In Excel: select the chart, click Chart Elements (+) ▸ Error Bars, then choose Standard Error, Percentage, Standard Deviation, or More Options for custom positive and negative ranges.
On this page7
Click the chart series that should receive error bars.
Open Chart Elements (+) and tick Error Bars, or use Chart Design ▸ Add Chart Element ▸ Error Bars.
Choose a quick option such as Standard Deviation, or open More Options for custom values.
For custom bars, click Specify Value and select the worksheet ranges for positive and negative error amounts.
What this does
Error bars show uncertainty around each plotted value. In Excel they live on the chart, not in the source table: you select the chart, turn on Error Bars, then choose whether the bars represent standard error, a fixed percentage, standard deviation, or custom values from worksheet ranges. Custom error bars are the most useful for real analysis because each point can use its own plus and minus amount. 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. For “add error bars in excel”, the reliable version is a short checking loop, not just the first command that appears to work. Run it on a deliberately small range first, watch how the affected cells change, and only then apply the same setup to the full sheet. 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. That is what makes a layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable useful in real work: repeatable, auditable, and not dependent on memory or luck.
A worked example
A line chart plots average delivery time as 4.8, 5.2 and 4.6 days, with standard deviations of 0.4, 0.6 and 0.3 in C2:C4. Select the chart, choose Error Bars ▸ More Options ▸ Custom ▸ Specify Value, and point both Positive and Negative Error Value at C2:C4. The second point now shows the widest bar because its uncertainty is 0.6 days, while the third point shows the tightest range at 0.3 days. Use error bars when a chart should communicate reliability, not just point estimates — survey results, experiments, forecasts, measurements and any trend where the size of the uncertainty changes how the result should be read. 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. Treat “add error bars in excel” as a routine rather than a one-off. Once you know which setting or command controls it, the same few steps handle every workbook where it comes up in Excel, and you can explain them to a colleague in a sentence.
Common mistakes
- Adding percentage error bars when your worksheet already contains measured error values; use Custom instead.
- Selecting only one cell for a custom range when the series has several points, which makes every point use the same error.
- Forgetting separate positive and negative ranges when asymmetric uncertainty matters.
- Trying to add error bars to chart types that do not support them cleanly; use line, scatter, column or bar charts for best results.
Frequently asked questions
Can each point have a different error bar?
Yes. Use More Options ▸ Custom ▸ Specify Value and select a range with one error value per plotted point.
How do I remove error bars?
Click an error bar on the chart and press Delete, or untick Error Bars in the Chart Elements menu.
Should I use standard deviation or standard error?
Use standard deviation to show spread in the observations; use standard error to show uncertainty around the estimated mean.
Other ways people ask this
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Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “how to add errors bars in excel”, “add error bars excel”, “how to make error bars in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.