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Formatting visualizations

Once you have created and added a visualization to a dashboard, you can format the display of the visualization. You can rename attributes or metrics, choose whether to display a visualization’s title bar, whether to apply banding to values in a grid, and so on.

Besides these general formatting options, each type of visualization has specific formatting that can be applied to it.

You can edit a visualization in Formatting Mode to quickly select formatting options for a specific part of the visualization, such as the titles, row axes, or legend. In Formatting Mode, when you select an object in the visualization, the appropriate formatting options for the object are automatically displayed in the visualization's Properties panel. While you are viewing a visualization in Formatting Mode, other visualizations in the dashboard are greyed out and unavailable, allowing you to concentrate on a single visualization at a time. Formatting Mode is available for Graph, Heat Map, and Network visualizations. F

Formatting specific visualization types

For steps to select formatting options for a specific type of visualization, see the appropriate topic below:

• Dashboard Editor: ESRI Map: Properties
• Dashboard Editor: Google Map: Properties
• Formatting a Graph visualization
• Dashboard Editor: Graph: Properties
• Dashboard Editor: Grid: Properties
• To add subtotals to a Grid visualization
• Dashboard Editor: Heat Map: Properties
• Dashboard Editor: Network: Properties

General formatting for visualizations

For steps to perform common formatting tasks, see the appropriate link below:

• To show or hide a visualization's title bar
• To size a visualization
• To move a visualization
• To maximize the display of a visualization or restore it to its original size
• To change the visualization's display type
• To rename a dataset object in a visualization
• To determine which attribute forms are displayed for an attribute in the visualization
• To change the number formatting applied to a metric in a visualization

A threshold applies formatting, such as color-coding, to a visualization based on the value of a metric.

To show or hide a visualization's title bar

1. Do one of the following:
   • To display the title bar, hover the cursor over the visualization, then click the arrow icon in the top right. Select Show Title Bar.
   • To hide the title bar, hover the cursor over the visualization, then click the arrow icon in the top right. Select Hide Title Bar.

To move a visualization

1. Move the visualization by doing one of the following:
   • To move the visualization to a different location on the currently displayed page, click the visualization's title bar and drag the visualization to its new location in the dashboard, so that an indicator line is displayed in the location in which you want to place the visualization. The visualization is moved to its new location and displayed.
   • To move the visualization to a different page or sheet in the dashboard, hover the cursor over the visualization, then click the arrow icon in the top right. Point to Move To, then select one of the following:
     • To move the visualization to a new page, select New Panel.
     • To move the visualization to an existing sheet, select the name of the sheet.
     • To move the visualization to a new sheet, select New Sheet.

To size a visualization

1. Hover the cursor over the edge of the visualization, so that the cursor becomes double arrows. Click and drag the edge of the visualization to size it.

To maximize the display of a visualization or restore it to its original size

1. Do one of the following:
   • If the visualization's title bar is displayed, do one of the following:
     • To maximize the display of the visualization, click the Maximize icon.
     • To restore the visualization to its original size, click the Restore icon.
   • If the visualization's title bar is not displayed, hover the cursor over the visualization and click the arrow icon in the top right, then select one of the following:
     • To maximize the display of the visualization, select Maximize.
     • To restore the visualization to its original size, select Restore.

To change the visualization's display type

1. From the Visualization Gallery, click the icon of the visualization type to use to display the data.
   • If the Visualization Gallery is not displayed, from the View menu, select Visualization Gallery.

To rename a dataset object in a visualization

1. In the Editor panel, right-click the object and select Rename.
   • If the Editor panel is not displayed, from the View menu, select Editor Panel. If the Editor panel is hidden behind another panel, click the Editor icon to display the Editor panel.
2. Type a name for the object and press ENTER. The object is renamed and the new name is displayed in the visualization.

To determine which attribute forms are displayed for an attribute in the visualization

You can choose which attribute forms are displayed for a specific attribute. An attribute is a business concept, such as Region or Income Bracket, that provides a label for the numerical data (metrics) in your dashboard. An attribute form is a descriptive category for an attribute. While most attributes have only the forms ID and Description, an attribute such as Customer can have many other forms, such as First Name, Last Name, Address, Email Address, and so on.

For example, for the Customer attribute described above, you can display the First Name and Email Address forms in a grid. You can then export that data as an Excel file to use to create a special email only sales promotion.

Selecting which attribute forms to display is helpful when you are working with attributes containing geographic information. You can select whether or not to display the latitude and longitude information for an attribute, when that information is stored in separate attribute forms.

1. In the visualization's Editor panel, right-click the object and point to Display Attribute Form.
   • If the Editor panel is not displayed, from the View menu, select Editor Panel. If the Editor panel is hidden behind another panel, click the Editor icon to display the Editor panel.
2. Select the check box next to each attribute form to display in the visualization.
3. Clear the check box next to each attribute form to hide in the visualization.  
4. From the Display Attribute Form Names drop-down list, select one of the following:
   • To have the attribute name automatically displayed in the header of each attribute in the grid, select Off (default). No attribute form names are included in the grid.
   • To have a header automatically displayed for each attribute form in the grid, with each header consisting of the attribute name followed by the attribute form name, select On.
   • To have a header automatically displayed for each attribute form in the grid, with each header consisting of only the attribute form name, select Form name only.
   • To have a header automatically displayed for each attribute form in the grid and have the attribute name included only in the header for the first attribute form for each attribute, select Show attribute name once. The remaining attribute forms are displayed using the attribute form name only.
   • To automatically display either headers for each attribute or each attribute form depending on the number of attribute forms visible in the grid for each attribute, select Automatic. If only one attribute form is shown in the grid for an attribute, the attribute is displayed with a header containing the attribute’s name. If more than one of the attribute’s forms are visible in the grid, each attribute form is displayed with a header containing the attribute name followed by the attribute form name.
5. Click OK to apply your changes.

To change the number formatting applied to a metric in a visualization

1. Click the visualization you want to format.
2. In the visualization's Editor panel, right-click the metric, then point to Number Formatting. You can also right-click the object’s name or value in the visualization itself.
   • If the Editor panel is not displayed, from the View menu, ensure that Editor Panel is selected. If the Editor panel is hidden behind another panel, click the Editor icon to display the Editor panel.
3. From the first drop-down list, select the type of number formatting you want to use to display numeric values, as follows:
   • To display numbers without any special formatting, select General.
   • To display numbers with a fixed number of decimal places, select Fixed, then perform the following steps:
     1. From the Negative drop-down list, select the format to use to display each value.
     2. You can choose whether to display numbers with a separator symbol every three digits. To display the separator, click the button to highlight it. Numbers are displayed with a separator symbol every three digits (for example 1,000,000). To display numbers without the separator symbol, such as 1000000, click the button again to remove the highlight.
     3. You can add additional decimal places to the displayed numbers, or decrease the number of decimal places shown. Do one of the following:
        • To add decimal places, click the Increase Decimal icon .
        • To decrease the number of decimal places, click the Decrease Decimal icon .
   • To display numbers formatted as currency, select Currency, then perform the following steps:
     1. From the symbol drop-down list, select the currency symbol to use display the numeric values.
     2. From the position drop-down list, select the position to display the currency symbol in, such as Left, Right, Left with Space, or Right with Space.
     3. From the Negative drop-down list, select the format to display the currency values in.
     4. You can add additional decimal places to the displayed numbers, or decrease the number of decimal places shown. Do one of the following:
        • To add decimal places, click the Increase Decimal icon .
        • To decrease the number of decimal places, click the Decrease Decimal icon .
   • To display numbers formatted as dates, select Date. From the second drop-down list, select the format to use to display the dates.
   • To display numbers formatted as time values, select Time. From the second drop-down list, select the format to use to display each time value.
   • To display numbers as percentages, select Percentage, then perform the following steps:
     1. From the Negative drop-down list, select the format to use to display the percentages.
     2. You can add additional decimal places to the displayed numbers, or decrease the number of decimal places shown. Do one of the following:
        • To add decimal places, click the Increase Decimal icon .
        • To decrease the number of decimal places, click the Decrease Decimal icon .
   • To display numbers as fractions, select Fraction. From the second drop-down list, select the format to use to display the fractions.
   • To display numbers in scientific format, select Scientific. You can add additional decimal places to the displayed numbers, or decrease the number of decimal places shown. Do one of the following:
     • To add decimal places, click the Increase Decimal icon .
     • To decrease the number of decimal places, click the Decrease Decimal icon .
   • To display numbers in a condensed format, such as 1.5 M for 1,500,000, select Custom, then click Condense.
   • To display numbers in a custom number format, select Custom. In the field, type the format you want to use to display numbers, along with the symbols you want to use to display them. The pound symbol (#) represents the numeric value. For example, to display a number with two decimal places, such as 12.34, type #.##. A preview of the numeric value is displayed as you type.
4. Click OK to apply your changes.

To add subtotals to a Grid visualization

1. In a Grid visualization, hover the cursor over the attribute or metric to display subtotals for, then click the arrow icon. Point to Show Totals.
2. Select the check box next to each subtotal to display, then click OK.
3. By default, subtotals are shown at the bottom of the grid. To display them at the top of the grid, right-click the subtotal in the grid and select Move to Top. To display them at the bottom of the grid again, right-click the subtotal in the grid and select Move to Bottom.
4. You can quickly display or hide all subtotals in the grid by clicking the Show Totals icon in the visualization's Editor panel.