OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Waterfall Chart Maker
Paste Label and Change Rows, Download SVG or PNG Free
OneTask is free, with no sign-up, and built by one person.
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How the Waterfall Chart Maker works
This waterfall chart maker shows how a total builds up. A waterfall chart, also called a bridge chart, shows how a starting figure becomes a final one through a series of increases and decreases: revenue down to net profit, opening headcount to closing headcount, last year's budget to this year's. Spreadsheets need stacked-bar tricks to draw one. Here you paste rows of label and change, write total on any row that should show the running figure, and the page draws floating bars with connectors and value labels ready to download as SVG or PNG. Nothing is uploaded.
Waterfall chart maker: writing the rows
The first line is a header and each line after it is one step: a label, a comma, the change. Positive numbers rise from the running total and negative numbers fall from it. Write the word total in the change column to draw a full-height bar showing the running total at that point; you can have as many of these as you like, so Gross profit, Operating profit and Net profit can each get one. Thousands separators inside numbers are fine, and tabs work in place of commas so a two-column range copied from a spreadsheet pastes straight in.
Reading the chart
The first bar starts from zero. Each following bar floats from where the previous one ended, coloured one way for increases and another for decreases, with dashed connectors joining the end of one bar to the start of the next so the eye follows the running level. Total bars are drawn in a third colour from the baseline. Every bar carries its value, signed for changes and plain for totals, and hovering shows the label, the change and the running total at that step.
Negative running totals
If the running figure dips below zero the axis extends downward and a solid baseline marks zero, so a loss-making period reads as bars hanging below the line rather than an empty gap. The colours stay tied to the direction of change, not to which side of zero the bar sits.
Number formats
Plain prints numbers as typed. Thousands separator inserts commas and rounds to whole numbers, which suits currency in thousands or units. Percent treats the values as fractions, so 0.12 prints as 12.0%; use it when the steps are shares of a whole rather than amounts. The optional axis label names the unit, such as £000 or Headcount.
Exporting
Download SVG gives a vector file with labels as editable text, ready for Inkscape, Illustrator or Figma, or for pasting into a report. Download PNG renders at one, two or three times the preview width. Copy SVG puts the markup on the clipboard. Everything is drawn in your browser; the figures never leave your machine.
FAQ
How do I add a subtotal bar?
Put the word total, or subtotal, in the change column instead of a number. The bar is drawn from zero to the running total at that point in a distinct colour, and the following step continues from the same level. Use one at the end for the final figure.
Can the first row be a starting balance?
Yes. Enter the opening figure as a positive change on the first row and it draws as a bar from zero, which is the usual way to begin. If you want it styled as a total instead, add a row with total straight after it.
Why are some labels rotated?
With more than six steps the category names are angled so they do not collide. Shorter labels stay horizontal; if the chart is crowded, abbreviate the names or split the analysis into two charts.
Can I change the colours?
Choose a palette from the options above the chart. Decreases take the first colour of the palette, increases the second and totals the third, so pick a palette whose first three colours contrast clearly for a finance audience, or one with red first for costs.
See also: all Chart Makers tools, Images, Audio, Video & Screen, PDF, SVG, Simulations & Screensavers, Generative Art, 3D Model Viewers, Drawing Pads, Mockups & 3D Making, Diagram Makers, 3D Science, Tracker Music.
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