ClearInsights gives you full control over how your data is visualized. You can customize chart types, colors, legends, axes, number formatting, and more to present insights clearly and effectively. This article explains how chart selection works and how to configure and refine your visualizations.
In this article:
Overview
How chart selection works
Chart Requirements
Access chart configuration options
Chart Configuration Options
Manage chart changes
Additional Resources
Overview
In this article, you will learn how to:
- Understand how ClearInsights selects charts.
- Change chart types.
- Configure chart settings.
- Customize axes, labels, legends, and formatting.
- Use advanced options like regression lines and zoom.
If you need to edit table-specific settings such as column renaming, wrapping, or formatting, see ClearInsights Max: Edit Table Options.
How chart selection works
ClearInsights suggests a chart type based on your search query.
- New queries: When you run a search for the first time, ClearInsights analyzes your data and selects the most appropriate chart.
- Follow-up queries: If you add or remove fields from an existing search, ClearInsights keeps the current chart type unless the data structure requires a change.
- Drill-downs: When you drill into data, ClearInsights maintains the current chart type whenever possible to ensure a consistent experience.
Chart Requirements
To display a chart:
- You must include at least one measure and one attribute.
- If only attributes are included, the following chart types are available: Pivot Table, KPI, and Scatter Plot.
- If only measures are included, the following charts are available: Pivot Table and KPI.
- If only dates are included, the following are available: Pivot Table and KPI.
- If you select only a measure or only an attribute, ClearInsights returns a table.
- Some chart types may be unavailable depending on the fields in your search.
For example:
- Geo charts require at least one geographical column.
- Unavailable chart types appear grayed out.
Tip
Hover over a grayed-out chart to see what fields are required.
You can switch between Table and Chart mode at any time.
For more information about available chart types, see: ClearInsights Max: Chart Types Available.
Data Limit
Charts support up to 20,000 positive data points.
Access chart configuration options
To configure a chart:
- Open your chart.
- Hover over the options on the right-hand side.
You can also directly select chart elements, such as an axis, to edit their properties.
Chart Configuration Options
To see the chart configurations, hover on the right-hand side so the options appear.
Change chart structure
Use these options to control how data is visualized.
Switch between available chart types based on your selected measures and attributes.
When you add fields in the search bar:
- They automatically appear as drag-and-drop chips.
-
Layout allows you to move measures and attributes to:
- X-axis
- Y-axis
- Slice with color
- Not visualized
Customize Chart Appearance
Use these settings to control how your chart looks.
Under Column, you can:
- Change the name of the column.
- Sort by Alphenumerical or custom.
- Add Conditional Formatting.
- Change Colors.
To change legend visibility or position:
- Select Legend.
- Choose a legend position:
- Legend on the right.
- Legend on the left.
- Legend on the top.
- Legend on the bottom.
- Use the Show legend toggle to hide or display the legend.
- Selecting a legend item temporarily hides that value from the chart without removing it from your search.
To permanently exclude a value:
- Right-click the chart element.
- Select Exclude "value."
For supported chart types (such as column and bar charts):
- Drag an attribute into the Slice with color section.
- Only attributes can be used to slice with color.
- This separates data into color-coded subcategories.
Not Visualized
Drag them to Not visualized to keep them in the table view, but exclude them from the chart.
Format numbers and values
You can control number formatting for:
- Data labels
- Axis values
- Individual measures
Available options:
- Category: Number, Percentage, Currency
- Units: K, M, B
- Decimals: Specify number of decimal places
ClearInsights automatically selects a best-fit format, but you can override it. Each measure can be formatted independently to reduce visual noise.
Configure axes
The following charts support multiple measures on the Y-axis:
- Column Charts
- Stacked column charts
- Bar charts
- Stacked bar charts
- Area Charts
- Stacked area charts
- Waterfall charts
- Line charts
- Line Stacked Column Charts
Stacked charts combine measures in one visual element. Non-stacked charts display measures side by side.
You can customize how your chart appears.
Axis Settings
- Show X-axis gridlines
- Show Y-axis gridlines
- When you create bar and column charts and slice by color, ClearInsights automatically enables gridlines to make the chart easier to read. You can choose to disable gridlines.
- Show data markers (for line charts)
- Add regression lines
- Adjust legend position
When multiple fields appear on an axis or legend:
- The first field added becomes the primary sorting field.
- Additional fields appear in the order they are added.
- Drag and drop fields to reorder them.
- Select Apply to save changes.
- Select Reset to discard changes.
Note
If you close the configuration panel before selecting Apply, your changes are not saved.
Advanced data options
You can adjust date granularity in charts and tables. For example: Change from weekly to monthly, Change from monthly to quarter This helps you analyze trends at different time intervals.
To zoom into a specific area: Select an area. Drag over the portion of the chart you want to zoom into. ClearInsights reconfigures the chart to display only the selected area. To return to the original view, select Reset.
Manage chart changes
As you configure charts, you can:
- Select Undo to reverse the last action.
- Select Redo to reapply the last action.
- Select Reset (saved Answers only) to return to the last saved state.
- These controls appear to the right of the search bar.
Final Note
ClearInsights automatically selects the best-fit visualization for your data, but you have full control to customize and refine your charts. Use configuration options to improve clarity, reduce visual noise, and tailor visualizations to your reporting needs.
Additional Resources
ClearInsights Max: Chart Types Available
ClearInsights Max: Edit Table Options
ClearInsights Max: Edit Chart Fields
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