Should Bar Graphs Start at Zero?

But what about line charts? If there's one thing almost everyone agrees on in data visualization, it's that bar charts should start at zero. Starting them anywhere else — truncating the y-axis — risks misleading your audience by making a small difference look like a big one.

Should all graphs start at zero?

While it's a good idea to have best practices with displaying data in graphs, the “show the zero” is a rule that clearly can be broken. But showing or not showing the zero alone is not sufficient to declare a graph objective or conversely “deceptive.”

How do you make a bar graph not start at 0?

Right-click the vertical axis and choose Format Axis. The Format Axis dialog box appears, as shown in the figure. In the Format Axis dialog box, expand the Axis Options section and set the Minimum value to 0.