Ravindra BagaleCourses & study guides मराठी Track your progress

14. Visuals and Their Formatting

14.2 The Format Pane: Visual Tab, General Tab and Analytics

By Last updated:

Start with a problem

Shraddha opens the Nashik report on a projector. The axis labels are tiny, there are gridlines everywhere and every bar has a data label. Nobody in the room can read the number that matters.

Explain simply

The Format pane (paintbrush icon) has two tabs. Visual formats the chart itself (axes, bars, data labels, legend). General formats the container (title, size, position, background, border, header icons). Formatting changes appearance only – it never changes the numbers.

Show the data

City Total Sales (₹)
Pune 850
Nashik 800
Kolhapur 450
Total 2,100

About this data: This table uses columns: City, Total Sales (₹). This table uses columns: Bar, Label shown. This table uses columns: Tab, Common cards (options differ by visual), What you set. This table uses columns: Wrong result, Reason, Correction. Values shown are the lesson examples already on this page (not a new dataset).

Fictional sample data. Practice file: visuals_orders_apr_may_2026.csv (source: src/practice/).

Demonstrate

  1. Select the Total Sales by City bar chart.
  2. Click Format visual (paintbrush) › Visual tab.
  3. Y-axis › Values › font size 12. Why: readable from the back of the room.
  4. X-axis › turn Off (the data labels will carry the numbers).
  5. Data labels › On, display units None, value decimal places 0.
  6. Gridlines › Off.
  7. Switch to the General tab › Title › text Total Sales by City (₹), size 14.
  8. General › Effects › Background › keep white; Visual border › On, light grey.

Show the result

Your result should look like this (fictional sample):

Bar Label shown
Pune 850
Nashik 800
Kolhapur 450

Explain what happened

You removed duplicate information: the axis and the data labels both showed values. Keeping one source of numbers makes the chart quieter. The values come from the same measure, so they did not change.

Explore further

  • Copy formatting to another visual with Home › Format painter.
  • Set defaults for the whole report with a theme (Module 23.4) instead of formatting each visual.

Detailed reference for this lesson:

Select a visual › Visualizations › Format visual (paintbrush). The pane has two tabs and a search box at the top (type "data labels" to jump straight to it).

Tab Common cards (options differ by visual) What you set
Visual Legend, X-axis, Y-axis (and Secondary y-axis), Gridlines, Zoom slider, Columns/Bars/Lines/Markers, Data labels, Total labels, Plot area background, Small multiples, Cell elements (table), Callout value (card), Slicer settings Everything inside the chart: axis type, font, title, range, colours, label position and display units (Thousands, Millions), line styles
General Properties (Size, Position, Padding, Advanced options), Title (Title, Subtitle, Divider, Spacing), Effects (Background, Visual border, Shadow), Header icons, Tooltips, Alt text Everything around the chart: title text and fx, background colour and transparency, rounded corners, shadow, the icons in the visual header, tooltip type and style, accessibility text

Analytics pane (magnifying glass icon, third icon in Visualizations): reference lines and forecasts for supported charts (14.23).

Steps in Power BI – professional formatting in 10 clicks (bar chart of Orders by City)

  1. General › Title › Text: "Orders by City – Maharashtra", Font Segoe UI Semibold 14, Subtitle On: "Blinkit + Amazon Now, selected period".
  2. Visual › Y-axis › Title Off (city names are self-explanatory).
  3. Visual › X-axis › Values Off, Title Off (we will use data labels instead).
  4. Visual › Gridlines › Vertical Off.
  5. Visual › Bars › Colors › set one brand colour (e.g. #F2C811 yellow) or use fx for conditional colours (Module 20).
  6. Visual › Data labels › On › Display units Thousands › Value decimal places 1.
  7. General › Effects › Visual border › On, colour light grey, Rounded corners 8 px; Shadow Off for a flat look.
  8. General › Header icons › hide icons you do not want viewers to use.
  9. General › Alt text › "Bar chart showing total orders for each of six Maharashtra cities".
  10. Home › Format painter › click another visual to copy all this formatting.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Friends, don't make a mistake here: formatting every visual by hand is the mistake I see most, along with showing axis values, data labels and gridlines at once, and leaving titles like "Sum of Amount by City". Set a theme and use Format painter. Pick one way of reading values, and always write a meaningful title. Remember this rule.

Fix common mistakes

Wrong result Reason Correction
Labels show 0.85K Display units set to Auto Data labels › Display units › None
Title still says Sum of Amount by City Auto title from field names General › Title › type your own text
Format change is lost on the next visual Formatting is per visual Use Format painter or a theme JSON

Practise independently

Practice task

Format the Category column chart: X-axis on, Y-axis off, data labels on with no display units, title Sales by Category (₹).

Hints
  • Y-axis is under the Visual tab.
  • Title is under the General tab.
Solution

Labels read 1,050 / 650 / 400. Only the X-axis category names and the data labels remain.

Think like a professional

Consistent formatting is maintenance: a theme file means a new analyst produces matching visuals on day one. In reviews, managers notice clutter before they notice the DAX.

Ravi Sir's Cards for this lesson

The Format pane: Visual and General tabs. A correct chart can still be hard to read. Formatting makes the message clear.Revision card

मराठी cards