Excel Dashboard Progress Bars with REPT – Tutorial

Excel Dashboard Progress Bars with REPT – Tutorial

Want a lightweight way to show progress inside an Excel Dashboard without charts? This text-based technique uses the REPT function to build compact bars that fit neatly in tables, KPI cards, and printable reports—fast to set up, easy to copy, and clear at a glance.

What you’ll build

A 10-segment progress bar made from characters. It scales with any percentage, works in narrow columns, and stays readable across themes.

The formula

=REPT("●", ROUND(L11*10, 0)) & REPT("○", 10 - ROUND(L11*10, 0))

• Filled dots represent completed work.
• Empty dots show what remains.

How it works

Part 1 — completed

L11 contains a decimal such as 0.75. Multiply by ten, round to a whole number, then repeat ● that many times.

Part 2 — remaining

Subtract the rounded count from ten and repeat ○ for the remainder. Join both parts for a clean bar.

Result

●●●●●●●●○○ reads as 80% complete. Perfect for status lists, sprint boards, or OKR summaries.

Where Excel Dashboard progress bars shine

• Sales pipelines and quotas in Excel Dashboard templates.
• Budget burn and KPIs across a Financial Dashboard.
• Quick status visuals in compact Dashboard Templates.

Customize the look

• Swap characters: █ ░, ▓ ░, ✅ ❌, or 🔵 ⚪️.
• Change the scale: replace 10 with 20 for finer steps.
• Control globally: store the scale in a fixed cell (e.g., $B$1).

Why not a chart?

• Lives inside the cell—no axes, legends, or resizing hassles.
• Print-friendly and theme-agnostic.
• Works in Google Sheets, too.

Keep learning

Explore more tutorials on the Other Levels YouTube Channel and level up your dashboards with practical, time-saving techniques.