Sparkline Line Chart Formula Options in Google Sheets

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The only options that you may want to try with Sparkline Line chart will be the options to control line thickness and color. But in this post, I am detailing how to use all the Sparkline Line chart formula options in Google Sheets.

The reason is then you can easily understand a similar formula shared with you in a Sheet.

The purpose of Sparkline Line Graph is to quickly track changes over a short/long periods of time.

All Sparkline Line Chart Formula Options in Google Sheets

Syntax:

SPARKLINE(data, [options])

First see a Sprakline Line graph formula with all the options included.

All Sparkline Line Chart Formula Options

You can use either of the below two formulas with full options covered.

=sparkline(D2:O3,A2:B11)

or;

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"color","red";"empty","ignore";"nan","ignore";"rtl",false;"linewidth",2;"xmin",1;"xmax",12;"ymin",min(D3:O3);"ymax",MAX(D3:O3)})

In the first formula, the array A2:B11 contains all the Sparkline chart options.

The cool thing is that you will get the ‘same’ chart without including any options in the formula. No doubt, the color and line thickness will be different.

=sparkline(D2:O3)

Color and Line Width Options in the Sparkline Line Graph

Here see the two (“line” and “linewidth”) Sparkline Line chart formula options that may come very useful. I don’t like the default color of Sparklines.

Formula:

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"color","red";"linewidth",3})
Change the color and line width of line Sparkline

Options to Control Empty, Non Numeric Data in Sparkline Line Graph

You can use the Sparkline Line chart options “empty” and “nan” for this purpose.

The “empty” option supports the values “zero” and “ignore” while the “nan” supports “convert” and “ignore”. See how these options are going to make changes in a Line Sparkline Chart.

To understand the difference I am applying these two options in a different set of data.

“empty” option set to “zero” and “ignore”

"empty" option zero and ignore

See the changes in the curve. There is a sudden fall in the first chart since the value in cell H3 is set to 0 in the formula.

In the second formula, there is nothing visible as the formula ignores the empty cell H3.

“nan” option set to “convert” and “ignore”

Assume instead of keeping the cell H3 as blank, you entered the string “Nil” in that cell. In such cases, you will get the same above Sparkline charts if you use “nan” options.

To get the first chart use this formula. Here converted the non-numeric value in cell H3 to 0.

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"color","red";"linewidth",3;"nan","convert"})

To get the second chart, use the below formula. It ignores the cell H3.

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"color","red";"linewidth",3;"nan","ignore"})

Draw the Line Graph from Right to Left (RTL)

Set the “rtl” option TRUE to draw the sparkline line chart from right to left.

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"color","red";"linewidth",3;"rtl",true})

“xmin”, “xmax”, “ymin”, and “ymax” Sparkline Line Chart Options

You can draw a line graph with or without using the x-axis using the Sparkline formula.

line chart without x-axis

In the above examples, you can see that both the line graphs are the same albeit the second formula uses both the x and y-axis.

The difference, if you use x-axis you can set the “xmin” and “xmax” values.

In the below data, the x-axis values are in the range D2:O2.

In the second formula in below example, I have used the range D2:O3 but limited the x-axis values to the range F2:M2 using “xmin” and “xmax“.

The output is equal to the range F2:M3 that the first formula shows.

xmin and xmax in line chart

Normally we can find the “ymin” and “ymax” values using the MIN and MAX functions in the y-axis range.

=SPARKLINE(D2:O3,{"charttype","line";"ymin",min(D3:O3);"ymax",max(D3:O3)})

That’s all about using Sparkline Line chart formula options in Google Sheets. Enjoy.

Prashanth KV
Prashanth KV
Your Trusted Google Sheets and Excel Guide Prashanth KV brings a wealth of experience in Google Sheets and Excel, cultivated through years of work with multinational corporations in Mumbai and Dubai. As a recognized Google Product Expert in Docs Editors, Prashanth shares his expertise through insightful blogging since 2012. Explore his blog for practical tips and guidance on maximizing your spreadsheet skills.

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