Select B2:D8—the data you want in the chart. Include the header text so Excel can generate a legend automatically. Click Insert and then click Insert Column Or Bar Chart in the Charts group.

A bar chart is useful when you want to do a quick side-by-side comparison of categorical data (e.g., countries, colors, types of software, modes of transport, marital statuses).

In this post we show you how to create a Bar Graph or Column Chart in Excel. Bar graphs could be both 2-D or 3-D depending on the editor you use.

Open the Excel file containing the chart. Click a value in the chart’s vertical axis to select it. Right-click the selected vertical axis. Click Format Axis. Click the Fixed button for Minimum.