How to Make a Line Graph in Microsoft Word

March 31, 2015

By: Aaron Parson

Making graphs and charts is Excel's specialty, but you don't need to switch between programs to insert a line graph into a Word 2013 document. Make the graph right from Word using the Insert Chart feature, which provides the same graphing tools as Excel itself.

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Insert a chart.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Open the Insert tab in Word and click Chart.

Line chart styles.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Select Line and pick one of the styles to set the chart's appearance. Click OK to create a line graph.

Edit a chart in Word.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Edit the data in the Chart in Microsoft Word window to build the graph. Unlike creating a chart in Excel, Word starts out with a ready-made sample chart, so edit the existing series labels, categories and values in the spreadsheet to turn the sample chart into your own.

Close the spreadsheet and add elements.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Close the spreadsheet when you're finished editing the data, and then click the + icon to add or remove other chart elements, such as labels, legends, titles or gridlines.

Edit the data later.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Right-click your chart and choose Edit Data to reopen the data spreadsheet for editing later. Changes you make to the spreadsheet take effect on the graph immediately.