In Excel 2019, Excel 2016 and Excel 2013, adding a trend line is a quick 3-step process: You cannot add a trendline to 3-D or stacked charts, pie, radar and similar visuals.īelow, there is an example of a scatter plot with an extended trendline: Excel graphs that support trendlinesĪ trendline can be added to a variety of Excel charts, including XY scatter, bubble, stock, as well as unstacked 2-D bar, column, area and line graphs. In some cases, it can also be used to forecast trends. A best-fit line shows the general trend in all the data, ignoring statistical errors and minor exceptions. Visually, a trendline looks somewhat similar to a line chart, but it doesn't connect the actual data points as a line chart does.
This analytical tool is most often used to show data movements over a period of time or correlation between two variables. A trendline, also referred to as a line of best fit, is a straight or curved line in a chart that shows the general pattern or overall direction of the data.
