How to Add a Trendline in Google Sheets

A trendline is a line fitted to a series of data points to reveal the overall direction of the data. You can add a trendline to any data series in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This is useful when you want to visualize the data to see if there is a general trend.

Instructions

1. Open Google Sheets and sign in

Open Google Sheets in your web browser and sign in with your Google account. If you dont have a Google account, you can create one for free.

2. Select the data series

Click on the cell in the upper-left corner of the data series. For example, if your data is in columns A and B, click on cell A1. Then, click and drag your mouse over the data series to select it. The selected cells will be highlighted in blue.

3. Click “Insert”

Click the “Insert” menu item at the top of the page. A drop-down menu will appear. Mouse over the “Chart” option and another drop-down menu will appear. Select “Line chart” from this second drop-down menu.

4. Click “Trendline”

A new window will open. In this window, click the “Trendline” checkbox. This will add a trendline to the selected data series in the spreadsheet.

5. Select the trendline type

There are different types of trendlines that you can add to a data series. The most common type is a linear trendline, which is a straight line that shows the general direction of the data. You can also add an exponential trendline, which is a curved line that shows how data is increasing or decreasing at an increasing rate.

To select the type of trendline, click the “Trendline type” drop-down menu and select the desired option. In most cases, the linear trendline is the best choice.

6. Customize the trendline

There are a few options that you can use to customize the trendline. The “Show equation” and “Show R-squared value” options will add the equation of the trendline and the R-squared value to the spreadsheet. The R-squared value is a statistical measure that shows how well the trendline fits the data. A value of 1.0 indicates a perfect fit, while a value of 0.0 indicates that the trendline does not fit the data at all.

The “Dash” and “Width” options can be used to change the appearance of the trendline. The “Dash” option will add dashes to the trendline, while the “Width” option will change the thickness of the line. You can experiment with these options to see what looks best.

7. Click “Close”

When you are finished customizing the trendline, click the “Close” button. The trendline will be added to the selected data series in the spreadsheet.

Tips

If you want to remove the trendline from the data series, simply click on the trendline and press the “Delete” key on your keyboard. You can also right-click on the trendline and select “Delete” from the menu.

To edit the trendline, simply click on it and then make the desired changes in the “Edit trendline” window. You can also right-click on the trendline and select “Edit trendline” from the menu.