Waterfall Chart in Excel (step by step)

Excel 2016 and later. Great for profit bridges, cash flow and budget vs actual.

Set up the data

Two columns: label and amount. Increases positive, decreases negative. Include the start value and the end total as rows.

Opening   1000
Sales      400
Refunds    -80
Costs     -250
Closing   1070

Insert the chart

1. Select both columns.
2. Insert › Charts › Waterfall (the icon with floating bars).

Fix the total bar (important)

At first, Closing floats like another change. Double-click the Closing bar (so only it is selected) › right-click › Set as total. It now drops to the axis. Do the same for any subtotal.

Colours

Click the legend entry for Increase, Decrease or Total and change its fill — e.g. green, red, grey.

Tidy up

• Hide connector lines: Format Series › untick Show connector lines.
• Change the title: chart title from a cell.

Older Excel

Use a stacked column chart with an invisible “base” series under each step.

Waterfall is greyed out

You’re in Excel 2013 or older, or the file is in .xls format — save as .xlsx.