14. Visuals and Their Formatting
14.2 The Format Pane: Visual Tab, General Tab and Analytics
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)
- General › Title › Text: "Orders by City – Maharashtra", Font Segoe UI Semibold 14, Subtitle On: "Blinkit + Amazon Now, selected period".
- Visual › Y-axis › Title Off (city names are self-explanatory).
- Visual › X-axis › Values Off, Title Off (we will use data labels instead).
- Visual › Gridlines › Vertical Off.
- Visual › Bars › Colors › set one brand colour (e.g. #F2C811 yellow) or use fx for conditional colours (Module 20).
- Visual › Data labels › On › Display units Thousands › Value decimal places 1.
- General › Effects › Visual border › On, colour light grey, Rounded corners 8 px; Shadow Off for a flat look.
- General › Header icons › hide icons you do not want viewers to use.
- General › Alt text › "Bar chart showing total orders for each of six Maharashtra cities".
- Home › Format painter › click another visual to copy all this formatting.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Mitrano, ithe chuk karu naka: 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. Ha niyam lakshat theva.