How to Create a Progress Tracker in Excel (With Example)

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create the following progress tracker in Excel:

Step 1: Enter the Data

First, let’s enter some data that shows the progress made on 10 different tasks:

Step 2: Create Horizontal Bar Chart

Next, highlight the cell range A1:B11, then click the Insert tab along the top ribbon, then click the icon called Clustered 2-D Bar within the Charts group:

The following bar chart will appear:

Step 3: Customize the Axis Range

Next, double click the x-axis along the bottom of the chart. In the Format Axis panel that appears on the right side of the screen, change the Maximum value to 1:

The x-axis of the chart will updated to range from 0% to 100%:

Step 4: Add Data Labels

Next, click anywhere on the chart. Then click the green plus sign in the top right corner of the chart and then check the box next to Data Labels to add labels to the end of each bar:

Step 5: Customize the Chart Appearance

Next, feel free to click on the individual elements of the chart such as the title, the data labels, the axis labels and the bars themselves to change the font size and bar colors:

Step 6: Update Data

If you update any of the values in the original dataset, the bars in the progress tracker will automatically update to reflect the new progress values.

For example, suppose we change the progress for Task 10 from 22% to 90%.

The progress bar for Task 10 will automatically update in the chart: