Floating bar charts (or Gantt Charts) are used to visualize data ranges. Stock price changes, and the start/end dates for project assignments are two examples of data ranges that are commonly visualized this way. 

How to create a floating bar chart

1. Click the Home | New Graph | Bar | Horizontal Floating Bar Chart or Home | New Graph | Bar | Vertical Floating Bar Chart command.

2. Select a data file in the Open Worksheet dialog. You can select a new data file or you can select an open data file in the Open worksheets section.

3. Click the Open button. A floating bar chart is created using the default properties.

Default horizontal floating bar chart in Grapher

How to customize your floating bar chart

The default graph properties do not clearly identify the data displayed above as a project timeline. We can make this graph more informative by adding a title, defining each of the items the data range apply to, and displaying the current date.

Add graph and axis titles

1. Click the Graph in the Object Manager to select it.
2. Click the Title tab in the Property Manager.
3. Enter the desired title in the Text field under Title Properties.
4. Click X Axis 1 or Y Axis 1 in the Object Manager to select it.
5. Click the Axis tab in the Property Manager.
6. Enter the desired title in the Text field under Title Properties.

Add category names

1. Click the Y Axis in the Object Manager to select it.
2. Click the Labels tab in the Property Manager.
3. Click in the Label source field and select From worksheet.
4. Click in the Worksheet field and select your open worksheet.
5. Click in the Data variable field and select Sequence number, Row number, or the appropriate Column.  This selection should match the Y variable for your plot
   
6. Click in the Label variable field and select the column/row containing the text categories.
7. If your data has a header row/column that is currently included, click the + next to Worksheet range to expand the section, and then increase the value in the First row or First column field to 2.

Add a custom grid line the X axis

1. Click the X Axis in the Object Manager to select it.
2. Click the Line tab in the Property Manager.
3. Click the Worksheet grid line checkbox
4. Click the + next to Worksheet grid lines to expand the section.
5. Click in the Worksheet field and select your worksheet.
6. Click in the Variable field and select the worksheet column containing the current date.
7. If desired, adjust the Worksheet line properties. You can also turn on major and minor grid lines here.

Horizontal Floating Bar Chart displaying a project timeline in Grapher

Additional information about this graph type can be found in the Floating Bart Charts Grapher help page.

Updated August, 2023