Showing fewer digits on an axis by dividing a result with 1000

With custom expressions you can do just about anything with the columns in your data. The example below shows how you can use a custom expression to divide the result on the value axis by 1000, so that the axis value is shown in thousands of dollars instead of dollars.

About this task

The example data looks like this:

One column contains the sales price and another the type of product.

When the sum of sales is shown on the value axis of a bar chart, a large number of unneccessary zeros are shown in the axis labels. By showing the total sum of sales in thousands of dollars instead, the numbers on the axis become smaller and easier to understand.

Procedure

On the axis selector for the visualization where you want to divide the value, right-click to show the pop-up menu.
Select Custom expression.
In the Custom expression dialog, modify the expression so it says Sum([Sales])/1000 AS [Sales (thousands of dollars)] and click Apply.
The last part of this expression (AS and forward) defines what to show as the axis label and is not needed for the calculation itself.

Results

The axis expression is changed to show sales in thousands of dollars instead of dollars.

Tip: You can also change how values are shown on an axis by changing the formatting.