Formatting Chart Labels

Formatting Charts 

Formatting Charts

You can control some aspects of how data points, field names and labels on your chart are displayed, including:

Whether data points are displayed.
Showing a measure name on charts including only a single measure.
Restricting the number of labels displayed.
Rotating the direction of label text.

Displaying Data Points

You can choose whether to display data points in your line, time series, or area chart. Data points can help users visualize chart data more accurately.

To show data points on a chart:

1. In the Ad Hoc View panel, click the icon to show the Canvas Options menu.
2. Select Chart Format... from the menu. The Chart Format window is displayed.
3. Click to select the Show data points box.
4. Click Apply, then Close. The name appears along the value axis.
5. To remove data points from the chart, open the Chart Format window and deselect the Show data points box.

 

Chart Format Window

Displaying the Measure Name on the Value Axis

By default, in charts that include only a single measure, that measure's name is not displayed. For instance, if your measure displays the number of employees each store in the region has, that measure's label (which shows the number of employees) appears along the Y- (or value) axis, but the name of the measure ("Number of Employees" or similar) does not. You can, however, choose to display that measure name to clarify the information on your chart.

To show a measure name on the value axis:

1. In the Ad Hoc View panel, click the icon to show the Canvas Options menu.
2. Select Chart Format... from the menu. The Chart Format window is displayed.
3. Click to select the Show measure name on value axis box.
4. Click Apply, then Close. The name appears along the value axis.
5. To remove a measure name, open the Chart Format window and deselect the Show measure name on value axis box.

Restricting Label Display

By default, every field included in your chart has a label displayed along either axis. Measures will show up as numeric values, often along the Y axis, and fields being measured will show up as text along the X axis. On some charts - especially those with many included fields - these labels may overlap, crowd together, or become difficult to read. You can alleviate this problem by "stepping," or reducing, the number of labels displayed on your chart.

To reduce the number of labels on your chart:

1. In the Ad Hoc View panel, click the icon to show the Canvas Options menu.
2. Select Chart Format... from the menu. The Chart Format window is displayed.
3. In the Steps to show X axis labels numeric entry box, enter how often you want the axis label to appear. For instance:
     To display every second label, enter 2.
     To display every third label, enter 3, and so on.
4. Repeat this process in the Steps to show Y axis labels numeric entry box for measures along the Y axis.
5. Click Apply, then Close. The labels appear as entered.
6. To display every label, open the Chart Format window and enter 1 in the numeric entry boxes.

Rotating Label Text

By default, labels on your chart are displayed horizontally. When you have many labels, or very long ones, this can also make chart labels difficult to read. You can change the direction of these labels, on both the X and Y axes, to improve chart readability.

To rotate label text:

1. In the Ad Hoc View panel, click the icon to show the Canvas Options menu.
2. Select Chart Format... from the menu. The Chart Format window is displayed.
3. In the Degrees to rotate X axis labels entry box, enter the rotation angle to apply to the labels along the X axis. For instance:
     To rotate labels clockwise 90 degrees, enter 90.
     To rotate labels counter-clockwise 90 degrees, enter -90.
     To rotate labels clockwise 45 degrees, enter 45, and so on.
4. Repeat this process in the Degrees to rotate Y axis labels entry box for measures along the Y axis.
5. Click Apply, then Close. The labels are rotated.
6. To return the labels to their original, horizontal position, open the Chart Format window and enter 0 in the numeric entry boxes.

 

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