Customize Your Chart

Learn how to use the Customize tab of the Advanced Chart Builder.

The Customize tab in the Advanced Chart Builder gives you fine-grained control over the appearance of your chart. Use this tab to adjust how your data is labeled, styled, and displayed so your visual tells a clear, compelling story.

Adding a title to your chart and X & Y axis

Clarify your chart’s purpose at a glance.

• Add a main title and optional subtitle

  • Titles can summarize the insight (e.g., “Average GPA by Department”)

  • Subtitles can include filters, date ranges, or other context

• Add context for the Horizontal (X) and Vertical (Y) axis

Legend controls

The legend helps viewers understand what each color or line represents.

• Toggle legend on/off

• Set position: Top, bottom, left, or right of the chart

• Wrap or truncate labels to prevent overflow on small charts

Hide the legend if your chart has only one data series and is already well-labeled.

Series formatting

Customize how each data series is displayed:

• Opacity: Adjust transparency to reveal overlapping data.

• Line width: Thicken or thin lines for clarity in line or area charts.

• Markers: Show or hide data points; adjust size and shape if available.

These settings help emphasize the story you’re telling—whether it’s a trend over time or a category comparison.

Tooltip customization

Tooltips appear when you hover over data points. You can:

• Turn tooltips on or off

• Adjust what’s displayed in the tooltip (e.g., raw value, label, percentage)

Well-crafted tooltips give your viewers context without crowding the chart.

X & Y axis controls

Adjust the chart’s horizontal and vertical axes for readability and accuracy.

Axis Positioning

• Set axis position (e.g., left or right for vertical, top or bottom for horizontal)

Axis Line Styling

• Change the axis line color

• Adjust the line thickness

• Customize the line dash style (solid, dashed, etc.)

Grid Line Controls

• Show or hide grid lines for horizontal or vertical axes

• Adjust the grid line color

• Set grid line thickness

• Modify the grid line dash pattern

Ticks

• Enable or disable tick marks along the axis

Axis Labels

• Font family (choose from available options)

• Font weight (normal, bold, etc.)

• Font size

• Font color

• Label padding (distance from axis line)

• Label rotation (rotate text to prevent overlap or improve readability)

Adjusting axis label rotation and font size can be especially helpful when visualizing data with long category names or dense labels.

Chart styling

Final polish for layout and appearance:

• Padding controls: Add space around the chart for breathing room

• Background color adjustments

Use styling to make your chart presentation-ready or to match an institutional look and feel.