[Excel] How to make a tensile line chart

You can’t fill the area between series in a line chart, but it’s possible to achieve a similar effect using error bars.

Tensile line chart in Excel
Tensile line chart in Excel.

Design notes

  • The error bars are colored with a gradient that replicates color encoding used for the series. A more neutral option could be used.
  • Since it’s a gradient between two colors, you can remove the intermediate steps.

Video

Notes

  • The error bars are calculated subtracting one series from the other. When imports are higher than exports this formula was used:

    =IF([@Imports]>=[@Exports],[@Imports]-[@Exports],NA())
    
  • When exports are higher than imports:

    =IF([@Exports]>[@Imports],[@Exports]-[@Imports],NA())
    

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