Excel for Intermediate Users: Charts in Detail

Communicating the story in your data can often be more challenging than the analysis itself. Deciding which charts will best communicate with your audience and then producing them quickly and efficiently should be easy and quick. However, for many of us, it can frequently become a frustrating and time-consuming challenge that leaves us feeling exhausted and dissatisfied with the results.

On this one-day intermediate level Excel course, learn how to choose the right charts, add trend lines for clarity, and build a simple dashboard to present your data effectively — all in one practical, intermediate-level day.

Course overview

Bring your data to life with impactful, professional charts. This hands-on one-day course is ideal for those confident with the basics of Excel and ready to explore charting in more depth.

 

Why take this course?

  • Learn how to create clear, visually effective charts to support data-driven decisions.
  • Master chart formatting and layout to enhance understanding and presentation.
  • Explore chart types best suited for your data, including combo charts and secondary axes.

Who is it for?

This course is for Excel users who are already comfortable creating basic charts and want to explore how to use them more effectively for reporting and presentations.

 

Which Excel course is right for you?

Making sure you’ve booked the right course isn’t always easy, luckily we have a handy survey to help you decide.

And if you’re still unsure, call our friendly team on 020 7375 7300 and we’ll help you work out what you need.

Take Our Excel Survey

Duration

1 day

Classroom size

8 approx.

Location

Online | Classroom

Certificate

CPD Certified Certification

Experience

Intermediate

What you will learn

  • Decide on the best chart type to use for your data
  • Change the chart type of an existing chart
  • Add a new data series to a chart after the chart has been created
  • Add gridlines to make it easier to read the values
  • Add data labels to place the names and values to each data series
  • Add a secondary axis
  • Add titles, legends and axis labels to charts
  • Create a range of different chart types
  • Create basic Pivot Charts
  • Arrange your charts on a Dashboard

Course timetable

This course will be taught in the latest version of the software. We can train this in older versions if needed – please get in touch for more information and availability.

Session 1

What charts “Say”:

  • Looking at chart components and chart types

Creating charts in Excel:

  • Charts with Chart Wizard
  • Moving and resizing charts
  • Changing the data source
  • Changing the plot direction
  • Changing the location of the chart

Formatting charts:

  • Changing background colours
  • Adding chart titles
  • Formatting text objects.

Session 2

Other chart types and when to use them, including:

  • Map
  • Stock
  • Treemap and sunburst
  • Histogram
  • Box and whisker
  • Waterfall
  • Funnel.

Using advanced chart features:

  • Changing axis
  • Formatting gridlines
  • Adding data labels
  • Adding a secondary axis
  • Adding a trendline
  • User-defined charts.

Session 3

Interactive charts with lists and Pivot Charts:

  • Using and creating Lists
  • Creating a chart from a list
  • Using and creating Pivot Tables
  • Looking at reports, changing the layout
  • Creating a Pivot Chart report
  • Creating a Filtered Pivot Chart.

Session 4

  • Dashboard: Putting your charts together on a Dashboard

Ready to take the next step?

We are here to help!

This course is only available as a one-to-one or private group booking.

For pricing and availability, send us a message using the form, leave us a message on 020 7375 7300, or speak to an Account Manager straight away using our Live Chat service in the bottom right of your screen!

Testimonials from Happy learners

Looking for private group training

If you have three or more learners, a private group training could be cheaper.

We can tailor the content to your team, and host the training remotely, at your workplace or here at Happy’s HQ in Aldgate, Central London.

The Happy guarantee

We want everyone to go away from our courses feeling as though they have learnt useful, practical skills that they can use straight away when they go back to work.

If you don’t feel that your training has been useful or if you are unhappy in any way, please get in touch with our Customer Services team within 30 days of the course.

We will be happy to offer you additional support and training free of charge to help you to gain the skills you need, or if you’d prefer, a full refund.

Why choose Happy?

Because Happiness Works

Joy leads to success, every time,

Expert-Led & Hands-On

Our award-winning training isn’t just theoretical. It’s packed with practical tools you can use straight away.

B Corp Certified & Proud

We don’t just talk about impact — we live it. As a B Corp, we’re committed to making workplaces better for everyone.

Classroom or live online learning available

Both available for public and private dates.

The small print

For Live Online Interactive Learning sessions (webinars)

The course will run remotely for a full day consisting of three 90-minute live online sessions with independent work in between. 

All learners will need to install Zoom on their machines. Full technical requirements are on the Zoom website. Your link will be included in your joining instructions once you have booked your place — if you haven’t received this email then please contact our team.

Learners should log into the session 10 minutes before the start time to ensure that they have downloaded and set up Zoom correctly. The course will start precisely on time and it may not be possible to go back over material missed by late arrivals. Unfortunately you will be asked to leave and attend a different day if you arrive more than 15 minutes late for online sessions, and more than 30 minutes late for classroom sessions.

Please ensure you read our Terms and Conditions before booking for our payment terms and cancellation policy.

For classroom sessions

All public classroom sessions take place at Happy’s HQ in London at Robert Dolan House, 9 Alie Street, London E1 8DE. Please see our Contact Us page for full directions and a PDF map.

The course will run from 10am to 4:45pm (lunch is served 1pm to 1:45pm — we offer a choice of 3 cold bowl dishes). Please be careful to arrive by 9:45am for registration and refreshments. The course will start precisely on time and it may not be possible to go back over material missed by late arrivals. If you arrive over 30 minutes late you may be asked to leave and attend another day.

Please ensure you read our Terms and Conditions before booking for our payment terms and cancellation policy.

FAQs

What if I have a Mac?

If you are a Mac user, please let us know when booking. If the course is held in the classroom at Happy, the training is held on PCs so we recommend that you bring your Macbook with you (we are not able to provide an additional monitor).

 

For online training, please let us know when booking and you can use your Mac as normal. 

We provide a PDF with shortcuts for Mac users and your trainer will refer to this throughout the training.

I work in the public sector or for a charity. How do I claim my discounted rate?

If you are eligible for a discounted rate you will see this on the final stage of the shopping cart after you have either logged in or set up your account (if you are a new user). Discount codes can also be added on this final page.

 

If you have any issues, get in touch with our friendly team for help.

I can’t attend my course. Can I rebook or cancel my place?

For our public dates, if you give us at least 14 days’ notice, you can rebook on another date or cancel your place at no extra cost. For less than 14 days, there is a charge – please see our Terms and Conditions for full details. If a colleague can take your place, no extra fee applies (even if it’s at the last minute).


For private group bookings, there is no charge if you give us at least 28 days’ notice. Cancellations after this time will incur 100% of the cost of the course. Please speak to your Account Manager or email speak to our friendly team.

What do I need to bring? Do I need my laptop?

For our digital skills courses, we provide one PC per learner, so you do not need your laptop.

 

For all courses, we provide all supporting materials, such as manuals, pens, sticky notes and refreshments, so you don’t need to bring anything with you.

 

Lunch is provided on full-day courses, but not on half-day courses.

Where are your classroom courses held?

We are based at Robert Dolan House, 9 Alie Street, London E1 8DE. We are just 5 minutes’ walk from Aldgate and Aldgate East.