Configuring Range and Scale in Visuals

You can use the Properties panel to customize the range and scale of the values displayed on the axes of a visual. For example, this option is available for the value axes in bar charts, line charts, combo charts, and scatter plots.
To configure the value range and scale in a visual:
  1. Click Dashboards tab, the Dashboards tab.
  2. Click Dashboard Designer, in the bottom-left corner.
  3. On the Analyses dialog, click Options button, the Options button, next to an analysis and select Edit.
  4. On the analysis page, select a visual.
  5. Click Format visual icon, the Format visual icon, in the top-right corner of the visual.
  6. In the Properties panel on the right, expand the section for the axis that you want to format.
    For horizontal bar charts, expand the X-axis section and for vertical bar charts, line charts, and scatter plots, expand the Y-axis section. For combo charts, expand the Bars and Lines sections.
  7. To set the range for the axis, select one of the options available under Range:
    • Auto (starting at 0) - The range starts at 0 and ends around the highest value for the measure being displayed.
    • Auto (based on data range) - The range starts at the lowest value for the measure being displayed and ends around the highest value for the measure being displayed.
    • Custom - The range starts and ends at the values that you specify.

      Enter the start and end values in the Min and Max fields. Typically, you use integers for the range values. For stacked 100 percent bar charts, use a decimal value to indicate the percentage. For example, if you want the range to be 0–30 percent instead of 0–100 percent, enter 0 for the start value and .3 for the end value.

  8. To use a logarithmic scale instead of the default linear scale, enable the Logarithmic Scale option.

    On a linear scale, the axis labels are evenly spaced to show the arithmetical difference between them. The labels display the numbers in sets like {1000, 2000, 3000…} or {0, 50 million, 100 million…}, but not {10 thousand, 1 million, 1 billion…}. Use a linear scale in these cases:

    • All the values that display on the chart are in the same order of magnitude.
    • You want the axis labels to be evenly spaced.
    • The axis values have a similar number of digits, for example 100, 200, 300, and so on.
    • The rate of change between values is relatively slow and steady and the trend line is never close to being vertical.

    On a logarithmic scale, the axis values are spaced to show the orders of magnitude as a way of comparing them. The logarithmic scale is often used to display large ranges of values or percentages, or to show exponential growth. Use a logarithmic scale in these cases:

    • The values that display on the chart are not in the same order of magnitude.
    • You want the axis labels to be flexibly spaced to reflect the wide range of values. For example, the axis values might have a different number of digits, such as 10, 100, 1000, and so on, or the axis labels might be unevenly spaced.
    • The rate of change between values is growing exponentially or is too large to display in a meaningful way.

  9. To customize the number of values to show on the axis labels, select either Step size or Step count under Axis step count and enter a custom value.
    When you use a logarithmic scale, the axis step count is always determined automatically.
Parent topic: Formatting Visuals