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Overview of the Lines chart element.
Example Excel Spreadsheet
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Lines as a chart element
0:00
link different data points of
a data series to each other.
0:03
So staying in our COGS spreadsheet,
let's add some lines to the chart.
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Notice that there are still
keyboard shortcuts here,
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the letters that are underlined,
but I'm gonna use my mouse for now.
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So that's it.
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It's very easy to add lines to your chart.
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Lines are most commonly used
on stacked column charts.
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They help to highlight where
the large changes are occurring
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based on the slope of the different lines.
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So, here we can see the line above the raw
material section of the column chart
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is steeper than the line for
the tools section.
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So there's more of a change there.
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Similarly, from your two to three,
the line for
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the raw materials is not as
steep as it is for tools.
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So the change is larger for the tools cost
than it is for the raw materials cost.
0:59
I don't use lines very often.
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But when I do, I only use them for
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charts that have smaller time frames,
and here's why.
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Look what happens when you add lines to
a longer series, they kinda get lost.
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There is not as much quick takeaways and
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it really doesn't help
tell a story much better.
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So again, you're gonna have to
use your own judgement sometimes.
1:24
But my recommendation will be to not go
crazy with lines when you're working with
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larger time frames.
1:32
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