Line charts
You can use line charts to display continuous data over a period of time at a common scale. Therefore, line charts are ideal for showing data trends at equal intervals. Data in columns or rows on a sheet can be transformed into a line chart.
In line charts, the category data are distributed evenly along both the horizontal and vertical axes.
If your category labels represent evenly spaced values such as months and years, especially when there are multiple series, use a line chart. If you have more than ten numeric labels, use a scatter chart instead.
Line charts
have the following chart subtypes:
- Lines and lines with markers You can use line charts to show trends over a period of time and to display ordered categories, especially when there are many data points and the order is important.Tip: If there are many categories or the values are approximate, use a line chart without markers.
- Stacked lines and stacked lines with markers You can use stacked line charts to show the trend of the contribution of each value over a period of time or ordered categories.Note: Because stacked charts add the data and it is difficult to distinguish stacked lines, consider using a different line chart type or a stacked area chart instead.