Forum Discussion
Y-axis problem and no problem with X-axis
I've ran out of resources and this has been a headache. I have a Year column with values, 2000-2024. When I add it to my table on the Y-Axis it shows it as sum and i don't have the option to remove it as sum. I checked under Model View to see the data type and it is date, I changed it to date/time and it still didn't work. Under Table View, the column is not summarized. But when i add it to the X-axis it has no problem showing the year values. How do I fix this? It looks like this is only a problem when adding to the Y-axis because I can't just say remove options and get value. I just want the pull the values from the table and do no kind of calculation. Thanks in advance
Hi Anonymous, hello ToddChitt, thank you for your prompt reply!
Column Chart:
Designed for vertical comparison of values, so the Y-axis is typically used for numerical fields.
The X-axis is usually used for categorical fields, making it easy to compare values across different categories.
Bar Chart:
Designed for horizontal comparison of categories, so the Y-axis is typically used for categorical fields.
The X-axis is usually used for numerical fields, making it easy to compare values across different categories.
To address your issue, it's recommended to use a bar chart instead of a column chart:
Best regards,
Joyce
If this post helps, then please considerAccept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
6 Replies
First, what type of visual are you shooting for? Column chart (vertical columns) or a Bar chart (horizontal bars)?
Can you give us some sample data to view? Maybe some screenshots? And what end result are you looking for?
What you show is a COLUMN chart (with vertical columns). For that, one would typically put the time series (years) on the X axis and that looks right. It shows the aggregation as MAX but you should be able to change that to SUM if needed. Is the data column [Alabama] numeric? Is it a measure
I'm not sure what the issue is.
Can you describe in spoken language what analysis you are wanting to display?
The data for each state is the average already calculated through excel before importing it into Power BI, I am wanting to display a simple graph showing the averages that is already calculated and does not need to be tampered with throughout the years 2000-2024. The x-axis displays the actual data but y-axis tampers it. When you say times series is typically put in x-axis, does that mean x-axis is for non-tampered data and y-axis is for data that will be tampered with?
It looks like you had it there at one time. Put [Year] on the X axis and drag [Alamama] to the Y Axis. Because Power BI wants to AGGREGATE things on the Y axis, it will make you choose something like SUM or MIN or MAX or COUNT.
But since for any one [Year], you have only one value for [Alabama] the SUM of that one value will be THAT ONE VALUE, along with the MIN and MAX. Just don't use COUNT.
Hi Anonymous, hello ToddChitt, thank you for your prompt reply!
Column Chart:
Designed for vertical comparison of values, so the Y-axis is typically used for numerical fields.
The X-axis is usually used for categorical fields, making it easy to compare values across different categories.
Bar Chart:
Designed for horizontal comparison of categories, so the Y-axis is typically used for categorical fields.
The X-axis is usually used for numerical fields, making it easy to compare values across different categories.
To address your issue, it's recommended to use a bar chart instead of a column chart:
Best regards,
Joyce
If this post helps, then please considerAccept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
