Microsoft Power BI Combo Chart

In this Power BI tutorial, We will learn about Microsoft Power BI Combo Chart. Also, we will discuss:

• What is Power BI Combo chart?
• What is a Combo chart used for?
• Key features of Power BI Combo chart
• Create a combo chart on Power BI Desktop
• Power BI Combo chart add and remove secondary axis
• Power BI Combo chart Multiple lines
• Power BI Combo chart single axis
• Power BI Combo chart constant line
• Power BI Combo chart sort order
• Power BI Combo chart align axis
• Advantages and Limitation of Power BI Combo chart

What is Power BI Combo chart?

A Combo chart is a single visualization in Power BI that combines a line chart and column chart. Combining the 2 charts into one lets you make a faster comparison of the data in a single chart.

The data can have completely different units and will have two Y-axis rather than one Y-axis.

This visualization can be created and viewed on both Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service.

There are 2 types of combo charts available in Power BI.

• Line and Stacked column chart: Display multi-color bars where each bar represents a parent dimension and each color represents a child dimension within the parent dimension. This chart shows the total value for the parent dimension and how each child adds to the total value.
• Line and Clustered column chart: Display sets of single-color bars where each set represents a parent dimension and each bar represents a child dimension. Use this chart to make it easy to determine the values for each bar.

Here is an example of the Power BI Combo charts,

The above example shows the difference between a line and stacked column chart v/s a line and clustered chart. A line and clustered column chart are where the column is shown side by side rather than stacked.

Read Power BI Slicer Search Box

What is a Combo chart used for?

The combo charts are a great choice when:

• Combo charts are good choice, if you want to make a chart with a study that shows data in a different way than the main chart.
• To compare multiple measures with different value range.
• To conserve canvas space.
• To visualize corelation between two measures in a single visualization.

Read: Power BI Donut Chart – How to use

Key features of Power BI Combo chart

There are some key features supported by the Power Bi Combo chart. These are:

• Changing the legend display, that means a multi-measure combo charts display a legend.
• Changing the title display, we can customizing a visual title.
• Changing the axis range, we can set range for the axis.
• Showing or hiding axis lines, grid lines, and axis label.
• Customizing the visual colors.
• We can do sorting on the chart.
• Synchronizing Y-axis, we can do syncronize the Y-axes for both bars and lines into a single axis.

Create a combo chart on Power BI Desktop

Now we will see how to create a combo chart on Power BI with step-by-step guides. For example, here we will create a line and stacked column chart on Power BI Desktop.

Step-1:

Prepare the data, that you used to make the visual. Here we use data based on the Product’s financial data. You can download it here for your practice. Your data source may be Excel data, SharePoint list, SQL data, etc.

Step-2:

Go to Get data > More… > All/File > Excel Workbook > Connect.

Step-3:

Select the Excel data > Open.

Step-4:

Then a navigator page will appear, By selecting Excel data, navigate it to Power BI. Click on load.

Step-5:

On the Report page, click on Line and stacked column chart under the visualizations. For creating the visualization drag and drop the data to the field section.

For this example, we will create a visual that represents the data as Sales and Discount by Product country. The fields we have taken to create this visual are:

• Shared axis: Product
• Column series: Country
• Column values: Sales
• Line values: Discount

Then the chart will look like this:

The above chart, showing the combined data of the Line chart and Stacked column chart in a single visual.

This is How to create a combo chart on Power BI Desktop.

Read: Power bi gauge chart – How to use with examples

Power BI Combo chart add and remove secondary axis

The scale of the secondary Y-axis reflects the value for the associated data series. A secondary axis works well in a chart that shows a combination of column and line charts. We can show a chart like this by changing our chart to a combo chart.

A secondary axis runs along the right side of the chart. Now we will see how to add or remove a secondary axis on the Power BI Combo chart.

Case-1: Show secondary axis on Power BI Combo chart

Step-1:

Create a combo chart. For example, we will create a line and stacked column chart with having these fields:

Step-2:

Under Format Pane, select the drop-down of the Y-axis. Then scroll down until we see the secondary axis. Because there are so many options on Y-axis, so we have to use both scrollbars.

Step-3:

For displaying the Secondary axis on the chart, Turn on the Show secondary toggle. Then, we can see the secondary axis appear on the combo chart. The chart will look like this:

We can see there are two Y-axis or vertical on the above chart. One is showing the Sales value and another is showing the Profit value.

Case-2: Hide secondary axis on Power BI Combo chart

In a similar way, by turning off the show secondary on Y-axis, we can hide another Y-axis.

This is how we can remove and add a secondary axis to improve the visualization on the Power BI Combo chart.

Read: Power Bi key influencers

Power BI Combo chart Multiple lines

We can plot multiple lines on the Power BI Combo chart. It is used to describe two or more variables that change over the same period of time.

The multiple lines are usually visualized on the horizontal axis. Now we will see how to set Multiple lines on a single combo chart.

Step-1:

For example, here we will take a combo chart for our reference that was created previously.

Step-2:

Add two or more data on Line values to add lines on the combo chart. Then the chart will look like this:

The above chart showing two lines. The Blue lines indicate the Discount where the Yellow line indicates the Profit value.

This is how we can add Multiple lines on the Power BI Combo chart.

Power BI Combo chart single line

We can represent the data in a single line on the Power BI combo chart by following this simple step:

Here we will create a combo chart having these fields:

• Shared axis: Product
• Column series: Country
• Line value: Gross sales

Then the chart will look like this:

A single line appears on the above combo chart. This is how we can show a single line on the Power BI Combo chart.

Power BI Combo chart constant line or Target line

A constant line or target line is a Straight line that extends over the entire chart and indicates an axis value.

Constant lines are always perpendicular to the axis to which they belong. Just like a hidden little gem on Power BI.

We can plot a constant line on the Combo chart by following these steps:

Step-1:

Create a combo chart, here we create a combo chart that shows the data as Sales, Profit, Discounts by Country and Segment

As the analytical features are not available in this visual, so for plotting a target line we have to create a measure and drag that measure to the fields of the combo chart.

Step-2:

Go to the Data section, Click on New Measure. set a value to create a constant line on the chart.

Measure = 7000000

We can see a new measure appears on the field. Now, drag that measure to the line values of the chart. We can see a straight line will appear on the chart as below:

The above chart showing the measure as Yellow line. This is how Power BI Combo chart constant line or Target line.

Read: Power bi create a date table

Power BI Combo chart align axis

Now we will see how to align the axis on the Power BI Combo chart. We can set alignment on both the primary and secondary Y-axis.

Step-1:

Create or select the combo chart that we created previously.

Step-2:

Go to format Pane > Select Y-axis > Insert 0 in Start field(as we want to align the axis from 0).

We can see the primary Y-axis will align on the left of the combo chart like below:

We can see the secondary axis is not aligned on the above chart. Let’s aligned that axis on the combo chart.

Step-3:

Scroll down the Y-axis, until getting the Show secondary option. Turn on that option. Then turn on the Align Zeros option.

Also, we can customize the position of the axis from the right to the left or top. After align the chart will look like below:

We can see the secondary axis is also aligned from Zero on the right side of the chart.

This is how to do the Power BI Combo chart align axis.

Read: Power BI Export Data

Power BI Combo chart Sort order

Here we will see how to sort order in both X-axis and Y-axis on the Power BI Combo chart.

Case-1: Sort order in X-axis on Power BI Combo chart.

Step-1:

Select the Combo chart, that we created.

Step-2:

Go to More option(…) > Sort by > Product(as it is plot on X-axis)

On the above chart, we can see there is a yellow indicator, on the left side of Sort descending and Product that indicating the chart is sorted by the selected options.

So we can see the above chart is sorted by Product in descending order(sorted as alphabetically).

Case-2: Sort order in Y-axis on Power BI Combo chart.

Similarly, we can sort orders on Y-axis(Sale and Gross sale). Then the chart will look like below:

The above chart is sorted in ascending order on Y-axis.

This is how we can do sorting on the Power BI Combo chart as Descending order and Ascending order.

Advantages and Limitation of Power BI Combo chart

Advantages of Power BI Combo chart:

• One of the major advantages of Power BI Combo chart is that it can easily display more than one measure with different scales against the same dimension.
• If you are sort of space on your dashboard, then the combo chart is a good option as it can save space.
• Combo chart is also used to plot multiple data sets on one graph.
• The chart highlights the differences in data with the combination of two different chart types.

Limitation of Power BI Combo chart:

There is a limitation on the Power BI Combo chart that you can not use more than one dimension in it. That means you can only display one dimension at a time.

You may also like the following Power BI tutorials:

• Power bi calculated column vs measure
• How to change data source in Power BI
• Power Bi Bar Chart
• How to create Power BI report from SharePoint list + Excel
• Power bi area chart

Conslusion

From this Power BI Combo chart tutorial, we learned and discussed:

• What is Power BI Combo chart?
• How to create a combo chart on Power BI Desktop?
• How to add and remove secondary axis on Power BI Combo chart?
• How to show Multiple lines on Power BI Combo chart?
• What is single axis on Power BI Combo chart?
• How to add constant line on Combo chart?
• How to do sorting on Power BICombo chart?
• How to do align axis on combo chart?
• Advantages and limitation of Power BI Combo chart