Venn Diagram: Excel Tutorial

Last updated: August 25, 2026.

Quick answer: Excel has no Venn diagram chart type. You build one as a SmartArt graphic: go to Insert > Illustrations > SmartArt, choose the Relationship category, select Basic Venn, and click OK. SmartArt draws the circles but does not read your worksheet, so any numbers in the diagram have to be calculated separately and typed in.

On this page

• Can you make a Venn diagram in Excel?
• What is a Venn diagram actually showing?
• How do you create a Venn diagram in Excel?
• How do you add text to a Venn diagram, including the overlaps?
• How do you make a Venn diagram in Excel with your data?
• How do you add, delete, or move circles?
• Which Venn layout should you use?
• How do you change the colors of a Venn diagram?
• Why is your Venn diagram not working?
• Is it the same in Word and PowerPoint?
• Frequently asked questions

Can you make a Venn diagram in Excel?

Yes, but not the way most people expect. Excel does not have a Venn diagram in its chart list, next to bar and pie. A Venn diagram in Excel is a SmartArt graphic, which is a drawing object, not a chart.

That distinction decides everything else on this page. A chart is wired to a cell range and updates when the numbers change. A SmartArt Venn diagram is not wired to anything. It draws however many circles you ask for, at whatever size the layout picked, and it will happily show three equal circles while your data says the sets are wildly different sizes.

Rule to remember: in Excel a Venn diagram is a picture, not a chart. Nothing in it updates when your data changes.

What is a Venn diagram actually showing?

A Venn diagram uses overlapping circles to show differences, similarities, and relationships between groups, ideas, categories, and concepts.

The similarities sit in the overlapping portions of the circles. The differences sit in the parts that do not overlap. Drawing one is a quick way to identify those relationships, or to show that there are none.

How do you create a Venn diagram in Excel?

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. In the Illustrations group, click SmartArt to open the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box.
3. Select the Relationship category on the left.
4. Choose Basic Venn and click OK.

Excel drops a three-circle Venn diagram onto the worksheet with placeholder text. It is a floating object, so it sits on top of the cells rather than inside them.

Rule to remember: Insert, Illustrations, SmartArt, Relationship, Basic Venn. There is no Venn option under Insert Chart.

How do you add text to a Venn diagram, including the overlaps?

Adding text to the main circles.

Select a shape in the SmartArt graphic. In the Text pane, click the placeholder marked [Text] and type. You can also copy text from elsewhere, select [Text] in the Text pane, and paste.

If the Text pane is not showing, click the small arrow control on the left edge of the SmartArt frame, or use SmartArt Design > Text Pane.

Adding text to the overlapping areas.

This is the part that catches everyone out. You cannot type into the overlapping areas through the Text pane. The Text pane only maps to whole circles. The overlaps are not shapes, they are just where two circles happen to cross.

The workaround is to float a text box over each overlap:

1. Go to Insert > Text > Text Box. In Word and Outlook the same command is called Draw Text Box.
2. Click and drag inside an overlapping area to draw the box at the size you want.
3. Select the box and start typing to add your text.
4. Right-click the text box and choose Format Shape.
5. In the Format Shape pane, under Fill, choose No Fill so the overlap colour shows through.
6. Still in the Format Shape pane, choose Line, then No Line to remove the border.

One extra step worth doing: select the SmartArt graphic and every text box, right-click, and choose Group. Otherwise the labels drift away from the circles the moment anyone resizes the diagram.

Rule to remember: overlap labels are separate text boxes, so group them with the diagram or they will slide out of position.

How do you make a Venn diagram in Excel with your data?

This is the question behind most Venn searches, and it needs an honest answer first: SmartArt will not calculate anything for you. There is no way to point a Venn diagram at a range and have Excel work out the overlaps.

What you can do is calculate the overlaps with formulas, then type the results into the diagram. That takes about two minutes and it is the part nobody explains.

The setup.

Put each set in its own column with a header. Say list A is in A2:A50 and list B is in B2:B50. The formulas below assume no blank cells inside those ranges and no duplicates within a single list.

Two-circle overlap counts.

Those three counts are the three numbers you type into the diagram: left circle, overlap, right circle.

To check your work, add them up. Only in A plus in both should equal the number of items in list A, and only in B plus in both should equal the number of items in list B. If they do not, you have blanks or duplicates in a range.

Flagging each row instead of counting.

To label every item rather than produce a total, put this in C2 and fill it down:

=IF(COUNTIF($B$2:$B$50,A2)>0,"Both","A only")

The dollar signs lock the lookup range so it does not slide as you copy the formula down.

Three-circle overlap counts.

With a third list in C2:C50, the middle region of a three-way Venn needs two conditions at once:

• In all three lists: =SUMPRODUCT((COUNTIF(B2:B50,A2:A50)>0)*(COUNTIF(C2:C50,A2:A50)>0))
• In A and B but not C: =SUMPRODUCT((COUNTIF(B2:B50,A2:A50)>0)*(COUNTIF(C2:C50,A2:A50)=0))
• In A only: =SUMPRODUCT((COUNTIF(B2:B50,A2:A50)=0)*(COUNTIF(C2:C50,A2:A50)=0))

Multiplying the two comparisons inside SUMPRODUCT is how you get an AND across arrays. Swap the starting list to get the regions centred on B or C.

If you need the circles to be proportional.

SmartArt circles are always the same size. If the visual has to reflect the counts, skip SmartArt and draw the circles yourself with Insert > Illustrations > Shapes > Oval, then set each circle's height and width from the square root of its count, because a circle's area grows with the square of its radius. A set twice as large gets a diameter about 1.41 times bigger, not twice as big.

Excel will not position the overlap for you. You drag the circles until the intersection looks right, then set each one to Format Shape > Fill > Solid fill with transparency around 30 percent so the overlap reads as a third colour.

Rule to remember: calculate the overlaps with COUNTIF, then type the numbers in. Excel will never wire a Venn diagram to a range.

How do you add, delete, or move circles?

Select the existing circle nearest to where the new one should go. On the SmartArt Design tab, in the Create Graphic group, click the arrow next to Add Shape, then choose Add Shape After or Add Shape Before.

If you cannot see the SmartArt Design tab, the graphic is not selected. Click it once, or double-click it, and the tab reappears. On older Excel versions this tab sat under a SmartArt Tools banner, which is why some guides still describe it that way.

To delete a circle, click its border so the whole shape is selected rather than the text inside it, then press Delete.

To move a circle, drag it. For fine adjustment, select it and hold Ctrl while pressing the arrow keys.

Which Venn layout should you use?

Right-click the diagram and pick a layout from the Layouts group on the SmartArt Design tab. Hovering over an option previews it on your actual diagram before you commit.

Rule to remember: Stacked Venn means one set contains another, so do not use it for sets that merely overlap.

How do you change the colors of a Venn diagram?

Select the SmartArt graphic. On the SmartArt Design tab, click Change Colors in the SmartArt Styles group and pick a scheme. The gallery next to it applies 3-D and shadow effects.

For a single circle rather than the whole set, select that circle and use the Format tab instead, or right-click it and choose Format Shape.

One practical tip: turn the fill transparency up to about 25 to 40 percent on every circle. Solid fills hide the overlaps, which are the entire point of the diagram.

Why is your Venn diagram not working?

Is it the same in Word and PowerPoint?

Yes. SmartArt is shared across Office, so Insert > Illustrations > SmartArt > Relationship > Basic Venn produces the same diagram in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and the SmartArt Design tab behaves identically.

The only meaningful difference is the text box command, which is called Draw Text Box in Word and Outlook rather than plain Text Box.

Excel is worth using when the counts behind the diagram come from a list you already keep in a spreadsheet, because you can run the COUNTIF formulas beside the diagram. If the numbers are already settled, building the diagram in PowerPoint is usually faster.

Final thoughts

A Venn diagram in Excel is a two-part job that most tutorials only cover half of. SmartArt handles the picture in four clicks. Your data handles the numbers, and that part takes COUNTIF and SUMPRODUCT, not a chart wizard. Do both and you get a diagram that is actually true.

Visit our home page for more step-by-step guides, or browse the full library of Excel tutorials.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make a Venn diagram in Excel?

Yes. Go to the Insert tab, click SmartArt in the Illustrations group, select the Relationship category, choose Basic Venn, and click OK. Excel has no Venn diagram chart type, so the diagram is a SmartArt drawing object rather than a chart.

How do you make a Venn diagram in Excel with data?

SmartArt cannot read your worksheet, so calculate the regions first and type them into the circles. Use SUMPRODUCT with COUNTIF to count how many items from one list appear in another, and the same pattern with an equals zero test to count the items unique to each list.

How do you add text to the overlapping part of a Venn diagram in Excel?

You cannot do it through the Text pane, because the overlaps are not shapes. Insert a text box from the Insert tab, drag it over the overlapping area, type your label, then set the text box to No Fill and No Line in the Format Shape pane.

Why are all the circles in my Excel Venn diagram the same size?

SmartArt draws every circle at the same size regardless of the values you type in. If the circles need to be proportional, draw Oval shapes from Insert, Illustrations, Shapes instead, and size each one from the square root of its count, because area grows with the square of the radius.

Where is the SmartArt Design tab in Excel?

It appears only when a SmartArt graphic is selected. Click the diagram once and the SmartArt Design and Format tabs appear on the ribbon. In older Excel versions the same tab sat beneath a SmartArt Tools banner.

Can you make a Venn diagram in Excel with three or more circles?

Yes. Select the circle nearest to where you want the new one, then use SmartArt Design, Add Shape, and choose Add Shape After or Add Shape Before. Beyond four circles a Venn diagram usually becomes unreadable, so consider a table instead.

Is a Venn diagram in Word or PowerPoint different from Excel?

No. SmartArt is shared across Office, so the Insert, SmartArt, Relationship, Basic Venn path is identical in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The only difference is that the text box command is called Draw Text Box in Word and Outlook.

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