How to make a graph of bank account data in excel with a table of balance changes?

I have an excel table with dates and according bank account balances. Now I add a graph and get the following:

The graph should have a timeline on the x-axis - that works. But I want the data to be shown as follows:

So that I can see account balance mapped to time. Unfortunately Excel connects the dots with a line - I don't want that. How can I achieve the second graph?

Thanks!

1 Answer

To get the effect you want you will need to use a normal bar graph and change some of the options. Here is a tutorial you can follow. I've edited to make it easier to understand for less skilled excel users. Here is the final result after following the tutorial.

Chart

1. Select both data without the headers
2. Go to the tab "Insert"
3. Click on the dropdown list "Insert collumn or bar chart"
4. Click on "Clustered Collumn"

5. Then click on a bar and make sure its selected (it will have blue dots on the edges.
6. Click on the "Plus sign" hover over axes click on the arrow and then more options.

7. Now select the bars again and an option menu should appear on the right
8. Make the "Gap Width" 0%

Data points format

To make the dates align.

1. Click on one of the dates in the graph to select them
2. Open the menu. See step 5 - 6 from Chart.
3. Click on one of the dates to select them again.
4. Now in the option menu select the option "On Tick marks"
5. At the dropdown "Tick Marks" change the Major type to "Inside"