Table of Contents

Table as Source Data

One of the great things about tables in Excel is that you can use a table as source data for a chart pivot table etc.

To see why this is useful let’s create a simple chart.

1. Select a cell in the source data.

Source Data

2. Press Ctrl + T to quickly insert a table.

Create Table

3. Press Enter.

Result so far:

Table as Source Data

4. On the Insert tab in the Charts group click the Column symbol.

Insert Column Chart

5. Click Clustered Column.

Click Clustered Column

Result:

Column Chart in Excel

Now comes the most important part. New rows or columns added to the table will automatically be included in the chart.

6. Select cell A8 and type Jul (Excel automatically formats this new row for you).

7. Enter the data for this month.

Add New Row to Table

Excel automatically updates this dynamic chart. That’s pretty awesome.

Dynamic Chart

Note: as mentioned earlier you can also use a table to create a dynamic pivot table or even better use a table and the new UNIQUE function in Excel 365/2021 to create a magic drop-down list.

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