Excel progress charts
Goal completion, target vs actual, percent to plan — the figures a dashboard exists to answer. Here's how to show them as a clean bar, a radial ring, or a gauge.
Every progress chart in Excel is the same trick: split one value into "done" and "remaining," then style the two pieces. A stacked bar gives you a progress bar, a doughnut gives you a radial ring, and a half-doughnut gives you a gauge.
Progress bar: target vs actual
The workhorse. Put two numbers in cells — the actual and the remaining-to-target — and insert a stacked bar chart. Color the actual with your accent and the remainder a light track gray, then delete the axis, gridlines, title, and legend. You're left with a single clean bar that fills toward the goal. Stack several of them and you get a tidy "percent to plan" panel that scans top to bottom.
For the lightest possible version, skip the chart entirely: drop a percent in a column and apply a conditional-formatting data bar. It lives inside the cell, updates automatically, and is perfect for a table row. Use the chart version when the bar is a hero element; use the data bar when it's one column among many.
How to build a radial progress ring
Two values that add to 1
Put the percent in one cell and =1-that in the next, so the pair always totals 100%. That's the whole data range.
Insert a doughnut
Select the two cells, Insert → Doughnut. You get a ring split into a filled part and an empty part.
Color the segments
Click once to select the series, click again to select one segment. Accent for the progress, a light neutral for the track.
Thin the ring
Format Data Series → Doughnut Hole Size to about 75–85%, so the ring is a clean band, not a fat donut.
Strip the chrome
Delete the title, legend, and borders. Only the ring should remain on the canvas.
Percent in the center
Drop a text box or a linked cell in the hole showing the percent, large. Now the ring reads as one indicator.
Gauge: a half-doughnut
A gauge is a ring cut in half. Build a doughnut from three values — the two halves of the visible dial plus a hidden bottom half set to 50% of the total — then rotate the chart so the hidden segment sits at the bottom and the dial spans the top 180°. Make the hidden part No Fill, color the dial, and overlay a thin pie slice or a small needle shape to point at the value. Gauges are striking but space-hungry and easy to over-read, so reserve them for a single headline number, never a grid of them.
Whichever form you pick, the rule is the same as every other good chart decision: two colors, no chrome, and the number always visible. The shape is the garnish; the percent is the point.
What ruins a progress chart
Related techniques
Excel KPI card design
Drop a progress ring onto a metric card for an at-a-glance goal tile.
Build a card →Excel dashboard color palette
Choose the accent and the track gray your progress charts should use.
Pick colors →Excel dashboard examples
See progress charts working inside finished, polished dashboards.
See examples →Excel design templates
29 ready-made dashboards with progress visuals already built in.
Browse templates →Excel progress charts, answered
How do I make a progress bar in Excel?
The simplest way is a stacked bar chart with two values: the actual and the remaining-to-target. Color the actual with your accent and the remainder a light track gray, remove the axis and gridlines, and you have a clean horizontal progress bar. For an in-cell version, use a data bar from conditional formatting on a percent column.
How do I make a radial or circular progress chart in Excel?
Use a doughnut chart driven by two cells — the percent and its remainder, which add to 1. Color the progress segment with your accent and the remainder a light gray, shrink the hole size to a thin band, strip the title and legend, and drop the percent in the center as a text box or linked cell.
When should I use a progress ring instead of a progress bar?
Use a bar when you have several metrics to compare — stacked bars line up and scan top to bottom easily. Use a ring when one figure deserves the spotlight, like a single goal-completion percent on a KPI card. Rings draw the eye but take more space, so don't build a wall of them.
How do I build a gauge chart in Excel?
A gauge is a half-doughnut. Make a doughnut with three values — the two halves of the dial plus a hidden bottom half set to 50 percent of the total — rotate it so the hidden part sits at the bottom, then overlay a thin pie slice or a needle to point at the value. Gauges are eye-catching but space-hungry, so reserve them for a single headline number.
What colors should a progress chart use?
Two colors: one accent for the completed portion and one light neutral for the track or remainder. Add green or red only if you want to signal on-target versus behind. Avoid coloring the whole chart — the contrast between the filled accent and the quiet track is what makes progress readable at a glance. More on color →