Creating bullet charts in Excel can be a bit tricky. This slidedeck lays out a step-by-step approach to creating bullet charts in Excel. The approach was first made public by Jorge Camoes (http://www.excelcharts.com/blog/easy-way-make-bullet-charts-boxplots-excel/). An alternative version was published in early 2011 by Jon Peltier (http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/how-to-make-horizontal-bullet-graphs-in-excel/). The Excel file is available on my website (http://policyviz.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-making-bullet-charts-in-excel).

1. A Step-by-Step
Guide to Making
Bullet Charts in Excel
Jonathan Schwabish
@jschwabish

2. Here is the bullet chart we will make.
Bullet charts are made up of four main parts:
1. Background fill colors encode ranges
(for example, low, medium, and high)
2. Label
3. Bar shows actual
performance
4. Marker shows
target performance

3. Step 1. The bullet chart is created from a scatterplot. To start,
set up your data with one column that will serve as the y-axis
values and separate columns for each of the series in the chart.
Start with a connected scatterplot with the first series (Low).

4. Step 2. Sequentially add all of the other series.

5. Step 3. Here’s what you have after all 6 series
have been added to the chart.

6. Step 4. Select the first series and change the
‘Marker Type’ to none.

7. Step 5. Go to the ‘Line Style’ menu. We will make two
changes here. First, change the width to, say, 12 pt.

8. Step 6. Second, change the ‘Cap Type’ to ‘Flat’.
It’s important to use Flat because this brings the
line right to the data points.

9. Step 7. Notice that if you use the ‘Square’ option,
the line overlaps the data points.

10. Step 8. Repeat the process for the other series. Make
the ‘Actual’ series a slightly thinner width, say, 5 pt.

11. Step 9. You can change the Outline color on all the series
to the colors you choose. (Note that because these are
lines, you will use the Outline color, not the Fill color.)

12. Step 10. We’ll now make three changes to the label the
chart (using the “Unit, 2012” series). First, add a data
label; second, align it to the left; and third, set the
marker to ‘None’.

13. Step 11. You can then modify the y-axis scale
to center the chart in the graph space.

14. Step 12. You can also modify the x-axis scale
for the same reason.

15. Step 13. Now delete the legend, axes, and gridlines.
You are left with a nice, single bullet chart

16. You can add other bullet charts by adding
more data and repeating the process.
1st series
2nd series

17. You can also change the shape of the Target level—say, to
a vertical line—by drawing a line in your worksheet and
then copying and pasting it directly onto the ‘Target’.

18. And now you have
two bullet charts.
Unit,
2013
Unit,
2013
Unit,
2012
Unit,
2012

19. Attributions
The method presented here was first made public
by Jorge Camoes. For an alternative approach, see
Jon Peltier. Textured background from Chris Spooner.
Excel file is available here.
Jonathan Schwabish
@jschwabish