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Power BI – Format Waterfall Chart

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A waterfall chart is generally used to check the trend in the data, with its ups and downs at particular intervals. We have various options to format waterfall charts, we can change the value of the x-axis, y-axis, its title, etc. We can also add various options like Breakdown, Gridlines, and data labels in a waterfall chart. In this article, we will learn how to format a waterfall chart in Power BI and explore its various options.

Formatting a Bar Chart In Power BI

After the successful, creation of a waterfall chart in Power BI. We have multiple options to format it. For example, adding the title to the chart, changing the color, and position of the chart, and adding tooltips, and data labels to the chart. We have been given a dataset, name, and Employee, and we have created the waterfall chart, by adding the Employee name in the Breakdown, Department in category, and salary in the y-axis. Using this chart, we will explore every option of the waterfall chart in Power BI. There are two types of Formatting in visualizations i.e. visual formatting and general formatting.

Formatting a Bar Chart In Power BI

 

Visual Formatting

Visual formatting comprises 8 options i.e. Y-axis, X-axis, Legend, grid line, columns, breakdown, and data labels

Formatting a Bar Chart In Power BI

 

X-Axis

The X-axis is the horizontal text of the chart.

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the X-axis option. A drop-down appears. We have multiple options available here i.e. Values and Title. Click on the Values option, and a drop-down appears. For example, the values are Arushi, Gautam, etc. A font is an option used to select the type of text we want to show on the x-axis in the chart, we can also set the size of the text, etc.

Formatting a Bar Chart In Power BI

 

Step 2: Similarly, click on the title option. For example, the title is Employee Name. To change the color of the title of the x-axis, click on the color option. Select the required color. For example, we have selected orange color, and the Employee Name is changed to orange color.

Formatting a Bar Chart In Power BI

 

Y-Axis

The Y-axis is the vertical text of the chart.

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Y-axis option. A drop-down appears. We have multiple options available here i.e. Range, Values, and Title. Click on the range option, and a drop-down appears. Minimum and Maximum values can be set by the range option. By default, the minimum value is 0 and the maximum value is the maximum value of the dataset. We can also make the same chart, in a log scale, and can also invert the range of the y-axis.

 

Step 2: Click on the Values option, and a drop-down appears. For example, the values are 100K, 150K, 200K, etc. A font is an option used to select the type of text we want to show on the y-axis in the chart, we can also set the size of the text, etc. 

 

Step 3: Similarly, click on the title option. For example, the title is Sum of Salary. To change the color of the title of the y-axis, click on the color option. Select the required color. For example, we have selected orange color, and the Sum of Salary is changed to orange color.

 

Legends

Legends are the property that is used to sub-categorize the data for better analytics. It divides the data into different sub-groups.

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Legend option. A drop-down appears. We have multiple options available here i.e. Options, Text, and Title. We can set the position of the legends. Using the Text property, we can change the color and font size of the legends i.e. Department. Click on the Title, to customize the title i.e. Department.

 

Step 2: Click on the Options property, and a drop-down appears. We can set the position of the legends accordingly. For example, to Top Center, Bottom left, etc. By default, the Top left is the position.

 

Gridlines

Gridlines are the background lines, which are by default dotted in nature, and are very light and thin.

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Gridlines option. A drop-down appears. We have an option available i.e. Horizontal.  Click on the Horizontal option, and a drop-down appears. By default, in the waterfall chart, only horizontal gridlines are available. We can edit the style of the line. Also, one can set the color and change the thickness of the gridlines.

 

Step 2: Under the Style option, click on the drop-down option. A list appears. We can change the style of the horizontal gridlines to solid, dashed, etc.

 

Step 3: If we close the slider of the horizontal gridlines, then the horizontal lines would disappear, as seen in the image below.

 

Columns

Columns property has two nested properties i.e. colors and spacing. Click on the colors property to customize the color of each of the lines of the legends.

 

Breakdown

The breakdowns in the waterfall chart can decrease or increase. We can customize the number of breaks between each category. For example, if we decrease the breakdown to 3, then for each category there will be three bars, and the rest will be put under the other bar. 

 

Data Labels

Data labels provide additional information on the lines. For example, Arushi and Gautam have a salary of 50K and 40K, and they want to display that on the bar. Click on the Data labels option. The salary data label will be added to the entire chart. Also, a drop-down appears. We have three options i.e. options, values, and background. Values and background have the same property as discussed above i.e. font, size, and color. The options property is used to set the position of the data labels.

 

General Formatting

There are multiple options in general formatting. For a  chart, we have options like Title, tooltip, effects, alt text, etc. We will look at each of the options in detail.

 

Property

The property option is generally present in every visualization. It contains three options, Size, position, and Advance options. We, generally do not use these properties, because all are easily accessible with mouse clicks. The size property helps to resize the visualization created. The position property changes the position of the visualization, in the report. The Advance option comprises adding a layer order, which is rarely used.

 

Title

The title formatting is present in every visualization. As the name suggests, it adds a heading to the visualization. Click on the slider to enable the title.

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Title option. A drop-down list appears. Add the title, under the Text section. For example, Sum of Salary by Deparment and Employee Name. We can view in the image a title is added to the chart. As done previously we can customize the size, font type of the chart, etc.

 

Step 2: We can also change the color of the title. Under the text color, select the required color. For example, yellow in this case. The title color changes to yellow.

 

Effects

The effects section comprises three features i.e. Background, Visual Border, and Shadow. All works according to their names. The background adds a background color to the visualization, the Visual border adds a border around the visualization, and the shadow option creates a shadow on the outskirts of the visualization.

 

The following are the steps:

Step 1: Click on the Background option. Select the color of the background accordingly. For example, blank. We can view in the below image that the background of the chart changed to black.

 

Header Icons

Header-icons are the options, present on the top of the visualization. For waterfall chart, there are two options, filter on visuals and more options. Click on the header-icons option, we will get various options, like Background, Border, and Icons. One can set its colors as per choice.

 

Tooltips

If we hover over a visualization, then we cannot view any information related to the chart. Consider a situation, where we want to display the fields added by hovering over the chart, then this task can be achieved by the Tooltips option. Tooltips have three properties i.e. Options, Text, and Background. Click on the tooltips option. Now, for example, we hover over the bar, then we can view the employee Name Arushi, IT Sum of Salary 50K, and the sum of Salary change 50K is displayed. We can set text and background color according to our needs.

 

Alt Text

Alt text is a property present in each visualization. People generally misinterpret, alt text by its name, they think that alt text will be displayed when they hover over the visualization. Alt text is for the persons, who cannot see the visuals, images, etc. This option is only available if you are using a narrator in your system. When your narrator is active, then this alt text will be spoken by the system. Click on the Alt text, and type the required text. 

 



Last Updated : 05 Feb, 2023
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