Strange axis label behavior between continous and categorical

[H3nning]

Hi, i encountered some behavior with axis, that i cannot explain. I hope someone can enlighten me 😉

I have a bar chart with dates in the x axis.

The diagram is filtered on only the last days of the month. All other days are filtered out.

When I set the x axis to categorical all looks as i would axpect it to be:

But now focus on the third bar from the right. it shows 31st of August. When I change the axis to continous, then it is displayed as September...

Its the same bar. When i hover over it it even shows 31st of August in the Tooltip. So why is it displayed as September????

Best regards und thank you in advance!

H3nning

[rohit1991]

Hi, here is a stepwise solution created,

1. Ensure the X-axis is set to Categorical. Go to the X-axis settings in the Visualizations pane. Change the "Type" to Categorical.
   
   

2. Check the Date Column Format: Ensure the date column used on the X-axis is formatted as a Date data type, not DateTime, and includes only the last day of each month.
   
   

3. Avoid Continuous Axis: If exact dates must be displayed, avoid using the continuous axis, as it aggregates and aligns dates on a timeline, causing labels to shift.
   
   

These steps ensure that the bars and their labels remain consistent.

[H3nning]

Yeah with categorical it is allright. But with continous it does not work out and i checked format. it is date not datetime. Any trick to bring the label to good alignment?

I did not have this problem when I displayed only the first day of the month instead of the last. But Business demanded a change of the logic, so I couldn keep that...

[rohit1991 · Accepted solution]

Hi @H3nning 
When the X-axis is set to continuous, Power BI tries to display axis labels at regular intervals (like month start), not necessarily at your exact data points. If your dates are always the last day of the month, but the axis is continuous, Power BI may display labels at the start of each month (e.g., “Sep 2024” for August 31), even if your bar is at August 31. The tooltip still shows the right value, but the label aligns to the axis interval, not your data.

There’s no way to force the continuous axis to align labels with only your exact dates (like last-of-month), unless you:

• Use the categorical axis (recommended if you want precise labeling).

• Or, as a workaround, create a new column with the first day of each month (as you mentioned) so labels align.

See: Power BI Docs - Axis types

[amitchandak]

@H3nning , On continous bars, it skips some months based on how much duration shown on visual. It is now showing comnination of months where the value may appear bewteen two months.

[H3nning]

Yeah, Im aware that it skips some month, which it does not show on the axis. But the position of the labels shown is normally in line with the data displayed, right?

So the September label should be below the bar of 30th of september. Instead it is below the bar of the 31st of August...