[Excel] How to make a bar chart with a reference line

Simple way of adding a reference line to help making sense of a bar chart.

A bar chart with a reference line in Excel.

Design notes

• Since the reference line is a series, it doesn’t need to display a single value, it can change to reflect changes over time or the difference for different categories is not the same.

Video

https://vimeo.com/643247183

Notes

• 00:15: Add a new column with to be used as the reference line. It can be a hard-coded value or a formula (in this case, the average was used).