The frustration expressed by a Reddit user is entirely understandable, and entirely unnecessary. A combo chart should not feel like a guessing game where the software decides for you which data becomes bars and which becomes lines. The fact that a user on a Mac, following online tutorials, still cannot find the option to make that choice reveals a deeper problem: too many spreadsheet tools prioritize feature lists over actual usability.
What this user needs is straightforward: student results as bars, a national average as a line. That is a common, logical request. Yet the tool they are using apparently assigns chart types arbitrarily, with no clear path to override its choices. This is not a failure of the user; it is a failure of design. When a feature like combo charts exists to give users control, but then hides that control behind platform-specific menus or version-dependent interfaces, it stops being helpful. It becomes an obstacle.
The practical takeaway here is that not all spreadsheet tools handle combo charts the same way, and the ones that do it well make the process transparent. A good tool surfaces the option to assign each data series to bar or line immediately, without requiring a scavenger hunt through menus or a search for outdated tutorials. It also adapts to the user's platform, Mac, Windows, web, so that the same logical workflow applies everywhere. If you are spending more time fighting the chart settings than interpreting your data, the tool is failing you, not the other way around.
For anyone facing this exact problem, the solution is not to watch more videos. It is to find a tool that respects your intent from the start. A combo chart should let you say, "These are my bars, this is my line," and then simply do it. That is the standard we should expect. And if your current spreadsheet cannot meet that standard, it is worth exploring alternatives that can.