Chart Legends

1) Chart legend is a key component in data visualization, serving as a descriptive guide that enhances the understanding of complex charts by identifying different data series with symbols, colors, or line styles. The inclusion of a legend is crucial for interpreting chart data accurately and efficiently, allowing viewers to quickly grasp the nuances and relationships within the data. Employing chart legends in professional settings aids in the clear communication of information, supporting better decision-making based on visual data insights.

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3) Application Scenarios：Legends are essential in clarifying the symbols and colors on charts, enhancing comprehension. By adjusting legend settings, you can significantly improve how others understand the data displayed on the chart, ensuring clear and effective communication of information.

4) Functions：To create a legend, add fields to attributes like Color, Size, Label, Thermal Color, or Radius within the Graphic Properties. The legend will then be automatically generated based on these fields. You can also customize the appearance and settings of legends through the Component Style options. This feature simplifies the process of interpreting complex visual data by clearly defining the elements presented in your charts.

1 Displaying All Legends

When you create a chart and add multiple fields to Graphic Properties, each field will display a corresponding legend. If you tick Display All Legends, all legends will be displayed.

2 Displaying Some Legends

Uncheck Display All Legends to choose which legends you want to display based on your specific analysis needs.

Note: If no graphic properties are ticked under Display All Legends, no legends will be displayed.

3 Title

If there is only one legend, you can untick Title to not display its title because the meaning of it is very clear.

Note: Starting from version 5.1.14, you can modify the legend title by changing the field name after dragging fields into Color, Size, and Shape.

4 Font

You can choose the system's Auto font setting or customize the font size, thickness, etc.

5 Border

The border is transparent by default, and you can set the color of the legend border.

6 Position

You can customize the position of the legend in Location.

7 Legend Order

The order of the legend is the same as the sorting of the fields. You can sort according to your own needs.

1. For example, if you want to adjust the legend order, you can click  and select Descending(expenditure) > expenditure(Sum) to sort the field expenditure by expenditure(Sum).

The legend order will change accordingly after sorting.

8 Custom Grouping

Drag the expenditure field into Color.

If you feel that there are too many legends on the right side, you can customize the legend groups.

1. Hover your cursor over expenditure and click  > Custom Grouping.

2. Click Add a group.

3. Select the fields from not grouping and move them to the newly created group.

4. Tick Ungrouped values are assigned to Other and click OK. You can create more groups if necessary.

5. Demonstration.

9 Functional Changes

1. Distinguished Legend Icons

Use rectangles and lines to distinguish between bar/line charts to display legend icons.

2. Optimized Legend Interaction

When you have numerous intricate legend items, the graphical representation can become congested. With the latest version, FineBI 6.0, you can have improved interactive control over chart displays.

Click on the legend text or icon for the first time to gray out the legend, and click again to display it.

Note: When the legend is grayed out, the corresponding data in the chart is hidden.

When you hover your cursor over the displayed legend, the icon shifts to a fixed pin. The pin's color matches that of the corresponding column.

When all legends are displayed, to view a specific legend, click  to hide other legends. The icon will change to  . To display hidden legends, click the corresponding icon. Click  to display all series at once when only one series is currently displayed.

10 Notes

Once you have configured the legends, you may wonder if the previous configuration will remain when switching between chart types. You can refer to the following rules:

1. If the original chart was a custom chart:

• Switching chart types in Graphic Properties retains the legend configuration.

• Switching chart types in Chart Type above Graphic Properties does not retain the legend configuration.

2. If the original chart was a non-custom chart:

• Switching to a custom chart in Graphic Properties retains the legend configuration.

• Switching to another non-custom chart in Chart Type above Graphic Properties does not retain the legend configuration.

In summary, chart legends play a pivotal role in enhancing the readability and interpretability of data visualizations. They provide a crucial link between visual elements and their meanings, facilitating a deeper understanding and more effective communication of insights gleaned from the data. By enabling users to customize legends to fit specific needs and contexts, FineBI ensures that charts are not only informative but also tailored to enhance decision-making processes. The continual updates to legend functionalities underscore their importance in dynamic and data-driven environments.