How to Create a Sankey Diagram in Excel: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Making Sankey Diagrams in Excel: A Practical Walkthrough

Few chart types communicate proportional flows as clearly as Sankey diagrams. The variable-width bands connecting nodes give viewers an immediate, intuitive sense of scale: wide bands carry more volume, narrow bands carry less. That clarity makes Sankey diagrams the go-to format for energy audits, budget breakdowns, user journey mapping, and supply chain analysis.

The difficulty is that Excel never shipped with a native Sankey chart type. Workarounds exist, though, and this guide covers all of them in depth: purpose-built add-ins, a manual stacked-chart construction technique, the Power BI path, and dedicated Sankey tools that take your spreadsheet data and produce a polished diagram in seconds.

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Why Excel Lacks a Built-In Sankey Chart Type

Excel offers a broad library of chart types: bar, line, scatter, pie, waterfall, treemap, sunburst, and others. A Sankey diagram sits outside that library because its rendering requirements differ from every standard chart type Excel supports. Specifically, a Sankey chart requires:

• Bands with variable widths that curve smoothly between source and target nodes
• Branching logic so one source can split its flow across multiple destinations
• Width-to-value proportionality so every band's thickness accurately encodes its data value
• Automatic node placement that reduces visual crossing and overlap

Excel's underlying chart engine was not architected to handle these requirements. Power BI, a separate product in the Microsoft ecosystem, does support a Sankey visual through its marketplace, but the desktop Excel application has not followed suit.

Given that gap, you have three realistic paths:

1. Add-in method: Install a third-party add-in that extends Excel with Sankey charting
2. Manual method: Construct an approximation from stacked area and column charts
3. External tool method: Keep data in Excel, visualize with a dedicated Sankey application

Each approach has its place, and the sections below break each one down completely.

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Method 1: Creating Sankey Diagrams in Excel with Add-Ins

Installing an add-in is the path of least resistance for users who want a Sankey chart embedded in their workbook. Several third-party developers offer add-ins that plug a Sankey chart type directly into Excel's Insert menu.

Excel Add-Ins Worth Evaluating

Detailed Walkthrough: Add-In Method

The steps below apply to most Excel Sankey add-ins with minor variations in button labels.

Step 1: Arrange your data in a three-column table

The universal Sankey data format places source names in column A, target names in column B, and numeric flow values in column C:

Every row defines one directional flow. The value column sets the band width in the finished diagram.

Step 2: Install the add-in from the Office store

1. Open Excel and select the Insert tab
2. Click Get Add-ins (some versions show this as Store under My Add-ins)
3. Search by name for your chosen add-in
4. Click Add to install, then restart Excel if prompted

Step 3: Select your data range

Click and drag to highlight all three columns including header row. Confirm there are no empty rows within the selected range, as gaps will break most add-ins.

Step 4: Generate the Sankey chart

1. Open the add-in from the Insert tab or sidebar
2. Locate the Sankey or flow chart option in its chart gallery
3. Click to insert the chart into your worksheet

Step 5: Refine the visual output

Add-in control panels typically let you:

• Reassign colors to individual source or target categories
• Reposition node labels
• Show or hide numeric value annotations
• Change the chart title
• Resize the chart object on the sheet

Downsides of the Add-In Approach

Add-ins are convenient, but they introduce friction in certain situations:

• Organizational IT policies often block unapproved third-party add-ins on corporate machines
• Portability problems arise when sharing workbooks with colleagues who lack the same add-in installed
• Styling ceilings mean that a dedicated Sankey tool will almost always produce a more polished diagram
• Sluggish performance on diagrams with many nodes or hundreds of data rows
• Subscription paywalls behind the more useful customization features

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Method 2: Building a Sankey Diagram Manually Using Stacked Charts

Users without add-in access can produce a reasonable Sankey approximation entirely from native Excel chart types. The technique relies on layering stacked area charts (for the curved flow bands) on top of stacked column charts (for the node pillars). It is technically valid but demands significant setup time.

The Logic Behind This Technique

The fundamental idea breaks into four parts:

1. Build stacked area charts in which transparent spacer series position each flow band at the correct vertical location
2. Build stacked column charts to represent the left-side source nodes and right-side target nodes
3. Set all spacer series to invisible fill, leaving only the colored data series visible
4. Stack all individual charts on one canvas with precise positional alignment

Step-by-Step Manual Construction

Step 1: Enter source data

Begin with the standard three-column layout:

Step 2: Build helper calculation tables

This is the most demanding part of the process. For each flow band you need to calculate several values:

• Source totals: Sum of all flows originating from each source node (use SUMIF)
• Target totals: Sum of all flows arriving at each target node (use SUMIF)
• Cumulative offset above: Total of all bands positioned above the current band at its source level
• Cumulative offset below: Remaining space below the current band at its source level
• Actual flow value: The raw number from your data table

Formulas like SUMIF, XLOOKUP, ISNUMBER, and nested IF statements power these calculations. A complete helper table for a diagram with seven flows can run to fifty or more formula cells.

Step 3: Insert individual area charts per source node

For each source category, insert a 100% stacked area chart containing three series:

1. Top spacer (set to no fill, no border)
2. Flow band (set to a solid or semi-transparent color)
3. Bottom spacer (set to no fill, no border)

Step 4: Strip each chart of all decorative elements

• Delete axis lines, tick marks, and axis labels
• Remove gridlines and the legend
• Delete the chart title
• Set the chart plot area to a transparent background
• Reverse the Y axis so the top of the chart represents the top of the diagram

Step 5: Create the node pillar charts

Insert 100% stacked column charts for the left column (sources) and right column (targets). Each segment in the column corresponds to one node category, colored to match its associated flow band.

Step 6: Assemble on a single canvas

1. Hold Ctrl and select all the individual area charts plus both pillar charts
2. Use Shape Format alignment tools to center all objects horizontally and vertically
3. Place the source pillar at the far left and the target pillar at the far right
4. Fine-tune positions until bands connect visually to the correct segments on each pillar

Is the Manual Method Worth Your Time?

For most practitioners the answer is no. Consider the effort involved:

The manual method has real educational value as a one-time exercise. It teaches you precisely how Sankey layouts are constructed. For recurring work, though, the fragility and time cost make it impractical.

A polished Sankey diagram of material flows through a production system, illustrating the level of clarity that purpose-built tools deliver

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Method 3: Connect Your Excel Data to Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft's dedicated business intelligence platform, and it supports Sankey diagrams through its visual marketplace. Because Power BI can ingest Excel workbooks as live data sources, it is a natural bridge for users already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Getting from Excel to a Power BI Sankey Chart

1. Download and open Power BI Desktop (available free from Microsoft)
2. Select Get Data and choose Excel Workbook
3. Browse to your file and load the three-column table
4. In the Visualizations pane, click Get more visuals and search for Sankey
5. Install a Sankey visual from AppSource (Microsoft publishes one; other vendors offer alternatives)
6. Map your fields: Source column to the Source well, Target column to the Destination well, Value column to the Weight well
7. Adjust colors, node widths, and label settings in the Format panel

Power BI: Benefits and Drawbacks

What works well:

• Charts are interactive: viewers can hover for tooltips or click nodes to filter the data
• The Excel workbook remains the single source of truth; refresh Power BI to pick up data changes
• Power BI Desktop is free to download and use locally

Where it falls short:

• Sharing interactive reports requires a Power BI Pro or Premium license
• Learning the Power BI interface adds time if you just need a static export
• The Sankey visual is a marketplace add-on, not a first-party built-in feature
• Teams without Power BI experience face a steeper ramp-up than with a web-based Sankey tool

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Method 4: Use a Dedicated Sankey Diagram Tool

For the majority of users, the most efficient workflow is to manage data inside Excel and send it to a specialized Sankey application for visualization. These tools exist for exactly this purpose and eliminate all the workarounds that Excel methods require.

Dedicated Sankey Tools at a Glance

Standard Workflow: Excel to External Tool

The transfer from spreadsheet to diagram takes fewer than five minutes:

1. Format your data in Excel using Source, Target, Value columns
2. Select and copy the data range (Ctrl+C)
3. Open your chosen Sankey tool in a browser tab
4. Paste or upload the data into the tool's input field
5. Adjust node colors, label fonts, band transparency, and chart dimensions
6. Export the finished diagram as PNG, SVG, or PDF

This approach keeps your spreadsheet as the authoritative data record while delegating visual rendering to a tool built specifically for it.

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Real-World Use Cases for Sankey Diagrams

Knowing where Sankey diagrams shine helps you decide whether the Excel challenge is worth tackling or whether a faster external tool makes more sense.

1. Energy Flow Analysis

Captain Matthew Sankey invented this chart type in 1898 to illustrate the thermal efficiency of steam engines. That original application has expanded considerably. Modern energy Sankey diagrams map generation sources to distribution grids to end consumers across entire national energy systems.

Sample data:

2. Website Traffic and Conversion Paths

Digital analysts use Sankey diagrams to trace how visitors arrive at a site, which pages they navigate through, and where they drop off before completing a conversion goal.

3. Budget and Revenue Allocation

Finance teams build Sankey diagrams to show how total revenue distributes across departments, cost centers, and individual expenditure categories within a reporting period.

4. Supply Chain and Material Flow

Manufacturers diagram the movement of raw materials from suppliers through production stages to finished goods leaving the warehouse, making inefficiencies and bottlenecks immediately visible.

5. Survey and Cohort Analysis

Academic researchers and UX teams use Sankey diagrams (sometimes called alluvial diagrams in scholarly literature) to track how survey respondents shift across categorical response groups between multiple survey waves.

A Sankey diagram mapping research grant funding from sources through institutional departments to project categories

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Design Principles for Effective Sankey Diagrams

Sound design choices improve clarity regardless of which tool or method you use to build the diagram.

Data Preparation Guidelines

• Limit nodes to five through eight per level to keep the chart readable rather than crowded
• Standardize category names precisely as minor spelling differences create duplicate nodes in the visualization
• Confirm that totals balance between source and target levels so the diagram does not have unexplained gaps
• Sort categories by size placing the largest flows at the top of each column

Visual Design Choices

• Assign distinct colors to source categories so viewers can follow individual flows across multiple levels
• Set band transparency between 40 and 60 percent to let crossing bands remain individually readable
• Label selectively showing values only for the largest flows to avoid a cluttered annotation layer
• Orient flows left to right as Western readers parse information in that direction naturally

Mistakes to Avoid

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Formatting Excel Data for Sankey Diagram Tools

Any dedicated Sankey tool will accept data structured in a consistent way. Preparing your Excel file correctly upfront prevents import errors.

Basic Three-Column Structure

Extended Multi-Level Structure

Diagrams with three or more stages use the same format: each row still defines a single directional flow. Multiple stages emerge automatically when target nodes in one set of rows appear as source nodes in the next:

This table produces a two-stage diagram: Revenue splits into Product Sales and Services at level one, then those categories split further at level two.

Data Cleanup Steps Before Import

1. Delete blank rows because most Sankey tools abort on empty records in the middle of a table
2. Keep columns typed correctly with text in source and target columns, numbers in the value column
3. Remove circular references as flows looping back from a downstream node to an upstream one break most rendering engines
4. Delete zero-value rows since they add nodes without adding visual information

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Finding and Using Sankey Diagram Templates for Excel

Excel does not bundle Sankey templates in its default gallery, but the community has produced workable options through several channels.

What a Useful Template Includes

• Preconfigured helper tables with formulas for spacer calculations
• Stacked area chart series set up for flow band rendering
• Stacked column chart series for source and target pillars
• A sample dataset you can replace with your own data
• Documented instructions for adapting the template to a different number of categories

Sources for Finding Templates

• Microsoft Tech Community forums have user-contributed workbooks for specialized chart types
• GitHub repositories: search "excel sankey template" to locate open-source spreadsheet solutions
• Add-in vendors like ChartExpo bundle starter templates with their products
• Tutorial publishers covering Excel advanced charting often offer downloadable companion workbooks

One Caveat About Templates

Templates shorten the initial setup phase but impose structural constraints. If your data has a different category count than the template assumed, adjusting the formulas and adding or removing chart series frequently takes as long as starting from scratch. Templates work best when your data structure is a close match to what the template was built for.

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Choosing the Right Approach: A Comparison

Use this table to match your situation to the appropriate method:

Situational Recommendations

• One-time or occasional need: A dedicated Sankey diagram tool delivers the fastest path from data to finished chart
• Recurring interactive dashboards: Power BI connected to Excel provides live updates and interactivity without rebuilding manually
• Locked-down corporate environment: An approved add-in is the only in-Excel option; if none are permitted, export data to an external tool
• Learning how Sankey diagrams work: The manual stacked-chart method is instructive as a single exercise, after which switching to a dedicated tool makes sense

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Summary

Excel offers no native path to a Sankey diagram, but several workable routes exist. Add-ins provide the most direct in-Excel experience for users whose environments allow third-party extensions. The manual stacked-chart method is a valid educational exercise but too fragile and time-consuming for production use. Power BI bridges Excel data to a proper Sankey visual for teams already using the Microsoft analytics stack.

For the widest range of users, the most practical combination is straightforward: manage and update your data in Excel where spreadsheet tools are strongest, then send that data to a purpose-built tool for the visual output.

Ready to turn your Excel data into a finished Sankey diagram? Open the Figviz Sankey Diagram Generator, paste your source-target-value table, and download a publication-ready chart in seconds, with no formulas, no add-ins, and no manual chart assembly required.

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Interested in more visualization techniques? The research data visualization best practices guide covers a broad range of chart types and design principles, and our walkthrough on creating circuit diagrams online is useful for technical documentation projects.