Better Histograms Using Excel
For Microsoft® Excel 97-2007, Windows or Macintosh
A histogram is usually shown in Excel as a Column chart type (vertical bars). The labels of a Column chart are aligned under each bar, and there is no Excel feature for changing the alignment. A better histogram has a horizontal axis with numerical labels aligned under the tick marks between the bars as shown below.
Download a free add-in for automatically creating a better histogram from data on a worksheet.
Right-click and choose Save Target or Save Link to download a pdf file with step-by-step instructions for using Excel 97-2004 commands to create a better histogram. For Macintosh, instead of right-click, hold down the ctrl key, click the link, and choose "Download Link to Disk."
Click to open the same pdf file with Excel 97-2004 instructions in your browser.
Open an html file in a separate window with the same Excel 97-2004 step-by-step instructions.
Version History of the Better Histogram Add-In (new at top, old at bottom)
2007 May
BetterHistogram_20070222_2050.xla
Added support for Excel 2007.
BetterHistogram_20050809_2120.xla
Added support for having negative values in the data set, which had caused an error.
2004 December
BetterHistogram_20041212_1815.xla
Removed Control+Shift+h shortcut
key, which had caused an error when installing by Excel's Add-In
Manager.
BetterHistogram_20041116_1820.xla
Original version.