Editing Categories

You can edit the categories on a categorical axis in several ways:

  • Change the sort order for displaying the categories.
  • Exclude specific categories.
  • Add a category that does not appear in the data set.
  • Collapse/combine small categories into one category.

How to Change the Sort Order of Categories

  1. Select a categorical axis. The Categories palette displays the categories on the axis.

    Note: If the palette is not visible, make sure that you have it enabled.

  2. In the Categories palette, select a sorting option from the drop-down list:

    Custom. Sort categories based on the order in which they appear in the palette. Use the arrow buttons to move categories to the top of the list, up, down, and to the bottom of the list.

    Data. Sort categories based on the order in which they occur in the dataset.

    Name. Sort categories alphabetically, using the names as displayed in the palette.

    Value. Sort categories by the underlying data value, using the values displayed in parentheses in the palette. Only data sources with metadata (such as IBM® SPSS® Statistics data files) support this option.

    Statistic. Sort categories based on the calculated statistic for each category. Examples of statistics include counts, percentages, and means. This option is available only if a statistic is used in the graph.

How to Add a Category

By default, only categories that appear in the data set are available. You can add a category to the visualization if needed.

  1. Select a categorical axis. The Categories palette displays the categories on the axis.

    Note: If the palette is not visible, make sure that you have it enabled.

  2. In the Categories palette, click the add category button:
    Figure 1. Add category button
    Add category button
  3. In the Add a new category dialog box, enter a name for the category.
  4. Click OK.

How to Exclude Specific Categories

  1. Select a categorical axis. The Categories palette displays the categories on the axis.

    Note: If the palette is not visible, make sure that you have it enabled.

  2. In the Categories palette, select a category name in the Include list, and then click the X button. To move the category back, select its name in the Excluded list, and then click the arrow to the right of the list.

How to Collapse/Combine Small Categories

You can combine categories that are so small you don't need to display them separately. For example, if you have a pie chart with many categories, consider collapsing categories with a percentage less than 10. Collapsing is available only for statistics that are additive. For example, you can't add means together because means are not additive. Therefore, combining/collapsing categories using a mean is not available.

  1. Select a categorical axis. The Categories palette displays the categories on the axis.

    Note: If the palette is not visible, make sure that you have it enabled.

  2. In the Categories palette, select Collapse and specify a percentage. Any categories whose percentage of the total is less than the specified number are combined into one category. The percentage is based on the statistic shown in the chart. Collapsing is available only for count-based and summation (sum) statistics.