How to Add a total column in a clustered column Chart?

[Adamp1916]

I know this question has been asked alot...  I've been searching through and trying every "solution" for hours but nothing actually works.  Once again, WHY is such a simple task SO HARD?  I feel like every time I try something in power BI, I just laugh and want to go back to excel because it doesn't have anywhere close to as many problems with simple tasks that should take seconds.

I have a clustered column chart that shows projected future dollar pay outs by quarter.  I won't get into how ridiculous it was to get these to actually display in chronological order....  All I want to do is have a column at the beginning that shows the total dollars.  The closest I could get was having two separate charts and grouping them together, but that looks really bad.  Every other solution posted here either has multiple variables or just adds multiple total columns next to each existing column and basically duplicates it...  I just want a column at the beginning that shows the total dollars.

[Aburar_123]

Hi @Adamp1916 ,

Please add the total column as below. Sales_Discount is giving the total of Sales & Discount

Sales_Discount = SUM(FACT_Orders[Sales])+SUM(FACT_Orders[Discount])

[Adamp1916]

Like I said, I don't want the totals for every quarter.  I just want a single column at the beginning that shows the grand total.

[ryan_mayu]

@Adamp1916 

Ususally we don't display data like that. We like to use drill mode in powerbi

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-drill?wt.mc_id=DP-MVP-5004616

So that will not also the total and quarter data display at the same time.

If you have to do that, pls provide some sample data and we will provide you the workaround for it.

[Adamp1916]

who is "we"?

It's extremely common to show a total column in a data set.  Sample data would just be a column with random amounts in it next to another column with different quarters.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @Adamp1916 

• As per the word " we ” (which just meant the general Power BI community/common approach in Power BI).
  
  
• you’re right that many scenarios require displaying both totals and quarters together. To help suggest a suitable workaround for your case, could you please share a small sample dataset.
  How to provide sample data in the Power BI Forum - Microsoft Fabric Community
  
  

[Adamp1916]

Like I said, the sample data set would simply be a column with dollars and a column that show the quarter.

Amount	Quarter
4000	3Q 2025
5000	1Q 2026
6000	2Q 2026

The result should look like this, which again, excel does with no problem at all.

[v-aatheeque]

Hi @Adamp1916 

Power BI’s default column and clustered column charts don’t natively support showing a separate Grand Total column alongside the category values. The chart visuals are designed to display category-level values (e.g., quarters), but they don’t have built-in functionality to add an aggregated “Total” as its own bar.

If you’d like to highlight the overall total together with the breakdown by quarter, here are some alternative approaches you might consider:

• Card or KPI visual → Place the grand total in a card visual above the chart for quick visibility.
• Combo approach → Use a bar/column chart for quarters, and add a supporting card/measure for the total.
• Custom visuals → Some visuals available from AppSource (like “Zebra BI Charts ,Inforiver Charts ,Column and Line Chart with Totals ”) can allow showing totals alongside categories.    

Hope this helps !!

Thank You.

[Adamp1916]

Thanks.  I'll try some of these custom visuals.  Though at this point I'm thinking I might stop using power BI all together and just go back to using excel, since it handles just about everything I've needed to do MUCH better.

[FBergamaschi]

As you say, this is not easy with standard colum charts

My suggestion is to go to the marketplace (... under the icons of the visuals) and check for other column charts that include totals in automatic

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Francesco Bergamaschi

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