How to Add or Remove a Secondary Axis in Microsoft Excel Charts

Understand complex data in a meaningful way

When you have a chart with mixed data types or a dataset that varies broadly between series, consider using a secondary axis in Microsoft Excel. With it, you can display the data you need without overwhelming or confusing your viewers.

When to Use a Secondary Axis

As mentioned, if you have different data types or your series amounts widely vary, these are good times to use a secondary axis.

For instance, you can see that the column chart below doesn’t accurately depict the visitors and sales in our dataset. There’s a large variance in the sales amounts, making it hard to get a decent picture of the number of visitors per month. Plus, the sales are in dollar amounts, whereas the visitors are basic numbervalues.

If your chart would benefit from a secondary axis like this one, here’s how to add one as well as remove a secondary axis later if you change your mind or your data.

How to Add a Secondary Axis in Excel

To add a secondary axis to your Excel chart, you’lluse the combo chart type. If you’re using a different chart, like a line graph or bar chart, you can change it easily.

You’ll then see your updated chart with its secondary vertical axis (y-axis), which should provide a more accurate visualization of the data.

How to Remove a Secondary Axis in Excel

If you update your data and no longer need the secondary axis or simply decide that you’d like to remove it, you can do this one of two ways.

Select the chart, go to theChart Designtab, and do one of the following.

To just remove the secondary axis without any other changes to the chart, follow these steps:

To remove the axis and adjust the chart at the same time, such as returning it to a previous chart type, use these steps instead:

Adding a secondary y-axis to your chart can help you as well as others understand complex data in a more meaningful way. Now that you know how to add a secondary axis in Excel, check out our tutorial foradding error bars to a chart in Exceltoo.

Sandy Writtenhouse is a freelance technology writer and former Project, Department, and Program Manager. She turned her education, job experience, and love of technology into a full-time writing career. With all sorts of gadgets in her home and her hands, she seeks to help others make life easier through technology.Read Sandy’s Full Bio

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