Chart maker · Combo
Combo chart maker
Bars for the money, a line for the rate. When the story is "growing, but…" — revenue up, margin down — one chart with two honest axes says it in a single beat.
Paste, pick, download
The signature combo table: one column of absolute numbers (revenue, units, headcount) and one column of percentages (margin, growth, conversion). ChartThat recognizes the percent column, puts it on a true secondary axis as a line, and keeps the bars on the main axis — no rescaling hacks, no pretending 0.26 and 61 belong together. The PPTX export carries both axes natively into PowerPoint and WPS. Free, no sign-up.
When a combo chart wins
- The sentence has a "but" in it. Revenue up, margin down. Users up, conversion flat. Two truths in one frame, tension included.
- Scale and efficiency travel together. Absolute numbers on the left axis, the rate on the right — each honest on its own scale.
- You are managing expectations. Growth looks great as bars; the line quietly warns what it costs. The room sees both before they ask.
When it lets you down
- Both series share a unit. Two revenue lines need no second axis — that is a plain line chart.
- The audience cannot hear you. Dual axes need narration; in a deck people read cold, two unlabeled scales get misread. Label them on the chart.
- You have three-plus measures. Bars plus three lines is a control panel, not an argument. Split the slides.
Try it with this data
| Quarter | Revenue (M$) | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 38 | 34% |
| Q2 | 45 | 31% |
| Q3 | 52 | 29% |
| Q4 | 61 | 26% |
Field notes on combos
- Bars take the main axis, the rate takes the right. Percentages live on the secondary axis — never let a 0.26 share a scale with a 61.
- Color belongs to the axis, not to taste. Line and its axis label in one accent, bars quiet — the eye learns the mapping in one look.
- Say the two scales aloud. "Left is millions, right is percent" — five seconds of narration saves five minutes of misreading.
- The crossover is the headline. When the line dives as the bars climb, your title should say exactly that. Chart and sentence, one claim.
A "growing, but…" table waiting in Excel?
Paste it, show both truths →Other chart makers
From the field notes
Rate-of-change is its own semantic layer — when to put a rate on stage is in field note #1; why one page carries one claim is in field note #2.
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