Customizing the Axes of a Chart

Chart axes are lines that border the chart area and provide a reference for measurements. They act as a vehicle for tick marks and scales and form a frame around the chart. The Y-axis is usually the vertical axis and contains data. The X-axis is usually the horizontal axis and contains categories.

To make your chart data easier to understand, you can do the following to customize each axis:

  • show or hide the axis labels (data values)
  • show or hide the axis line
  • change the color, style, and weight of the axis line
  • show or hide major and minor tick marks and specify where to display them

In HTML/PDF, if you have a report with a line chart, you can use the Include Zero For Auto Scale property to adjust the scale of the Y-axis of the chart. If the difference between your measure's maximum/minimum values is much less than the difference between your measure's minimum value and zero, using this property will make the chart Y-axis begin at something closer to your measure's minimum value, making the line utilize all of the chart's vertical space. In some cases this is significant in improving the readability of the chart.