Add Horizontal Line to Excel Chart

We have already explained the possibility of adding a vertical line to the Excel Bar Chart. However, there is also a possibility of going in a different direction- adding a horizontal line to an Excel chart.

We will show how to do it in the example below.

Add Horizontal Line to Clustered Column

To show the addition of the horizontal line, we will use Clustered Column chart, as this chart is one of the most widely used ones.

We will create it based on the data of NBA players and their points in one night of basketball:

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After doing that, we will resort to creating a simple Clustered Column chart, by selecting our range (A1:B11) and then going to Insert tab >> Charts and finding and choosing Clustered Column chart that is located under 2-D Columns:

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It is noticeable that we get the preview of our chart, and when we choose it, it will be the same, as shown in the picture below:

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Now we need to create an additional table with x and y values (horizontal and vertical ones). We want to present the average values horizontally, so our x values will be equal to the averages of all the points (two values), while the y values will be values 0 and 10 (the number of players in our table):

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We will then copy this data (range D2:E3), click on our chart, and go to the Home tab, where we will find Paste special option:

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In a window that appears when we click on Paste Special, we will choose New series under Add cells as an option, Columns in Values (Y), and click on Categories (X Labels) in First Column:

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When we click OK, we will have the chart presented as follows:

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To make these two orange lines horizontal, we need to change the type of our chart. We will do so by clicking on it, and then choosing the Change Chart Type option:

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On the window that appears, we need to choose Combo chart at the end of it, and then choose Scatter with Straight Lines as a chart for Series2:

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We can still see that the average line is not where it should be. For the full effect, we need to uncheck the Secondary Axis button for Series2:

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As seen in the preview, we will have our data presented in the way we want. We will click OK and have our chart set:

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As seen, we lost the title of our chart along the way. To add it again, we will simply click on the chart, then on the plus sign on the upper right side, and choose Chart Title:

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Then we can insert whatever we want- Points in our case.

Tomasz Decker is an Excel specialist, skilled in data analysis and financial modeling.