How to Add Error Bars in Excel: Standard, Custom and Per-Point

To add error bars in Excel, click the chart, select the Chart Elements button, and check Error Bars; the arrow beside it chooses Standard Error, Percentage, Standard Deviation or More Options. That covers the menu. What decides whether the bars are correct is what you tell Excel they should represent, and this guide shows the per-point Custom route that lets you plot exactly the statistic your methods section names. (Searchers often type this as “errors bars in excel”; the feature is called Error Bars.)

What error bars show in research

Error bars are a visual marker of variability or uncertainty around each plotted value, typically a standard deviation, a standard error or a confidence interval. A bar with no stated meaning cannot be interpreted, so the figure legend must say what the bars represent (see the figure legend example). If you are working with interval estimates, the confidence interval definition explains what such a bar would mean.

Per Microsoft Support, error bars can be added to 2-D area, bar, column, line, xy (scatter) and bubble charts. Scatter and bubble charts support both X and Y error bars.

Where to find error bars in Excel

Error bars are an option on an existing chart, not a separate chart type. Create the chart first, then add the bars from the chart’s element menu. The route differs by platform.

Platform	Path (per Microsoft Support)
Windows	Click the chart, then the Chart Elements button, then check Error Bars. The arrow next to Error Bars lists Standard Error, Percentage, Standard Deviation and More Options.
macOS	Select the series, then Chart Design tab > Add Chart Element > Error Bars > Standard Error, Percentage, Standard Deviation or More Error Bars Options.

Step-by-step: add error bars

Windows

1. Click the chart.
2. Click the Chart Elements button next to the chart.
3. Check Error Bars. To pick a type, click the arrow next to Error Bars and choose Standard Error, Percentage or Standard Deviation.
4. For direction, end style or custom values, choose More Options. This opens the Format Error Bars pane.

macOS

1. Select the data series on the chart.
2. Go to the Chart Design tab and choose Add Chart Element, then Error Bars.
3. Choose Standard Error, Percentage or Standard Deviation, or More Error Bars Options for the full Format Error Bars pane.

Custom per-point values from STDEV.S

When the paper must report a specific statistic, calculate it in cells and feed those cells to the chart, so the plotted value is one you can see and name. This is the route to use when each point needs its own bar length, for example one standard deviation per group.

1. Compute the spread for each group in its own cell. Microsoft documents STDEV.S(number1,[number2],...) as estimating standard deviation from a sample using the n-1 method, ignoring logical values and text in the sample. If your data are the whole population, use STDEV.P instead.
2. For a group whose raw values sit in B2:B7, the formula is =STDEV.S(B2:B7). Repeat for each group so you end with one value per plotted point, in a row or column of its own.
3. Select the chart, then open More Options (Windows) or More Error Bars Options (macOS) to reach the Format Error Bars pane.
4. On the Error Bar Options tab, under Error Amount, choose Custom, then Specify Value.
5. In the Positive Error Value and Negative Error Value boxes, either type one value per data point separated by commas, or select the cell range that holds your values. If the box already contains a default entry, clear it before selecting the range. The range must come from the same workbook.
6. Click OK.

Because every cell is visible in the sheet, a reader or reviewer can trace each bar back to a formula, and the legend can state exactly what was plotted. For a pooled estimate across groups, see pooled standard deviation.

Choosing the error amount

Option	What it does (per Microsoft Support)
Standard Error	Built-in Excel option in the Error Bars dropdown (Windows and macOS).
Percentage	Bars set to a percentage of the value for each data point.
Standard Deviation	Built-in Excel option in the same dropdown.
Custom	You supply the positive and negative values yourself, as typed values or a cell range, one value per data point.

Output and how to read the bars

Each bar extends from a data point by the chosen amount, in the direction you set (plus, minus or both). For scatter and bubble charts, vertical and horizontal bars are separate settings under More Options. Read a bar only against its stated definition: standard deviation bars describe spread of the observations, which is a different quantity from standard error. The wider question of how distributions behave is covered in sampling distribution.

Troubleshooting

• The Error Bars option is missing. Error bars are available for 2-D area, bar, column, line, xy (scatter) and bubble charts. Chart types outside that list do not offer them.
• Custom bars all look the same. Custom takes one value per data point. Check that the range holds one value per point rather than a single value.
• The range will not accept your selection. Clear the existing entry in the value box first, then select the cells.
• You want a bar gone. Clear the Error Bars box, or select one set of bars and press Delete (for a scatter chart this removes one direction only). Immediately after adding them, Undo or Ctrl+Z also works.

Free alternatives

Tool	Where error bars live	Options (per its official help)
LibreOffice Calc	Insert > Y Error Bars, on 2D charts. Applies to the selected series, otherwise to all.	None, Constant value, Percentage, Functions (Standard Error, Variance, Standard Deviation, Error Margin), Cell Range, From Data Table. Indicator: Positive and Negative, Positive or Negative.

If you prefer code, standard deviation in R shows how to compute the same quantity outside a spreadsheet, and bar charts in SPSS covers confidence-interval error bars in SPSS.

FAQ

How do I add error bars to a chart in Excel?

Click the chart, choose the Chart Elements button, and check Error Bars. On macOS use Chart Design > Add Chart Element > Error Bars.

How do I add custom error bars from my own values?

Open More Options, choose Custom under Error Amount, then Specify Value, and enter one value per data point or select a cell range in the same workbook.

Which function should I use for the standard deviation of a sample?

STDEV.S, which uses the n-1 method. Use STDEV.P if your data are the entire population.

How do I remove error bars?

Clear the Error Bars box, or select one set of bars and press Delete. Right after adding them, Undo works too.

Sources

• Microsoft Support, Add, change, or remove error bars in a chart, checked 2026-10-29.
• Microsoft Support, STDEV.S function, checked 2026-10-29.
• LibreOffice Help, Y Error Bars, checked 2026-10-29.