How to switch chart series data interpretation from horizontal (rows) to vertical (columns) in Excel?

23 Jul 20257 minutes to read

You can change how data is interpreted in a chart by switching the series alignment from horizontal (rows) to vertical (columns) using Syncfusion XlsIO. This is done by using IsSeriesInRows property of the IChart interface.

The following code snippets demonstrate how to switch chart series data interpretation from horizontal (rows) to vertical (columns) in Excel using C# (cross-platform and Windows-specific) and VB.NET.

C# [Cross-platform]

using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine()) 
{
    IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
    application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx;
    IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Create(1);
    IWorksheet sheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

    //Add data for chart
    sheet.Range["A1"].Text = "Year";
    sheet.Range["B1"].Text = "2022";
    sheet.Range["C1"].Text = "2023";
    sheet.Range["D1"].Text = "2024";

    sheet.Range["A2"].Text = "Sales";
    sheet.Range["B2"].Number = 1000;
    sheet.Range["C2"].Number = 1500;
    sheet.Range["D2"].Number = 1800;

    sheet.Range["A3"].Text = "Profit";
    sheet.Range["B3"].Number = 200;
    sheet.Range["C3"].Number = 300;
    sheet.Range["D3"].Number = 400;

    //Create a Chart
    IChartShape chart = sheet.Charts.Add();

    //Set chart type
    chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered;

    //Set data range in the worksheet
    chart.DataRange = sheet.Range["A1:D3"];

    //Set series orientation from rows to columns
    chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

    //Positioning the chart in the worksheet
    chart.TopRow = 9;
    chart.LeftColumn = 1;
    chart.BottomRow = 22;
    chart.RightColumn = 8;

    #region Save
    //Saving the workbook
    FileStream outputStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("Output.xlsx"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
    workbook.SaveAs(outputStream);
    #endregion

    //Dispose streams
    outputStream.Dispose();
}

C# [Windows-specific]

using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine()) 
{ 
    IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
    application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx;
    IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Create(1);
    IWorksheet sheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

    //Add data for chart
    sheet.Range["A1"].Text = "Year";
    sheet.Range["B1"].Text = "2022";
    sheet.Range["C1"].Text = "2023";
    sheet.Range["D1"].Text = "2024";

    sheet.Range["A2"].Text = "Sales";
    sheet.Range["B2"].Number = 1000;
    sheet.Range["C2"].Number = 1500;
    sheet.Range["D2"].Number = 1800;

    sheet.Range["A3"].Text = "Profit";
    sheet.Range["B3"].Number = 200;
    sheet.Range["C3"].Number = 300;
    sheet.Range["D3"].Number = 400;

    //Create a Chart
    IChartShape chart = sheet.Charts.Add();

    //Set chart type
    chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered;

    //Set data range in the worksheet
    chart.DataRange = sheet.Range["A1:D3"];

    //Set series orientation from rows to columns 
    chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

    //Positioning the chart in the worksheet
    chart.TopRow = 9;
    chart.LeftColumn = 1;
    chart.BottomRow = 22;
    chart.RightColumn = 8;

    //Saving the workbook
    workbook.SaveAs("Output.xlsx");
}

VB.NET [Windows-specific]

Using excelEngine As ExcelEngine = New ExcelEngine()
    Dim application As IApplication = excelEngine.Excel
    application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx
    Dim workbook As IWorkbook = application.Workbooks.Create(1)
    Dim sheet As IWorksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)

    'Add data for chart
    sheet.Range("A1").Text = "Year"
    sheet.Range("B1").Text = "2022"
    sheet.Range("C1").Text = "2023"
    sheet.Range("D1").Text = "2024"

    sheet.Range("A2").Text = "Sales"
    sheet.Range("B2").Number = 1000
    sheet.Range("C2").Number = 1500
    sheet.Range("D2").Number = 1800

    sheet.Range("A3").Text = "Profit"
    sheet.Range("B3").Number = 200
    sheet.Range("C3").Number = 300
    sheet.Range("D3").Number = 400

    'Create a Chart
    Dim chart As IChartShape = sheet.Charts.Add()

    'Set chart type
    chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered

    'Set data range in the worksheet
    chart.DataRange = sheet.Range("A1:D3")

    'Set series orientation from rows to columns
    chart.IsSeriesInRows = False

    'Positioning the chart in the worksheet
    chart.TopRow = 9
    chart.LeftColumn = 1
    chart.BottomRow = 22
    chart.RightColumn = 8

    'Saving the workbook
    workbook.SaveAs("Output.xlsx")
End Using

A complete working example to switch chart series data interpretation from horizontal (rows) to vertical (columns) in Excel is available on this GitHub page.