How to create a chart

Data tells the story of how your business really works. But if your data is poorly presented or hard to understand, you'll miss the insights that truly matter. While you could write paragraphs explaining your numbers, presenting them visually is far more effective. Charts are one of the best tools that turn your business numbers into clear, visual insights that people will actually remember.

Table of contents

• What is a chart?
• Creating charts for business use
• Understanding charts versus graphs
• Different types of charts you can create
• Factors to consider when picking a chart type
• Creating charts for your business presentation
• Tools needed to make charts
• How to create charts in Zoho Workplace: A step-by-step guide
• Conclusion

What is a chart?

A chart is a visual representation that transforms complex data into simple visuals, combining text, symbols, and graphics to show the relationships between multiple data sets. Whether you’re working with numbers or comparing different categories, charts make patterns and differences stand out clearly, so you don’t have to go through rows of statistics. You can see trends, make comparisons, pinpoint patterns, and get insights from within the raw numbers.

For example, let's say a senior sales manager wants to compare previous year's sales figures for online, in-store, and third-party vendors across different regions, from the data given below.

Rather than analyzing the raw data, the sales manager can create a bar chart to compare these numbers, which helps identify strong and weak sales channels and regions. This analysis will also allow them to optimize sales strategies in regions with lower performance.

Creating charts for business use

Charts are essential when you need to present your business data in a way that’s easy to understand and remember. Instead of reading through rows of numbers, you can quickly convey the relationship between two or more sets of data, making it easier for analysis and interpretation.

Use charts when you need to:

• Compare data across different groups or timelines.
• Highlight proportions or distributions.
• Present data to audiences who prefer visual summaries.
• Summarize and simplify large amounts of information.
• Plan and make decisions for your business.
• Show a relationship between two or more factors.
• Uncover hidden insights or anomalies in your data.

Understanding charts versus graphs

Charts and graphs are both visual tools used to represent data, but they're different in purpose and style. A chart is a general term that’s used to describe any visual or graphical display of data or information. It’s designed to make complex data easier to understand and compare. Charts have many forms, such as pie charts, bar charts, or flowcharts, and are commonly used in business and everyday data presentations. On the other hand, a graph is a specific type of chart to show the mathematical relationship between data sets. It's created by plotting points on an X and Y axis. Graphs focus more on showing trends, patterns, and changes over time and are frequently used in scientific and mathematical contexts.

We can say that all graphs are charts, but not all charts are graphs.

Different types of charts you can create

There are several common types of charts and by choosing the right one, you can communicate insights quickly in reports, presentations, or even on dashboards.

Factors to consider when picking a chart type

When picking a chart type, consider the following key factors:

• Nature of data: First of all, try to find out whether your data represents categories, time series, proportions, or relationships.
• Visualization goal: Define what insight you want to communicate, such as trends, comparisons, composition, distribution, or relationships. You can use line or area charts for trends, bar or column charts for comparisons, or scatter charts for relationships.
• Data volume and complexity: Simpler charts work better for small datasets or a few variables, while combination or advanced charts suit multiple metrics or larger datasets with multiple variables.
• Audience and clarity: Choose charts that convey the message clearly and intuitively to your audience without overwhelming them with data complexity.

Creating charts for your business presentation

Presentation is one of the best professional tools to share important information or ideas with coworkers, clients, or stakeholders. It uses slides to showcase key points and decisions on a single screen. Charts make them even more impactful by turning numbers into visuals that helps everyone see the story behind the data and make better decisions together.

Here are some practical points to consider when creating charts for your business presentation:

• Choose the right chart type: Pick a chart style that matches your data and what you want to show. It could be comparisons, future trends, or just a summary.
• Keep it simple: Avoid clutter, such as too many colors or too many lines in a single chart, and highlight only the information that matters for your audience, so your message stays clear.
• Use colors wisely: Stick to brand colors or a minimal palette for consistency, and use color mainly to draw attention or separate categories in your chart.
• Add context: Provide a clear, descriptive title and label axes with units. Use annotations to highlight primary points or describe trends.
• Stay consistent: Use similar fonts, sizes, and formatting for charts across all slides to keep your presentation looking sharp and professional.

Tools needed to make charts

For creating business charts, you’ll want to choose the right tools to fit your needs, whether that's simplicity, real-time collaboration, advanced analytics, or seamless integration with your existing applications. Here are the most popular options.

Zoho Sheets: A spreadsheet tool with 35+ chart types, including bar, line, scatter, and pie charts. Features a drag-and-drop interface and AI suggestions for the best visualizations based on your data.

Zoho Show: Designed for slide-based presentations with built-in charting options. Allows you to create dynamic charts directly into slides and customize them with a dedicated chart editor—perfect for live meetings or webinars.

Zoho Analytics: Advanced data visualization with a drag-and-drop interface and multiple chart types. Excels at creating interactive dashboards and detailed reports for analytics and monitoring.

Microsoft Excel: Provides extensive charting options and customization features for fluid data analysis and presentation.

Google Sheets: Offers numerous chart types with strong customization and team collaboration features.

How to create charts in Zoho Workplace: A step-by-step guide

In Zoho Workplace, you can create charts using Zoho Sheets and Zoho Show. Other than these apps, Zoho Connect has an integration with Zoho Analytics to analyze your Connect data.

How to create charts in Zoho Sheets

Zoho Sheets makes it easy to create and customize professional charts with unique color schemes. It integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products and supports Excel files for flexible collaboration.

To create a chart:

1. Log into your Zoho Workplace account.
2. From the top pane, open Zoho Sheet.
3. Click on a spreadsheet that you would like to open.
4. Select the range for which you need a chart.
5. Click Insert and select Chart.
6. Choose the type of chart you want (e.g., bar, line, pie) from the available options.
7. Edit or modify the chart type, aggregate elements of the chart, or customize your chart further from within the side panel.

Customize chart for analysis in Zoho Sheets

You can easily change the chart type and customize it by adjusting colors and modifying axes, labels, and legends to suit your work.

To customize your chart:

1. Click the Chart icon in the side panel.
2. Go to the General tab to change the chart type or adjust aggregations.
3. Select the chart type from the available options.
4. Click the Aggregation dropdown and choose from the six available functions.
5. Go to the Customize tab to add a title and modify data labels.
6. Click the Styles menu to change color schemes or transparency.

How to create charts in Zoho Show

Zoho Show offers a comprehensive collection of customizable charts designed to make your data lively, easy to understand, and memorable for your audience.

To create a chart:

1. Log into your Zoho Workplace account.
2. From the top pane, open Zoho Show.
3. Open the presentation where you want to add a chart.
4. Go to the slide where you want to add a chart.
5. Click Insert and select Chart.
6. Choose the type of chart you want (e.g., bar, line, pie) from the available options.
7. The chart placeholder will appear on your slide along with a data table where you can enter or paste your data.

 To edit chart data:

1. Click inside the chart’s data table.
2. Enter your categories, series, and values.
3. Use the + and - icons to add or remove rows and columns.
4. The chart will be updated automatically as you change the data.

To customize chart appearance:

1. Click on the chart, then access the Format or Settings option.
2. Customize details such as chart style, colors, borders, and backgrounds.
3. Modify axes labels, tick marks, and legends to match your data.
4. Set data labels and number formats for clarity.
5. Apply effects like shadows or 3D styles for visual appeal.

Advanced customizations:

1. Adjust axis scales, intervals, and ranges to reflect your data distribution.
2. Show or hide missing values and control how null data displays.
3. Add threshold lines or reference markers for important data points.
4. Customize the legend layout so viewers can easily interpret your chart.

Conclusion

Charts are more than just pretty visualizations; they're essential business tools that turn data into decisions. Whether you're comparing sales across regions, tracking growth over time, or presenting to stakeholders, the right chart makes your message clear and impactful. By understanding different chart types, following design best practices, and using tools like Zoho Sheets and Zoho Show, you can create visualizations that not only look professional but actually drive action. Choose the chart type that matches your data and goals, and help your teams understand and act on insights.