Creating a bar chart

In a bar chart, you can compare values for different categories in your data.

There are two types of axes in the bar chart, a Category axis and a Value axis. In most cases, columns containing numerical data are selected on the Value axis, and columns with categories are selected on the Category axis.


example of a bar chart

The heights of the bars represent a certain aggregated value for each of the categories. An aggregated value could be, for example, a sum or an average.

Procedure

  1. On the authoring bar, click Visualization types to open the flyout.
  2. Drag the Bar chart visualization type to the wanted position on the analysis page.
    A suggestion of a bar chart is presented.
  3. On the Value axis, select the column whose values you are interested in comparing.
  4. Select which type of aggregated value you want to show.
    The heights of the bars are recalculated to reflect your selected aggregation.
  5. On the Category axis, select the column containing the categories by which you wish to split the data.

Examples

The lefthand and middle bar chart show the total sum of purchases but split into different categories on the Category axis. In the rightmost bar chart another aggregation value, average, is set.


bar chart example

See also Creating a stacked bar chart, Creating a side-by-side bar chart, and Creating a 100% stacked bar chart.