Bar and Column Charts compare values across categories. Column Charts draw vertical bars, and Bar Charts draw horizontal bars, which leave room for long category labels.
Column Charts Copy Link
Grouped Column Chart shows adjacent vertical bars for comparing categories or series side by side. Use it when individual values matter more than how they add up.
Stacked Column Chart stacks vertical bars to show part-to-whole relationships across categories. Use it when both a category's total and its composition matter.
100% Stacked Column Chart normalises stacked bars to 100% so segments show proportions rather than absolute values. Use it when comparing composition across categories matters more than comparing totals.
The example below plots the same quarterly revenue for three product lines in all three variants, so the shift from absolute values to proportions is easy to compare.
Bar Charts Copy Link
Grouped Bar Chart shows adjacent horizontal bars for comparing categories, and works well when category names are long.
Stacked Bar Chart stacks horizontal bars to show part-to-whole relationships across categories.
100% Stacked Bar Chart normalises stacked horizontal bars to 100% for comparing proportions across categories.
The example below plots revenue by sales channel for product categories with long names, which fit beside horizontal bars.
Setup Copy Link
Bar and Column Charts take the same slots. A Bar Chart turns the chart on its side, so its axis names are swapped.
| Slot | Required | Accepts | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| X Axis (Bar Chart: Y Axis) | Yes | One category | Draws one category along the category axis for each value of the field. |
| Y Axis (Bar Chart: X Axis) | Yes | One or more numeric fields | Sets the length of each bar. Each field adds a series of bars in its own colour. |
| Legend | No | One category | Gives each value of this field its own series and colour. |
| Tooltip | No | Any fields | Shows the fields in the tooltip without plotting them. |
In a stacked chart, each category's series stack into a single bar, and in a 100% stacked chart that bar always reaches 100%.
In the Column Chart example above, Quarter is in the X Axis slot, and Bikes, Accessories and Clothing are three fields in the Y Axis slot, so each quarter has three series.
Legend Copy Link
A Legend splits each numeric field into a series for each value of a category. Use it when the values to compare are rows in the data, such as one row per region, rather than separate fields.
The example below has Region in the Legend slot of every chart. The left column has one field, Revenue, in the Y Axis slot, so each quarter has one series per region. The right column adds Profit, so each region has a series for each field. Each row is one variant: Grouped, Stacked and 100% Stacked.
See Group By Legend for how the series are arranged in each variant.
Tooltip Copy Link
Fields in the Tooltip slot appear in the tooltip when you hover over a bar, but are not plotted. Use the slot for context that would clutter the chart, such as the number of units behind each revenue figure.
In the example below, each column shows revenue for a product category, and the Setup tab is open beside the chart. Hover over a column to see its Units Sold and Returns, which are in the Tooltip slot.
Format Copy Link
Bar and Column Charts have these settings of their own on the Format tab, beside the title, axis and appearance settings every chart has. Your developer can change the defaults shown.
| Setting | Where | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legend | Elements | Off | Shows the legend. Position places it around the chart, at the bottom by default. |
| Data Labels | Elements | Off | Shows each bar's value inside the bar. Font and Color change the label text. |
| Segment Borders | Elements | Off | Draws a border around each bar and segment. Width and Color change the border. |
| Bar Width | Column Chart or Bar Chart section | Automatic | Sets the thickness of each bar, in pixels. |
Segment Borders help when neighbouring segments are hard to tell apart, and they are shown on the legend swatches too. The same option is also available on the columns of Combo Charts, the Range Bar and Range Column Charts, the Histogram, Pie and Donut Charts, and the Radial Column, Nightingale and Radial Bar Polar Charts.
The example below shows each setting turned on in its own chart, over the same data.