A waterfall chart visually tracks incremental positive and negative changes to a starting value in Excel—no macros required.
A waterfall (or bridge) chart displays how sequential positive and negative values move a starting balance to an ending balance. Although Excel 2016+ offers a one-click Waterfall chart type, you can still create highly customizable versions in any modern Excel edition—entirely without VBA or macros. This guide walks you through the manual method, explains how the built-in option works, and shares tips for keeping charts dynamic and presentation-ready.
Waterfall charts are common in financial modeling, margin analysis, and operational workflows because they:
In data engineering and analytics, you might use a waterfall to explain row-level loss through an ETL pipeline—illustrating how filtering, joins, and deduplication shrink a data set from raw events to clean fact rows.
Select your data, choose Insert → Waterfall, and you’re done. Excel automatically classifies totals versus running values. However, you lose granular control over helper columns, and older Excel versions don’t support the feature.
This technique works in every Excel version that supports stacked column charts (2007 onward) and unlocks extra customization.
Create a table with the following columns:
Use formulas to automate Base, Positive, and Negative (see code section later).
Click any Base bar → Format → No Fill. The invisible base pushes the Positive/Negative segments up or down to form cascading bars.
Right-click each series → Add Data Labels. Format labels to display values inside bars. Remove gridlines and tweak axis bounds for a polished look.
Assume Amount
values start in B2
. Use these formulas in row 2, then fill downward:
=IF(A2="Start",0,SUM($B$2:B1))
=MAX(B2,0)
=MAX(-B2,0)
The Base column accrues the running subtotal, ensuring each bar starts where the previous one ends.
If you’re on Microsoft 365 or Excel 2016+:
The automatic approach is quicker but offers fewer levers like separate positive/negative palettes or additional annotation space.
Track how gross revenue becomes net income after COGS, operating expenses, and taxes.
Visualize record counts after each ETL stage—raw logs, filtered events, joined tables, final fact rows.
Bridge ad spend to incremental revenue, subtracting platform fees and discounts along the way.
If the Base column references the current row instead of the previous cumulative total, bars misalign. Always sum up to the previous row.
Forget to designate a final subtotal bar and the chart looks broken. For manual charts, treat totals as zero Positive/Negative and plot only Base.
Excel sometimes groups mixed signs in a single series; split them with helper columns so each sign gets its own color.
Building a waterfall chart in Excel without VBA boils down to clever data shaping plus stacked column formatting. Once you grasp the Base-Positive-Negative pattern, you can whip up dynamic, business-ready waterfalls in minutes—no macros, add-ins, or version constraints.
Visual storytelling is critical for analysts. A waterfall chart quickly conveys how multiple factors push a metric up or down, helping business leaders pinpoint high-impact drivers. Mastering a VBA-free method ensures portability—anyone can open and refresh the workbook, making the visualization ideal for automated dashboards, financial closes, and data-engineering audits where security or policy forbids macros.
Follow the manual stacked-column method: add Base, Positive, and Negative helper columns, insert a stacked column chart, hide Base, and format the remaining series. Excel 2013 lacks the built-in Waterfall chart but fully supports this workaround.
Yes. Convert your data range to an Excel Table and base your chart on that table. Formulas and ranges expand automatically, so new rows appear in the chart without manual tweaks.
The built-in version (Excel 2016+) is faster—select data and click a button. However, it offers limited styling and doesn’t let you customize helper columns. Manual waterfalls work in all versions and provide granular control, at the cost of a few extra setup steps.
Create a separate Negative series and format it red. If you’re using the built-in Waterfall, double-click a bar → Format Data Point → choose a red fill to override Excel’s default.