To compare two sets of data, you can create various comparison charts, such as a butterfly chart, mirror chart, tornado chart, etc., or a double-sided chart. However, comparing the values in opposite directions is not always convenient. In order to display two datasets, you can use Excel to create a side-by-side bar chart, also known as a double bar chart.

To analyze poll or survey results, it is important to see the actual numbers and the difference between all negative and positive answers. Often such results are presented as a spread of negative and positive Likert values, such as "Strongly disagree" and "Strongly agree".

Histograms show the distribution of numeric data, and there are several different ways how to create a histogram chart. Distributions of non-numeric data, e.g., ordered categorical data, look similar to Excel histograms. However, you cannot use Excel histogram tools and need to reorder the categories and compute frequencies to build such charts.

Usually, horizontal lines are added to a chart to highlight a target, threshold, limits, base, average, or benchmark. These lines, for example, can help control if a process is behaving differently than usual. Excel allows you to add a vertical line to an existing chart in several different ways, e.g., by calculating line values for a scatter, line, or column chart, but using error bars is the easiest way to add a vertical line to a chart:

Excel offers many different charts, but for some data, pre-defined charts such as area or line charts seem fine but are inaccurate by definition. For example, changes in prices, invested amounts, or any discrete data happen at some regular or irregular points, but the value remains constant between the points:

A speedometer, dial, or gauge chart displays a single value (usually displayed as an arrow) on a colored or sectored dial. The speedometer dial can be a half or a whole circle (the simplest option) or a sector located symmetrically vertically:

Pie and bar charts greatly simplify the understanding of percentages distribution for one categorical variable but fail to build a meaningful representation of two and more variables. A quite recent innovation in data visualization real is the Mosaic plot, which helps to grasp the correlations within marketing, sales, and other financial data. You will not find this chart among Excel standard charts, but you can build one.

Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that is often used in project management applications.

Excel allows you to create charts and diagrams from different data sets, even those that contain hidden or empty cells. However, sometimes you may see unexpected results. For example, if there are hidden cells in the chart data, by default, Excel ignores such data and doesn't display the corresponding chart elements. You can easily force Excel to handle hidden data.

A pictogram (also known as pictorgamme, pictograph, icon chart, pictorial unit chart, or picto) is a chart or graph which uses icons, symbols, illustrations, or pictures to represent data. Pictograms have become quite popular in modern infographics to present simple facts, but it is not obvious how to create this chart in Excel.