How to Create a Treemap Chart in Excel?

Hierarchically displaying data works magic, especially when creating data stories.

Why?

Our brains can easily recognize ranked order with almost no cognitive effort.

There’s a chart that is best-suited in displaying insights into data in a ranked order. And the chart is called a Treemap in Excel. The visualization design is amazingly easy to read and interpret, even for non-technical audiences (and readers).

Excel is the go-to visualization tool, especially among professionals and business owners. And this is because its parent company (Microsoft) has a solid reputation in other segments, such as operating systems. Besides, the application has been there for years, making it familiar to many.

However, Excel generates very basic Treemap Diagrams, which need extra effort and time in editing.

There’s an add-in you can easily install in your Excel to access ready-made and visually stunning Treemap in Excel, plus many more advanced visualization designs.

In this blog, you’ll learn the following:

• How to get started with Treemap in Excel for your data stories?
• How to create a Treemap Chart in Excel? (step by step)
• We’ll address the following question: what is a Treemap Chart?
• Also, we’ll recommend the best add-in to install in your Excel to access ready-made Treemaps.

How to Get Started with Treemap Chart in Excel for Data Visualization?

Before diving right into the heart of the blog, let’s go through the definition of the visualization design.

What is a Treemap Chart?

Visualization Source: ChartExpo

Treemap is a visualization design you can use to display insights using nested rectangles. Each data point is represented by a rectangle, whose area is proportional to its value.

You can use the chart to represent several dimensions of your data, such as groups and subgroups that contribute to the whole.

Advantages of a Treemap Chart:

Check out the advantages of a Treemap Chart below.

• You can use the chart to display part-to-whole relationships between data points.
• The chart has massive real estate you can use to display insights without clutter.
• The chart is straightforward to read and interpret.

How Does a Treemap Chart in Excel Looks like?

A Treemap visualization is a rectangular graph that uses a series of nested rectangles to display subcategories of a variable that contributes to the whole.

There are two key components that make a Treemap in Excel stand out from other charts, namely, the efficient use of space and color to display insights into data variables.

The strategic use of color makes them an exceptional tool to visualize a significant volume of information in a wide variety of business applications.

Take a look at the table below.

Can you provide reliable insights into the table (below)?

Food Items	Category of Items	No. of Orders
Salads	Classic Greek Salad.	80
Salads	Pad Thai Salad	70
Salads	Green Goddess Salad.	100
Salads	Fruity Pasta Salad.	50
Salads	Bulgur Wheat Salad.	40
Salads	New Potato Salad.	35
Salads	Garlicky Tomato Salad.	45
Salads	Apple and Sprout Salad.	45
Chicken Dishes	Greek Chicken with beans	50
Chicken Dishes	Cooked Italian Chicken	35
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Stroganoff	70
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Rice	60
Chicken Dishes	Thai Chicken Thighs	85
Chicken Dishes	Cajun Chicken Lasagna	30
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Stew	90
Chicken Dishes	Smoky Spanish Chicken	50
Mutton Dishes	Kabab Chenjeh	45
Mutton Dishes	Mutton Rara	30
Mutton Dishes	Dande Kabab	50
Mutton Dishes	Quzi	25
Mutton Dishes	Roast Lamb with Mint	40
Mutton Dishes	Chanfana	70
Mutton Dishes	Baranina	20
Mutton Dishes	Mutton Satay	50

Now, take a look at the Treemap Chart below.

As you can see, it’s now easy to tell a story of the data above.

For instance, Chicken dishes and salad are the customers’ favorite meals. Besides, customers like chicken stew, Chanfana, and green goddess salad more than other meals.

Keep reading because, in the next section, we’ll cover the situations when to use Treemap Chart.

When to use a Treemap Chart?

• If your goal is to make hierarchical data easy to read and analyze

Use Treemaps to uncover the ranked order of variables in your data.

The chart uses a series of rectangles to show the magnitude of key data points. The most giant rectangle represents the largest value. Conversely, the smaller rectangles depict the metrics with lower values.

You can use a combination of high contrast colors to create a differentiation of the ranked variables (by magnitude or size).

• If you intend to compare the proportions in hierarchical data

Use Treemap to compare the subcategories that contribute to the whole. In other words, it should be your go-to chart if your goal is to show part-to-whole relationships among the data points.

• If you need a lot of space to display insights

Treemaps are best known for using their vast space to display insights in a clear and easy-to-interpret manner. You can comfortably use the visualization design to visualize complex and bulky data without worrying about clutter.

When Not to Use a Treemap?

• If your objective is to get reliable part-to-whole insights at the micro-level

Treemaps are not ideal if your goal is to display part-to-whole insights at the micro-level because of possible distortion of the sizes of rectangles.

• If you want your insights delivered in a print format

Treemaps are highly preferred when in softcopy or interactive in nature. As we said, this chart is best-suited for visualizing bulky data, which sometimes makes them massive in size.

Why do Analysts use a Treemap in Excel?

Most data analysts prefer to use the Treemap visualization because they can easily achieve the following goals:

• Indicate rankings of key metrics
• Uncover differences between key data points
• Display relative proportions in non-hierarchical raw data

Seasoned analysts regard Treemap in Excel as an alternative to traditional pie charts, often used to visualize “Part to Whole” relationships.

Keep reading because in the coming sections, we’ll cover how to create a Treemap Chart in Excel?

The Best Tool to use to Generate Visually Appealing Treemaps

Excel has inbuilt charts you can use to extract answers from your data.

However, you’ll never find ready-to-use and visually stunning Treemaps for your analysis. The most viable option is to supercharge the usability of Excel with third-party add-ins to access ready-made Treemaps.

We suggest you install ChartExpo add-in into your Excel for the reasons listed below.

ChartExpo does not require coding or programming skills, unlike other data visualization-based add-ins. More so, it has an ultra-friendly UI for everyone to use.

This tool comes pre-loaded with a lot advanced charts to offset the missing ones in Excel. Use ChartExpo to produce Treemaps that are incredibly easy to read and understand.

How to make a Treemap Chart in Excel should never be time-consuming. Use ChartExpo to overcome this. You’ll learn more about this cutting-edge tool in the next section.

What is ChartExpo?

ChartExpo comes as an add-in for Excel.

Essentially, it turns your Excel into a reliable data visualization companion capable of delivering hidden insights into your data, irrespective of the size or complexity.

The premium Treemap in Excel maker comes with a 7-day free trial period.

The key benefit of ChartExpo is that it produces charts that are easy to read and interpret. More so, it allows you to save charts in the world’s most recognized formats, namely PNG and JPG.

ChartExpo is cloud-hosted, which makes it extremely light. You have a 100% guarantee that your computer or Excel won’t be slowed down.

How to Create a Treemap Chart in Excel? Step by Step Guide

Treemap chart in Excel is very easy to create if you are using ChartExpo add-in as it lets you create any chart in its list in few clicks. Let’s learn how to create a treemap chart in excel with the help of an example.

Example

In this example, we’ll use Treemap in Excel to display insights into the tabular data below:

Food Items	Category of Items	No. of Orders
Salads	Classic Greek Salad.	80
Salads	Pad Thai Salad	70
Salads	Green Goddess Salad.	100
Salads	Fruity Pasta Salad.	50
Salads	Bulgur Wheat Salad.	40
Salads	New Potato Salad.	35
Salads	Garlicky Tomato Salad.	45
Salads	Apple and Sprout Salad.	45
Chicken Dishes	Greek Chicken with beans	50
Chicken Dishes	Cooked Italian Chicken	35
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Stroganoff	70
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Rice	60
Chicken Dishes	Thai Chicken Thighs	85
Chicken Dishes	Cajun Chicken Lasagna	30
Chicken Dishes	Chicken Stew	90
Chicken Dishes	Smoky Spanish Chicken	50
Mutton Dishes	Kabab Chenjeh	45
Mutton Dishes	Mutton Rara	30
Mutton Dishes	Dande Kabab	50
Mutton Dishes	Quzi	25
Mutton Dishes	Roast Lamb with Mint	40
Mutton Dishes	Chanfana	70
Mutton Dishes	Baranina	20
Mutton Dishes	Mutton Satay	50

To install ChartExpo into your Excel, click this link.

• Open the worksheet and click the Insert button to access the My Apps option.

• Select ChartExpo add-in and click the Insert button.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts.

• Look for “Tree map” in the list.

• Select the sheet holding your data and click the Create Chart from Selection button, as shown below.

How to Edit the Treemap Chart in Excel using ChartExpo?

To add a title to your Treemap, follow the simple steps below:

• To get started, click the Edit Chart button.

• Once the Chart Header Properties window pops, click the Line 1 box and fill in your title.
• Toggle the small button (just below the Line 2 box) to the left to keep your title showing.
• Preserve your changes by clicking the Apply button, as shown below.

• Complete the simple task by clicking the Save Changes button, as shown above.

• Check out the complete Treemap in Excel Chart below.

FAQs:

What’s the importance of charts and graphs?

Analyzing spreadsheet tables is really a time-consuming affair. Besides, you’re unlikely to get reliable insights for decision-making purposes.

The key role of charts and graphs is to save you time. Besides, they can help you to display insights in a way that your audience can easily decode.

What is a Treemap good for?

Treemap is a visualization design you can use to display insights using nested rectangles. Each data point is represented by a rectangle whose area is proportional to its value.

Treemaps are good for visualizing several dimensions of your data, such as groups and subgroups, that contribute to the whole.

Wrap Up

Displaying data in a hierarchical manner is one of the expert-recommended ways of presenting your findings.

Why?

It’s proven that our brains can easily recognize ranked order with almost no cognitive effort.

Well, there’s a chart that is best-suited in displaying insights into data in a ranked order called a Treemap Chart. Besides, the graph is amazingly easy to read and interpret.

How to create a Treemap Chart in Excel (step by step) should never throw a curveball at you. Besides, Excel should not be your go-to Treemap in Excel generator if your goal is to access ready-to-use and visually stunning charts.

Why?

Excel spreadsheet application produces pretty basic Treemaps. And this means you have to spend more time customizing your charts.

We recommend you install a third-party application called ChartExpo to access ready-made and advanced charts. ChartExpo is an application you can easily download and install in your Excel spreadsheet.

Its extensive library has ready-made and visually stunning Treemaps, plus over many more advanced visualization designs. You don’t need coding skills to visualize your data using the Sunburst Visualization generator.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access ready-to-use and easy-to-interpret Treemaps for your data stories.