Creating a rainbow thermometer chart

For example, a worksheet set up to track daily progress towards a goal: 1,000 new sales in a 10-day period. Cell C16 contains the goal value, and cell C17 contains a simple sum formula:

=SUM(C5:C14)

Cell C19 contains a formula that calculates the percent of goal (see Creating a simple thermometer chart):

=C17/C16

To create the chart like this one, do the following:

   1.   Add additional data to see different colors for different intervals (in this example, cells C20:C24):

   2.   Select cells C20:C24.

   3.   On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, choose the Column button:

Choose 100% Stacked Column:

   4.   Right-click in the chart area. In the popup menu select Select Data...:

   5.   In the Select Data Source dialog box, click the Switch Row/Column button (to see 5 series):

   6.   Open the Format Data Series, do one of the following:

• Right-click in the data series and choose Format Data Series... in the popup menu:
  
• Excel displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design and Format tabs:
  

  On the Format tab, in the Current Selection group, click the Format Selection icon:

  

   7.   In the Format Data Series task pane for every series choose different colors. You can choose different series in that task pane:

Make any other adjustments to get the look you desire.