Column chart tips and tricks

Want to spruce up your column chart? Check out these common customization workflows.

Add space between bars on a column chart

Go from this, where columns are jammed together:

To this, where there is space between the columns:

To add space between columns:

Go to Customize > Advanced > Plot options > Column > Point width
Enter a value to set the column width. The column chart above has a column width of '9'.

Accentuate the zero line in a chart

Highlight the zero line to help the reader distinguish between positive and negative values.

Go from this:

To this:

To highlight the zero line in a chart:

Go to Customize > Basic > Annotations
Under Lines click +
The plot area is highlighted. Click anywhere to start your line.
Click and drag the white circle with a black outline to set the length of your line
Drag the line to the 0 line
Under Size select a value, e.g. 2 or 3, to set the line width

Hide 0 on the y axis

The first tick label in a y-axis is zero by default.

Go from this:

to this:

Go to Customize > Advanced > Y Axis 1
Set Show First Label to On to show the first label Off to hide it.

Create space on the plot area for a label

Extend the y-axis to add more space for annotations.

Go from this:

To this:

Go to Customize > Advanced > Y Axis 1
Turn End on click to On
On Max padding click the up arrow to extend the y-axis

How do I assign a unique color to each column in a multi-column column chart?

By default, for a data set with multiple values, all columns will be assigned the same colour.

Go from this:

To this:

Go to Basic > Chart type specific > and enable Color by point
The company colors, which are listed in Appearance styles > Chart colors, are assigned to the columns if you are using themes.

Tip: Drag and drop the chart colors to assign different colors to the columns.

Adjust the number of labels on the y axis

The y axis labels is the text that show the categories or scaling of the axis. Sometimes it is desirable to reduce the amount of labels in an axis. The result, More space between labels results in less clutter and perhaps makes the chart easier to read.

Go from this: