Stacking and Stack Totals

Columns, bars and areas sit next to each other by default. Stacking places them on top of each other instead, so the height of a bar is the total and each segment is one part of it.

What it is

Switch on the Stacked checkbox next to the chart type buttons in the chart editor. Use it when the data series all belong to the same total, for example the parts of a gross profit effect.

The checkbox is offered on column, bar, area, line and mixed charts. Tables, pie charts, packed bubble charts and waterfall charts do not have it.

Stacked column chart of the gross profit effect per engine type, with the positive and negative sums labeled above and below each bar

Stacking applies to a whole chart type. To stack most data series but keep one of them separate, for example a benchmark line drawn across the stack, use a mixed chart instead.

When to use it

The data series are parts of one figure and their sum is meaningful.
You want to show both a total and its composition without a second chart.
Values run both above and below zero and you want the positive and negative parts read separately.

Leave stacking off when the data series are alternatives rather than parts, for example the same key figure in different scenarios. Those belong side by side.

Configuration

Once a chart is stacked, you can label the total of each bar. The Stack Totals drop-down in the chart editor offers three options.

The Stack Totals drop-down in the chart editor, open with its three options

Option	What you get
None	The default for a new chart. Only the proportional values of the segments within a bar are shown, with no total.
Combined sum	The total value of the whole bar is shown on top of it.
Positive/negative sums	The sum of the negative values is shown at the bottom end of the bar and the sum of the positive values at the top end.

None

A stacked column chart showing only the segment values, with no total

Combined sum

The same chart with one combined total labeled above each bar

Positive/negative sums

The same chart with the negative sum labeled below each bar and the positive sum above it

Good to know

Setting several data series to bars does not stack them. Stacking is the separate Stacked checkbox, and without it the bars stand side by side.
No Stack Totals drop-down? It only appears once Stacked is on, and never on pie or waterfall charts.
A line never stacks. In a mixed chart a data series shown as a line runs in front of the stack, whether Stacked is on or off.
Stack Totals can rescue overlapping labels. When data labels collide, a combined sum often reads better than the individual values. See Overlapping Data Labels.

Mixed Charts: show one data series differently from the rest, so it stays out of the stack.
Formatting Charts: sorting, colors, scales and table styles.