Customize horizontal axis

Axes provide quantitative and categorical scales that are used to label and assign values to the visual objects on a chart. Most chart types have two axes: a horizontal axis (or x-axis) and a vertical axis (or y-axis). In Charts, you can customize the look and feel of both the horizontal and vertical axes. Here's how to access the horizontal axis setting.

  1. In the upper-right corner, click Edit. 
  2. In the right-hand sidebar, click Horizontal Axis.

Axis title

Sometimes, it's perfectly clear what a chart is all about just by looking at it. However, there will be times when your audiences might not know what the axes represent. This is when setting up the axis title comes in handy.

  1. In the Horizontal Axis section, click the checkbox next to Title to enable the title.
  2. At the bottom of the chart, click Axis Title and enter the title of the axis. 

    You can format the axis title text by selecting the entire title, or just a part of it, and selecting one of the formatting options from the popup window.

Axis line

In addition to including the axis title, you can customize the axis itself. Here's what you can do:

Axis labels

Axis labels are shown below the horizontal axis to help readers discern between different categories represented on the axis. In Charts, you can customize both the format and the angle of the labels to suit your particular data.

  1. In the Horizontal Axis section, click the checkbox next to Labels Visible to enable or disable labels. 
  2. From the Format dropdown, select the format that works best for your labels, whether they're regular text, percentage, number, currency, or date and time. 
  3. From the Label angle dropdown, select the angle that works best for your chart, or set it to Automatic to let Charts pick the best angle for you.
  4. From the Step dropdown, select which labels you want to display: all of them, every other, third, and so on. 

You can customize the axes even further when creating a new theme.