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FsmA
Frequent Visitor

Questions about formatting Column Charts - x-axis label position, data label source, column colors

I have three problems with column charts in Power BI (that excel does really well, but I need to replicate the feature on BI).

 

  1. Is there a way to display x-axis labels just below the y=0 line? In excel you can customize where x-axis intersects y-axis. In some of my charts I have negative y-values, and that moves the x-axis labels to below the lowest values. I'd like to keep the x-labels fixed in place below y=0

  2. In a series I have some y-values as positive, but some as negative. I would like the negative value columns to be a different color than the positive value columns.

  3. I want to display data labels that come from a different column than the one that is plotted. For example in the chart below, the blue columns represent a metric, the height of the column shows raw number achieved for that metric, but the data label shows what percent of the target for that metric was achieved.

Example of a chart I'd like created in PBI

FsmA_0-1690548741918.png

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Ritaf1983
Super User
Super User

Hi @FsmA 

1. Unfortunately we can't change the position of the names of categories..

2. No clustered with, multiple measures.
In case of 1 measure ,Yes, with conditional formatting:

Ritaf1983_0-1690682116985.png

Please note that the rule needed to be a range and put in the minimum some big unreal negative number

3. Yes with the second Y-Axis

Ritaf1983_1-1690682307760.png

Ritaf1983_3-1690682578804.pngRitaf1983_4-1690682842987.png

 

It is important to note that this graph is very challenging for encoding for graph users

In cases where we need to rank sizes, and performance by categories (according to your graph), we can do it much more easily using height. The brain can only make comparisons at the level of pairs in your graph since there are only two categories, green and blue

Ritaf1983_0-1690684728601.png

Deciphering both values and percentages in the same column is not easy either.

Consider refocusing your attention on the table graph, as shown in the image.

With such a graph, it is possible to compare each measure by category.

You can also see the relationship between the measures by sorting the columns in different ways

Ritaf1983_1-1690686200856.png

 

 

Link to a sample file with all examples 

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

 

 

Regards,
Rita Fainshtein | Microsoft MVP
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rita-fainshtein/
Blog : https://www.madeiradata.com/profile/ritaf/profile

View solution in original post

1 REPLY 1
Ritaf1983
Super User
Super User

Hi @FsmA 

1. Unfortunately we can't change the position of the names of categories..

2. No clustered with, multiple measures.
In case of 1 measure ,Yes, with conditional formatting:

Ritaf1983_0-1690682116985.png

Please note that the rule needed to be a range and put in the minimum some big unreal negative number

3. Yes with the second Y-Axis

Ritaf1983_1-1690682307760.png

Ritaf1983_3-1690682578804.pngRitaf1983_4-1690682842987.png

 

It is important to note that this graph is very challenging for encoding for graph users

In cases where we need to rank sizes, and performance by categories (according to your graph), we can do it much more easily using height. The brain can only make comparisons at the level of pairs in your graph since there are only two categories, green and blue

Ritaf1983_0-1690684728601.png

Deciphering both values and percentages in the same column is not easy either.

Consider refocusing your attention on the table graph, as shown in the image.

With such a graph, it is possible to compare each measure by category.

You can also see the relationship between the measures by sorting the columns in different ways

Ritaf1983_1-1690686200856.png

 

 

Link to a sample file with all examples 

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

 

 

Regards,
Rita Fainshtein | Microsoft MVP
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rita-fainshtein/
Blog : https://www.madeiradata.com/profile/ritaf/profile

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