This post will teach you how to add a horizontal benchmark line to an existing Excel chart or graph in excel. How do I add a horizontal baseline or target line to a chart or graph gives loads of context for the viewer.

For example, you have a simple Excel spreadsheet tracking product sales. And you have a column with dates and another with sales. And you have made a simple chart with both columns as data sources. And you want to add a horizontal baseline to this chart so that the user can see how close they are to their target sales. You can follow this guide to achieve the result.

Adding a horizontal Benchmark/Baseline/Target Line to a Chart or Graph

To add a horizontal benchmark line to a chart, just do the following steps:

#1 create a new benchmark line column that contains benchmark sales data.

#2 Right-click on the existing chart, and choose Select Data… from the drop-down menu list.

#3 the Select Data source window will appear.

#4 click Add button under Legend Entries section, the Edit Series window will appear.

#5 enter one Series name such as: Benchmark line into the Series name text box. Then select benchmark line column as its series values. Then click OK button.

#6 you will see that the benchmark line column has been added into the cart.

#7 Right-click on the newly benchmark line series, and select Change Series Chart Type from the drop down menu list. The Change Chart Type window will appear.

#8 Select chart type as line for the benchmark line series.

So far, the horizontal benchmark line or baseline is added into the existing chart.