EDUCBA Logo

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Explore
    • EDUCBA Pro
    • PRO Bundles
    • Featured Skills
    • New & Trending
    • Fresh Entries
    • Finance
    • Data Science
    • Programming and Dev
    • Excel
    • Marketing
    • HR
    • PDP
    • VFX and Design
    • Project Management
    • Exam Prep
    • All Courses
  • Blog
  • Enterprise
  • Free Courses
  • Log in
  • Sign Up
Home Excel Excel Resources Excel Charts Dot Plots in Excel
 

Dot Plots in Excel

Madhuri Thakur
Article byMadhuri Thakur

Updated August 24, 2023

Dot Plots in Excel

 

 

Dot Plots in Excel (Table of Contents)
  • What is a Dot Plot?
  • Example of Dot Plots in Excel

Introduction to Dot Plots in Excel

It is said and scientifically proved that; the human brain is better at manipulating and interpreting dots relationships than the lines. Therefore, it is said that dot plots can be easier to understand than conventional bar charts or histograms. A dot plot allows viewing the relationship between two points more precisely than bar charts as well as it is flexible. It can also easily be read, comprising a better user understanding. Though there is no direct inclusion of dot plots under Excel and its different versions, you can still do it under Microsoft Excel with some amendments under conventional bar charts.

Watch our Demo Courses and Videos

Valuation, Hadoop, Excel, Mobile Apps, Web Development & many more.

What is a Dot Plot?

A dot plot is the same as a bar plot; however, the only difference is that the chart will have dots associated with data points contradicting column bars present under the bar chart. This chart plots the data points/series values as dots placed across different categories. These categories are usually plotted on X-axis.

This article will show how to create an Excel dot chart. Though we have conventional scatter plots added under Excel, those can not be considered dot plots.

Example of Dot Plots in Excel

Suppose we have month-wise sales values for four different years, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. We wanted to draw a dot plot based on this mentioned data.

You can download this Dot-Plots-Excel-Template here – Dot-Plots-Excel-Template

Dot plots in excel 1-1

We will first insert a 2-D Column bar chart on the first two rows of this data present. i.e., we will be inserting a graph on cells B1:E2. Follow the below step to insert a column chart based on the first two rows.

Step 1: Navigate to the Insert tab on the Excel ribbon and move toward the Charts section. Click on Insert Column or Bar Chart dropdown bar and select Clustered Column chart under the 2-D Column Chart section.

Dot plot in excel 1-2

You’ll see a graph, as shown in the screenshot below.

Dot plot in excel 1-3

As we wanted to create a chart with dots, removing all these bars for every year’s values is mandatory. We can’t remove the bars series directly; otherwise, our dot chart will get affected. Therefore, we will set the series values for these bars as zero so they are not visible under the chart. Follow the below step to do so.

Step 2: Right-click on the chart area and click on the Select Data option. It will open up a Select Data Source window where you can change the data source for Y-axis values, a.k.a. Legend Entries (Series) and X-axis categories, a.k.a. Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels.

Dot plots in excel 1-4

Step 3: Click on the Edit button under the Legend Entries (Series) option; you’ll see all the values we previously selected while creating the chart.

Dot plot in excel 1-5

Dot plot in excel 1-6

Step 4: Under Series values: option inside Edit Series, change the values to 0,0,0,0 for all four columns. As discussed above, this will negate the column bars appearing on the chart.

Series Value 1

Once you press OK twice after setting the series values to zero, you’ll be able to see no column bars in the chart. See the screenshot below.

column bars

Now, we will update this chart into a dot chart with the combination of a column chart & scatter chart. However, we must decide on spacing for four years of data as it is mandatory while creating the dot chart. This spacing is nothing but the distance in units, allowing the dot chart to be separate from each other. I will choose spacings 1, 2, 3, and 4 for four years. This means all the dot charts associated with four years will be at 1 unit distance from each other. This spacing can be changed per your requirement, and it is totally up to you to decide this.

Step 5: Again, click on the Select Data option and click the Add button under Legend Entries (Series) to add some series values.

Select Data Source

Step 6: Mention the Series name as cell A1 (Where the year 2016 is marked) and the series value as 1 under the Edit Series window.

Edit Series 1

Your graph will look as shown in the screenshot below.

Edit Series 2

Step 7: Now, we will use the combo of a scatter plot along with a Bar chart. Right-click on the graph area and choose the Change Chart Type option.

Change Chart type

Step 8: Select the Combo chart option under the Change Chart Type window and change the chart type as a scatter plot for the series added. See the screenshot below.

Change Chart type 1

After hitting the OK button, you can see the chart below.

Chart Title

Step 9: Now, you again have to go to Select Data and click on the Edit button for series 2016 under Legend Entries (Series)

Select Data Source 1-1

Step 10: Inside the Edit Series window, change the reference of the series name to A1 (2016); the reference for series x values should be the spacing column with the unit as 1 (column E). Concern for series Y values as sales for the year 2016. See the screenshot below for a better understanding.

Chart title 2

Step 11: Press the OK key two times, and you can see a graph changed to a dot plot, as shown below.

Chart title 2

Step 12: Follow the same procedure from Step 9 to Step 11 for 2017, 2018, and 2019 with spacings 2,3 and 4 (columns F, G, and H, respectively) to add the sales values for these years on the chart. After adding the values for this year’s sales, the final chart layout should be like the screenshot below.

Dot Plot

Note that I have changed the color of the dot series in the graph. You can choose your custom colors while creating one under the format series or design options.

This is how we can create dot plots in Excel. The article ends here. We will see some points to remember about the Excel dot plot.

Things to Remember

  • There is no built-in option for Dot Plot available in any version of Microsoft Excel. However, you can create this graph with the help of a combination of a simple bar chart and a scatter chart.
  • Scatter Plot cannot be directly considered a Dot Plot though it has dots within.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Dot Plots in Excel. Here we discuss How to create Dot Plots in Excel, practical examples, and a downloadable Excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

  1. Plots in Excel
  2. Box and Whisker Plot in Excel
  3. Contour Plots in Excel
  4. Excel 3D Plot

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Follow us!
  • EDUCBA FacebookEDUCBA TwitterEDUCBA LinkedINEDUCBA Instagram
  • EDUCBA YoutubeEDUCBA CourseraEDUCBA Udemy
APPS
EDUCBA Android AppEDUCBA iOS App
Blog
  • Blog
  • Free Tutorials
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Log in
Courses
  • Enterprise Solutions
  • Free Courses
  • Explore Programs
  • All Courses
  • All in One Bundles
  • Sign up
Email
  • [email protected]

ISO 10004:2018 & ISO 9001:2015 Certified

© 2025 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA
Free Excel Course

Excel functions, formula, charts, formatting creating excel dashboard & others

By continuing above step, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

EDUCBA

Download Dot-Plots-Excel-Template

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

EDUCBA

Download Dot-Plots-Excel-Template

EDUCBA

डाउनलोड Dot-Plots-Excel-Template

🚀 Limited Time Offer! - 🎁 ENROLL NOW