13.5 Charts for the Dashboard

By Ravindra Bagale Last updated: 25 September 2026

Steps in Excel

Click inside pvtTrend › PivotTable Analyze › Tools › PivotChart › Line. Cut (Ctrl + X) the chart and paste it on the Dashboard sheet.
Right-click any field button on the chart › Hide All Field Buttons on Chart – slicers will do the filtering.
From pvtCity insert a Clustered Bar (sorted largest on top: sort the pivot ascending, or tick Categories in reverse order on the axis).
From pvtCategory insert a Doughnut or a Bar (bar is easier to read when there are more than 4–5 categories – Module 8.12).
From pvtPlatform insert a 100% Stacked Bar or a small doughnut (Blinkit vs Amazon Now share).
For every chart: short title that states the insight ("Pune gives 37% of sales"), delete gridlines or make them light grey, add data labels only where needed, use one highlight colour.
Align charts: select several › Shape Format › Arrange › Align › Align Top and Distribute Horizontally. Hold Alt while dragging to snap to cell borders.

Worked example – which chart for which question.

Question	Pivot	Chart	Why
Are sales rising through the month? (Holi spike on 14-03-2026)	pvtTrend	Line	Trend over time
Which city sells most?	pvtCity	Bar, sorted	Easy ranking of 6 names
Which category drives sales?	pvtCategory	Bar	Many categories
Blinkit vs Amazon Now share	pvtPlatform	Doughnut (2 slices)	Part-of-whole, few parts

Pune's share = 18,42,500 ÷ 49,50,000 = 37.2%.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Khup students dashboard var 3D pie, shadow aani saglya rangancha vapar kartat – distat "colourful" pan kahich samajat nahi. Ekach highlight rang vapra (aapla green), baki grey, aani chart title madhe insight liha ("Pune gives 37% of sales"), fakt "Sales by City" nahi. Pivot Chart varche field buttons lapva, nahitar dashboard gondhalat distat.

Practice task

Create the four charts from the table above, place them in a 2 × 2 grid on the Dashboard sheet, align them with the Align tools and give each chart an insight title.