Turn monthly totals into a trend

About this reporting workflow

Group transactions before drawing a chart. Compare signed trends, pie/doughnut contributions, multi-series stacked/100% stacked charts and column/line combination (combo) charts with shared or secondary axes. Inspect each denominator, measure and unit.

Dataset

Step 1 / 3Read the actual complete source

Inspect

Inspect the highlighted cells. This step has no automatic change to apply. Teaching is read-only; switch to Your turn to edit.

F2 · (blank)
No formula applied

Several records can belong to the same month. Group their paid amounts first so each month appears once on the horizontal axis.

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Practice · F2

Current source values, formulas and report checks

Cell	Stored value	Written formula

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Source and generated formulas stay in this actual workbook. The current-sheet copy preserves written source formulas. The native Excel report below uses current calculated source values and report settings.

Explain and check the current chart

Predict the number of selected original records, including numeric zero. A chart mark can summarize several records; the two counts are different. Current proofs and source changes are checked separately.

What do the two series share?Does a secondary axis prove a relationship?Selected original record count

No current lesson check.

1. Start with source records

Amounts can be negative or zero. Months use YYYY-MM text; these are category labels, not Excel date serials. Product labels match without regard to case.

Record	Month	Region	Product	Status	Amount	Remove
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Up to 50 source records in this learning worksheet.

2. Build the report

Region filterStatus filterHorizontal groupingMeasureGroup orderChart type

12 of 12 records in this report

product	count
Cedar	6
Harbor	2
Lumen	4

Use the idea in Excel

The download uses this report’s current data and controls. Source records are an editable Excel Table. Chart reports include an editable chart and live summary formulas. Pivot reports include a native PivotTable with the current grouping, measure and filters. Refresh the PivotTable after editing its Source table. Table/chart reports need a fresh export for added rows, new groups or filter changes.

The source and generated report formulas share the working worksheet. Follow the Microsoft desktop workflow ↗ to create the corresponding Table, PivotTable or chart in Excel.

Read the reporting guides →