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Excel - Shading the Acceptable Region in a Sparkline - Episode 1195

541 views · Published 24 March 2010 · 3:27 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2010 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Professor Tufte showed how sparklines could have a bit of shading to show the acceptable ranges. While this is not necessarily built into Excel, you can achieve the same effect. Episode #1195 show you how.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! In this episode, I will be showing you another cool sparkline trick that I think you will find useful. Yesterday, I showed you some tricks with sparklines, but today I want to show you one more that I think is pretty cool.

In his book "Beautiful Evidence", Professor Tufte wrote about adding shading to sparklines to show acceptable values. This can be a useful tool when analyzing data. However, Microsoft does not have a built-in feature for this. But fear not, with some clever Excel skills, we can achieve this effect.

First, I will take the original data and copy it. Then, I will change the data to have a tolerance range of 95-105. Next, I will insert a rectangle shape and adjust it to fit between the two lines. I will then remove the outline and fill it with a yellow color. To make the shading less obstructive, I will adjust the transparency to about 75%.

Now, we can see the shading between the two lines, indicating the acceptable tolerance range. This can be a helpful visual aid when analyzing data. Finally, I will replace the fake data with the real data, and we can see how each line performed within the tolerance range.

This idea of shading sparklines is not my own, but I have found a way to bring it to Excel 2010 using the Insert Rectangle and transparency features. I hope you found this trick useful and will incorporate it into your data analysis. Thank you for watching this episode of the MrExcel netcast, and be sure to tune in next time for more helpful tips and tricks.

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Sparkline Tricks Recap
(00:10) Adding Markers & Shading to Sparklines
(01:00) Using Excel to Add Shading
(01:33) Adjusting Shading and Transparency
(02:23) Final Steps and Results
(02:45) Benefits of Adding Shading
(03:05) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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