Charts in Excel that update with new data automatically

1 October 2021

Recently one of our users at a Fortune 500 company presented us with a problem. How do you add new data to a spreadsheet so that the chart automatically updates with that new data?

Download the ready-made Excel solution

Excel with an auto updating chart

We did a little searching and found this fantastic TechRepublic article that demonstrates two ways to do this. If you're looking for this functionality, this article may be just what you need.

In this blog post, we will build on that article in two ways. The first is that we've posted an example Excel file with the more complicated, dynamic named ranges solution to our website, so you can download it. See the 'AllSeriesInChart' worksheet.

And second, we extended the solution in case you want to include just the five most recent data series. If you want the ten most recent data series (or any other number), that's easy. Just go to the Formulas tab, click Name Manager, and edit each 5 so it becomes a 10:

Change number of series you want to include in your chart

Download the ready-made Excel solution