In Excel: in Microsoft 365 Excel desktop on Windows or Mac, select geographic region names and their values, then Insert ▸ Charts ▸ Maps ▸ Filled Map. Creating or updating the map requires an internet connection.
On this page7
Put geographic names and values in adjacent columns with headers.
Select the table and choose Insert ▸ Charts ▸ Maps ▸ Filled Map while online.
If a location is ambiguous, add its country or province in a separate column.
Check recognized regions, labels and the legend against the source table.
What this does
A filled map shades geographic regions by a value or category. It needs recognizable regions, not arbitrary X/Y coordinates. Latitude, longitude and street-address plotting require another mapping workflow. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “excel map graph”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected chart visible, and compare the result with the outcome you expected before you touch the real workbook. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. The point is a visual that makes the number obvious at a glance, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
Enter Country and Orders as headers in A1:B1, then Canada/100, United States/80 and Mexico/60 in rows 2:4. Select A1:B4 and insert a Filled Map. Check that the three countries are recognized and that the legend represents the Orders values before presenting the chart. Use regional shading when the geographic pattern is part of the comparison. A practical tip: try it on a copy of the sheet or a handful of sample rows first and check the result before you apply it to the real data. That one habit catches almost every surprise while it is still cheap to reverse.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Nothing on this page is behind a login or a download: the exact answer is at the top, and the detail below it is there for when you need it. That is the whole promise here — the answer first, and just enough context to make it stick. The short version of “excel map graph”: the answer is at the top of this page, and the sections above explain why each step matters, so a variation of the problem does not stump you. Try it once on a copy of a real file and the steps stick far better than re-reading them.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a Filled Map to plot street addresses or latitude/longitude points.
- Putting multiple geography levels into one cell instead of separate columns.
- Presenting the map without checking ambiguously named regions.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Filled Map show postal codes?
Postal codes are supported geographic regions. Add a separate country column where a code is ambiguous and verify the recognized area.
Can I create a map offline?
Creating or updating map data needs an online connection. An existing map can be viewed offline.
Does this plot coordinates?
No. Filled Map displays geographic regions; it does not plot latitude/longitude points or street addresses.