A Sankey Diagram in Excel is a flow visualization that shows how quantities move between stages in a process. The width of each flow reflects the magnitude being transferred, making it simple to see where resources, energy, or data are concentrated.
This type of visualization is commonly used to analyze energy consumption, financial flows, customer journeys, and marketing funnels because it clearly shows how inputs are distributed across multiple outcomes.
Although Excel does not include a built-in option for creating this type of flow visualization, you can still build one using specialized tools or add-ins. In this guide, you’ll learn when to use this visualization and how to create a Sankey diagram in Excel step by step.
Sankey diagrams in Excel provide a clear visual representation of flows, helping you analyze how values transfer from one stage to another. Each connection’s width corresponds to the size of the flow, which allows you to quickly spot major contributors, bottlenecks, or inefficiencies.
To create these visuals, your Excel data should be well-structured: columns represent categories or stages, and rows define the flows with corresponding numeric values.
By transforming raw numbers into a chart, you can better understand complex relationships and patterns in your datasets, making insights more accessible to stakeholders and decision-makers.
Sankey diagrams in Excel are ideal for visualizing how values move between stages in a process. They help you understand flows of resources, energy, costs, or data, and highlight key bottlenecks or patterns. Here are five practical examples with real-world use cases:
Track the flow of candidates from application submission to onboarding. By representing each stage in a Excel Sankey chart, HR professionals can identify bottlenecks in recruitment and optimize hiring processes.
Visualize market sentiment toward a brand or product. Each flow can represent positive, neutral, and negative responses, allowing marketers to see patterns in customer perception.
Show the movement of money from sources to recipients. This helps finance teams identify major inflows and outflows and improve cash management decisions.
Track packages from dispatch to delivery across different regions. This chart can make it easy to identify delays or lost shipments.
Visualize the journey of online orders by brand or category. Excel Sankey charts allow you to quickly spot top-selling products and potential order processing issues.
Excel doesn’t provide a built-in Sankey chart in Excel, but you can create one using ChartExpo, an easy-to-use Excel add-in. In this section, we’ll show you how to build a Sankey diagram from structured Excel data step by step.
Before creating the chart, ensure your Excel data is structured properly:
In this step-by-step video tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a Sankey diagram in Excel using structured worksheet data. By watching this video, you will:
This is an ideal for visualizing flows and transfers between different stages. You can use them in Excel to clearly represent how quantities move across processes or categories.
Some common applications include:
While Excel Sankey diagrams are excellent for visualizing flows and resource distribution, they are not always the best choice for every dataset or scenario. Consider avoiding them in the following cases:
Creating a Sankey diagram in Excel without add-ins comes with several challenges:
Yes, you can achieve this by downloading and installing the add-in, since Excel doesn’t include a built-in template for it. Add-on offers a variety of chart templates, allowing you to easily create a Sankey diagram in Excel.
Your dataset should show flows between stages. Typically, it includes a source column, a target column, and a numeric value column that represents the magnitude of the transfer between the two stages.
Sankey diagrams in Excel are a powerful way to visualize complex data flows and communicate your insights clearly. They help capture your audience’s attention and make it easier to highlight key patterns or trends in your analysis.
If you work in other tools like Google Sheets or Power BI, similar visuals can also be created using platform-specific guides. By using this Excel chart effectively, you ensure your audience quickly understands the most important aspects of your data story.
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