Plotting a Graph - Needlessly Complicated?

Riza Khan

I have a sheet, each line contains an entry that tells you the following info: Date, Item, Status, Count

I'd like to plot a graph over time that shows the X axis as the date, Y axis as the count. I'd prefer a stacked bar graph that has all Statuses in one stack per day.

Example:

1/1/20 - Snacks - Eaten - 2

1/1/20 - Snacks - Uneaten - 5

1/1/20 - Snacks - Eaten - 2

1/2/20 - Snacks - Eaten - 2

1/2/20 - Snacks - Uneaten - 5

1/2/20 - Snacks - Eaten - 2

I've tried doing this with the reports tool and the dashboard but it's doing something very odd which doesn't make sense. It doesn't plot the data for the same dates on the same point on the X axis. See attached photo:

Matt Johnson

Hi @Riza Khan,

Is the below graph what you are trying to create? If so, I created a work sheet with your info and then made a metric sheet for the counts which feeds the graph on the dashboard. I hope this helps but based on your graph I might be missing something here.

Paul Newcome

I would also suggest creating a "Metrics Sheet" with your totals instead of trying to use a report. Depending on your exact needs, the metrics sheet could be structured a number of ways, but generally speaking @Matt Johnson's last screenshot shows the most likely to work for you.

Riza Khan

Ah that makes sense. So my only question now, how do I make sure the metric sheet is automatically adding new dates lines? My data worksheet is a living document with new lines being added each day.

Paul Newcome

You would need to create your sheet so that it already covers as many dates as you will need. Are you planning on showing from a set start to a set finish, set start to indefinite, or more of a rolling set of dates?