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This wikiHow teaches you how to create a projection of a graph's data in Microsoft Excel. You can do this on both Windows and Mac computers.
Steps
-
Open your Excel workbook. Double-click the Excel workbook document in which your data is stored.
- If you don't have the data that you want to analyze in a spreadsheet yet, you'll instead open Excel and click Blank workbook to open a new workbook. You can then enter your data and create a graph from it.
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Select your graph. Click the graph to which you want to assign a trendline.
- If you haven't yet created a graph from your data, create one before continuing.
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Click ＋ . It's a green button next to the upper-right corner of the graph. A drop-down menu will appear.
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Click the arrow to the right of the "Trendline" box. You may need to hover your mouse over the far-right side of the "Trendline" box to prompt this arrow to appear. Clicking it brings up a second menu.
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Select a trendline option. Depending on your preferences, click one of the following options
- Linear
- Exponential
- Linear Forecast
- Two Period Moving Average
- You can also click More Options... to bring up an advanced options panel after selecting data to analyze.
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Select data to analyze. Click a data series name (e.g., Series 1 ) in the pop-up window. If you named your data already, you'll click the data's name instead.
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Click OK . It's at the bottom of the pop-up window. Doing so adds a trendline to your graph.
- If you clicked More Options... earlier, you'll have the option of naming your trendline or changing the trendline's persuasion on the right side of the window.
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Save your work. Press Ctrl + S to save your changes. If you've never saved this document before, you'll be prompted to select a save location and file name.
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-
Open your Excel workbook. Double-click the Excel workbook document in which your data is stored.
- If you don't have the data that you want to analyze in your spreadsheet, you'll instead open Excel to create a new workbook. You can then enter your data and create a graph from it.
-
Select the data in your graph. Click the series of data that you want to analyze to select it.
- If you haven't yet created a graph from your data, create one before continuing.
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Click Add Chart Element . This option is on the far-left side of the Chart Design toolbar. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
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Select Trendline . It's at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
-
Select a trendline option. Depending on your preferences, click one of the following options in the pop-out menu: [2] X Research source
- Linear
- Exponential
- Linear Forecast
- Moving Average
- You can also click More Trendline Options to bring up a window with advanced options (e.g., trendline name).
-
Save your changes. Press ⌘ Command + Save , or click File and then click Save . If you've never saved this document before, you'll be prompted to select a save location and file name.
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Community Q&A
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QuestionHow do I choose where the data goes in Excel?Community AnswerJust click a section of the grid, then put whatever you need to in the box. You can also extend boxes by dragging them.
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Video
Tips
- Depending on your graph's data, you may have additional trendline options (e.g., Polynomial ).Thanks
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Warnings
- Make sure that you have sufficient data to predict a trend. It's almost impossible to analyze a "trend" in only two or three points of data.Thanks
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References
About This Article
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 776,359 times.
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