About a minute from install to your first live chart. No account and no key: every chart type is free for 14 days from first use.
1. Add Deltaline to Excel #
Use Excel on Windows or Mac with Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 and later, or Excel on the web.
- In Excel, open the Add-ins menu on the Home tab, search for Deltaline, and click Add. You can also start from the Deltaline listing on Microsoft Marketplace.
- If your company deploys add-ins centrally, Deltaline may already be there for you.
2. Insert a chart #
Click the cell where the chart should go, then insert Deltaline from the Add-ins menu on the Home tab. A chart frame appears on the sheet with the heading Pick a chart type and chart pictures in three groups: Variance, Classics and Basics. You can move and resize the frame like any other object on the sheet.
3. Pick a chart type #
- With your data: select one cell inside your table, then come back to the frame. It names the table under Your data (click Change after selecting other cells). The chart types that fit come first, and the best fit is marked Suggested. Click a picture and the chart is drawn from your data.
- Without data: when the frame says No data selected, click any picture (or Try with sample data at the bottom). Deltaline writes a small sample table for that chart type at A1 of the sheet, or next to or below the data already there, and draws the chart from it. Type over the numbers to try it. Filled cells are never overwritten.
- Data on another sheet? Select it there, then come back to the chart. In the editor, the Data section can also take the current selection.
Deltaline reads your headers and recognises actual, prior year, plan and forecast columns (AC, PY, PL and FC). In Excel on the web the frame may reload once while a sample is written; it then shows Finishing the chart you picked… and completes the chart by itself.
4. Adjust the chart #
Point at the chart to see its toolbar at the top right:
- Chart type switches to another type for the same data.
- Format opens a panel next to the chart for scale, decimals, labels, sorting and brand colors. See Format a chart.
- Edit opens the chart editor for the data mapping, options and texts. Click Apply to keep the changes.
- Export offers Download PNG, Copy image, Download HTML, Copy share link and Add to dashboard.
- More options holds Settings, License, Diagnostics, About and Restart add-in.
Double-click the title to write a message title that says what matters (“Revenue is 5.6% above last year”). Right-click a bar or category to highlight it, invert it for a cost line or add a comment (see Add comments to a chart).
5. Done: the chart follows your numbers #
- Change a number in the linked data and the chart redraws, with no panel open.
- Save, close and reopen the workbook: the charts are still there and still live.
- Want a second chart? Insert Deltaline again. Every chart keeps its own data and settings.
6. After the trial #
Column, bar, line and pie charts stay free, and so does Scenario columns (actual against prior year or plan); charts made in free mode carry a small “Made with Deltaline” badge. To unlock every chart type, open More options > License on any chart, paste the key from your purchase email, and click Add key. Colleagues who only view your workbooks never need a license.
Having trouble? #
If Deltaline says your selection has no numbers, see Use selection says there are no numbers. If a chart stops following its data, see The chart stopped updating. For anything else, contact support.