How to Create Line Charts in Excel (In Easy Steps) Line charts are used to display trends over time. Use a line chart if you have text labels, dates or a few numeric labels on the horizontal axis. Use a scatter plot (XY chart) to show scientific XY data. To create a line chart, execute the following steps. 1. Select the range A1:D7. 2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Line symbol.