How to Do Trend Analysis in Excel

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: May 17, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to create a projection of a graph's data in Microsoft Excel. You can do this on both Windows and Mac computers.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

On Windows

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1
Open your Excel workbook. Double-click the Excel workbook document in which your data is stored.
- If you don't have the data that you want to analyze in a spreadsheet yet, you'll instead open Excel and click Blank workbook to open a new workbook. You can then enter your data and create a graph from it.
2
Select your graph. Click the graph to which you want to assign a trendline.
- If you haven't yet created a graph from your data, create one before continuing.
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It's a green button next to the upper-right corner of the graph. A drop-down menu will appear.
You may need to hover your mouse over the far-right side of the "Trendline" box to prompt this arrow to appear. Clicking it brings up a second menu.
5
Select a trendline option. Depending on your preferences, click one of the following options
- Linear
- Exponential
- Linear Forecast
- Two Period Moving Average
- You can also click More Options... to bring up an advanced options panel after selecting data to analyze.
Click a data series name (e.g., Series 1) in the pop-up window. If you named your data already, you'll click the data's name instead.
7
Click OK. It's at the bottom of the pop-up window. Doing so adds a trendline to your graph.
- If you clicked More Options... earlier, you'll have the option of naming your trendline or changing the trendline's persuasion on the right side of the window.
Press Ctrl+S to save your changes. If you've never saved this document before, you'll be prompted to select a save location and file name.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

On Mac

Download Article

1
Open your Excel workbook. Double-click the Excel workbook document in which your data is stored.
- If you don't have the data that you want to analyze in your spreadsheet, you'll instead open Excel to create a new workbook. You can then enter your data and create a graph from it.
2
Select the data in your graph. Click the series of data that you want to analyze to select it.
- If you haven't yet created a graph from your data, create one before continuing.
It's at the top of the Excel window.^{[1]
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This option is on the far-left side of the Chart Design toolbar. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
It's at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
6
Select a trendline option. Depending on your preferences, click one of the following options in the pop-out menu:^{[2]
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- Linear
- Exponential
- Linear Forecast
- Moving Average
- You can also click More Trendline Options to bring up a window with advanced options (e.g., trendline name).
Press ⌘ Command+Save, or click File and then click Save. If you've never saved this document before, you'll be prompted to select a save location and file name.

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Question

How do I choose where the data goes in Excel?

Community Answer

Just click a section of the grid, then put whatever you need to in the box. You can also extend boxes by dragging them.

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Tips

Depending on your graph's data, you may have additional trendline options (e.g., Polynomial).

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Warnings

Make sure that you have sufficient data to predict a trend. It's almost impossible to analyze a "trend" in only two or three points of data.

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