Pick the right chart
Excel's default chart is almost never the right one. Paste your data, describe what you need to show, and get the chart that actually communicates — with click-by-click instructions.
About picking the right chart
Excel defaults to a clustered column chart for every shape of data — which is exactly why most slides communicate poorly. Time series wants lines. Part-of-whole over 5 categories wants a 100% stacked bar, not a pie. Distributions want histograms. Correlation wants scatter plots. Pick the wrong chart and the audience does extra work to decode what should be obvious in 3 seconds.
The Qaynaq Labs chart recommender reads your data shape and your intent ("show the gap widening", "compare quarterly hire counts", "highlight outliers"), then picks the chart type that fits. Step-by-step Excel and Google Sheets instructions, plus alternatives to consider and charts to avoid for this specific data.
Frequently asked
Why is a pie chart almost always wrong?
Humans compare lengths better than angles. A bar chart of the same data is faster to read. Pie charts only work for 3-5 categories of very different sizes.
Do you support pivot charts?
Yes — the recommendation accounts for whether you should pivot first (group by a column) before charting.
What about color choices?
Design tips section covers color: avoid red-green for accessibility, use one accent color not a rainbow, keep gridlines subtle. Excel's default palette is usable but loud.
Can I use this for Google Slides?
Yes — build in Sheets, then Insert > Chart from Sheets in Slides. The chart updates when the source updates.