Help making combo chart with multiple lines in PowerBI desktop

[ldelgado622]

Hello all, 

I am hoping to make a combo chart. In my dataset, I have the following variables Event (which is the surgical procedure done), Year_Q (goes from 2020Q1-2024Q4), SOS (site of service: inpatient, outpatient, asc, office visit, other), and source (medicare ffs, medicare advantage, mediciad, private, and total (all 4 combined)). I want this graphic to display the total amount of events in the bars by year_q (on the x-axis) and then show the site of service breakdown by % for each year_q on each bar. I have my data in a long format. Can someone please help me figure out which new variables to create and how to do so? I also want the graphic to be filterable by the variable Event and Source.

Thank you in advance!

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @ldelgado622 , Hope you're doing okay! May we know if it worked for you, or are you still experiencing difficulties? Let us know — your feedback can really help others in the same situation.

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @ldelgado622 , hope you are doing great. May we know if your issue is solved or if you are still experiencing difficulties. Please share the details as it will help the community, especially others with similar issues.

[ldelgado622]

I tried this, but I only have a column legend and no legend option for the line y-axis. When I'm in the visualizations pane, i only have x-axis, column y-axis, line y-axis, column legend, small multiples, tooltips. So I'm stuck only having one line representing the % SOS breakdown that is currently just straight across the graph. What else could i try?

[v-hashadapu · Accepted solution]

Hi @ldelgado622 , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

I recreated your scenario using sample long-format data and built the visual in Power BI. The attached .pbix shows the correct way to represent this requirement using a stacked column chart. Each bar represents total events by Year_Q and the stacked segments represent the Site of Service breakdown within that quarter. The total height of the bar is the total volume, while the relative size of each segment reflects its share. I added a % by SOS measure to tooltips so you can see the exact percentage on hover. This approach remains fully filterable by both Event and Source.

The reason the combo chart approach did not work is a limitation of Power BI visuals. A Line & Clustered Column chart only supports a single line and does not allow a legend on the line axis, so SOS cannot be split into multiple percentage lines. Because of that, the stacked column chart is the correct and supported way to show “total volume + SOS composition per period” in one visual.

Please take a look at the .pbix for reference.

[Zanqueta]

Hi @ldelgado622 

Step 1: Prepare the Data

You need two key measures:

1. Total Events (for the bars)
2. Percentage by Site of Service (for the lines)

Create these measures in your data model:

Total Events =
SUM('YourTable'[EventCount])   // Replace EventCount with your actual column holding counts

% by Site of Service =
DIVIDE(
    SUM('YourTable'[EventCount]),
    CALCULATE(SUM('YourTable'[EventCount]), ALL('YourTable'[SOS]))
)

The second measure calculates the percentage of events for each SOS relative to the total for that Year_Q.

Step 2: Build the Combo Chart

1. In Power BI Desktop, insert a Line and Clustered Column Chart.
2. Configure:
   • Axis: Year_Q
   • Column Values: Total Events
   • Line Values: % by Site of Service
3. Add SOS to the Legend for the line series. This will create multiple lines (one per SOS category).
4. Add Event and Source to the Filters pane (or use slicers).

---

Step 3: Formatting

• Format the line values as percentage.
• Ensure the chart uses dual axis so the bars and lines scale correctly.
• Optionally, sort Year_Q chronologically (Power BI may treat it as text).

Official Reference:

Combo Chart in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If this response was helpful in any way, I’d gladly accept a 👍much like the joy of seeing a DAX measure work first time without needing another FILTER.

Please mark it as the correct solution. It helps other community members find their way faster (and saves them from another endless loop 🌀.