur 'Recreate' pour répercuter ces changements sur le lien comme sur le code.
Export : SVG, PNG ou JPG
Le bouton 'Export' génère une copie statique à la taille dont vous avez besoin. Le SVG reste net à toutes les échelles et peut encore être modifié dans un outil de design ; PNG et JPG sont les choix sûrs pour les présentations et les documents. C'est le multiplicateur d'échelle qui vous donne une image nette sur un écran retina.
Conseils de style pour 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.
Erreurs courantes en créant 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.
En savoir plus sur le Dumbbell Chart
Vous n'êtes pas sûr que le Dumbbell Chart soit le bon choix ? Découvrez ce que c'est, quand l'utiliser et quand l'éviter.
Dumbbell Chart : questions fréquentes
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.
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