Horizontal Bar Charts | Display Ranked Data with Clarity#

Horizontal Bar Charts are ideal when category labels are long or when visual ranking is the goal. Instead of vertical columns, the bars stretch left-to-right, making this chart format highly readable for survey responses, product comparisons, and performance scores.

The Edilitics Visualization module lets you create Horizontal Bar Charts using a point-and-click interface, with built-in options for aggregation, formatting, sorting, and interactivity. Each chart runs on a governed dataset, ensuring consistent filters, calculations, and logic—no data prep needed on your part.

When to Use a Horizontal Bar Chart#

Chart Configuration in Edilitics#

Inputs Required#

• 1 Category Field (Column)

  Used for the vertical Y-axis (e.g., Product Name, Survey Option, Region)

• 1 Numeric Field (Row)

  Used for bar length along the X-axis (e.g., Revenue, Score, Count)

📌 If the field is non-numeric, Edilitics automatically aggregates it by count.

How to Configure a Horizontal Bar Chart#

• Select "Horizontal Bar" from the Chart Library

• Choose your category (column) and numeric (row) fields

• Apply aggregations

  Choose from: Sum, Count, Average, Min, Max, Median, Percentile, etc.

• Customize chart appearance

  Use the Format tab to adjust:

  • Bar color, height, and spacing

  • Axis label styling and text casing

  • Font size, chart title, subtitle, legend, and gridlines

• Enable interactivity

  • Tooltips (auto-formatted per theme)

  • Sheet or dashboard-level filters

  • Data labels and sorting

• Embed into dashboards

  Place this chart alongside other visuals, apply shared filters, or duplicate it across sheets.

Feature Highlights#

Optimized for Ranked Data#

• Y-axis lists categories, X-axis extends bars

• Automatic and manual sorting options included

Readable Labeling#

• Supports long category names without overlap

• Adjustable axis font, color, and casing

Smart Aggregation#

• Auto-applies Count for non-numeric data

• Supports custom aggregations during setup

Tooltip Customization#

• Tooltips adapt to theme (light/dark)

• Configure prefixes, units (K, M, B), decimal precision, font

Sorting Controls#

• Sort by numeric value or alphabetically

• Great for showing best-to-worst performance rankings

Conditional Formatting#

• Color bars based on thresholds (e.g., highlight top 5 or below average)

Filtering#

• Add pre-filters to optimize performance

• Use post-filters for on-screen exploration

• Support for dashboard-wide filter sync

📌 Learn more: Filtering in Edilitics

Best Practices for Horizontal Bar Charts#

How Edilitics Is Different#

Unlike traditional BI tools that offer raw drag-and-drop charts, Edilitics:

• Applies validated transformations and aggregations upfront

• Enforces governed datasets across all visualizations

• Offers granular control over chart-level formatting—without code

Every Horizontal Bar Chart built in Edilitics is repeatable, governed, and visually consistent—built for collaboration, not chaos.

Horizontal Bar Charts are one of the most effective tools for comparing ranked items, especially when category names are long. Edilitics streamlines the process with intuitive chart configuration, rich formatting, and governance baked in. Your comparisons become clearer, faster, and more insightful.