Charts
Chart one column or compare two, with BigXL suggesting the picture that fits. 21 chart types, computed over the whole file.
BigXL turns any column into a chart in one click. Every chart is computed over the entire file, not just the rows on screen.
Opening the chart panel
Select a column and click Chart in the toolbar, press Cmd+U (Ctrl+U on Windows and Linux), right-click a column header and choose Chart followed by the column name, or use Data > Chart a column. The panel opens on the right and follows the column you select.
Suggested charts
The Suggested tab looks at the column and shows the charts that tell you the most, with the best one first and a short reason why. You do not have to choose anything.
Make your own
Choose Make your own to build a chart yourself.
- Group by is the column whose values become the bars, slices or points.
- Show is what to measure for each group: Number of rows, Total of, Average of, Median of, Smallest of, Largest of, Different values in, or Spread of another column.
- Compare by adds a second column to split each group, such as region within month. Leave it on Nothing for a single column.
- Pick for me looks at the data and chooses the second column that says the most.
Chart types
For one column there are eleven: Bars, Dots, Columns, Spread (a histogram), Line, Area, Pie, Donut, Quartiles (a box plot), Pareto and Waterfall.
When you compare two columns there are ten more: Stacked columns, Stacked bars, Grouped columns, Grouped bars, 100% columns, 100% bars, Heatmap, Treemap, Sunburst and Sankey.
Charts that do not suit the data are greyed with a note saying why, rather than drawing something misleading.
Key facts
Under each chart, small tiles show the column type and the headline numbers for it, such as the total or the average.
Click to filter
Click part of a chart, a bar, slice or cell, and the sheet shows only the rows behind it, with the rest of the chart greyed out. A two-column chart applies both filters. Click the same part again to remove them. The chart never drops categories, so you can always see what you are filtering out.
Honest scales
If the values in a bar chart differ by less than 25 percent, a short axis would exaggerate the gap. BigXL adds a footnote such as “The scale starts at 90, not zero, because these values differ by under 25%.” so the picture cannot mislead.
Text that should be numbers
If a column is mostly numbers but a few values are text, a notice appears above the chart with a Fix it button that opens the fix panel. Money written as text, such as $1,200, is already read as a number in charts.
Saving a chart
Click Save image to save the chart as a PNG or SVG. SVG is a vector format that stays sharp in presentations and print.