What is a horizontal grouped bar chart?

A horizontal grouped bar chart displays multiple measures side by side per category, with bars running left to right. Categories appear on the Y-axis and bar length encodes the value on the X-axis. It is also called a horizontal clustered bar chart. Use it when you need to compare two or more numeric measures across categories and the category names are too long to fit on a vertical chart without rotation.

When should I use a horizontal grouped bar chart instead of a vertical grouped bar chart?

Use a horizontal grouped bar chart when category names are long and would overlap or require rotation on a vertical chart. The horizontal orientation gives each category label full room on the Y-axis. Use a vertical grouped bar chart when category names are short or when the chart sits in a narrow column on the dashboard.

How many measures can I add to a horizontal grouped bar chart?

The horizontal grouped bar chart requires a minimum of 2 measures and supports up to 10. Beyond 4 to 5 measures, clusters become tall and individual bars within each cluster become thin. Keep the measure count at 4 or fewer for most layouts.

How many categories are too many for a horizontal grouped bar chart?

With 3 or more measures, around 8 to 10 categories is practical before cluster height collapses and bars become unreadable. Enable Data Zoom with Vertical orientation to let viewers scroll through the category list, or pre-filter to the top N categories in Transform.

Why does my chart show no data after I assign fields?

The most common cause is a pre-filter returning zero rows. Check the Filters panel and remove or adjust any active filter. The horizontal grouped bar chart requires at least 2 measures - if only one is assigned, the chart will not render.

Can I change the color of each measure's bars individually?

No. Gradient Bar Styles applies a shared gradient start and end color across all measure series. Per-series color control is not available. The legend identifies which bar corresponds to which measure by position within each cluster.

What does Cluster Gap control?

Cluster Gap sets the space between category clusters - the gap between one category group and the next. Range is 0 to 100. At 0, clusters touch each other. At higher values, the gap between groups widens and the bars within each cluster become thinner. Keep Cluster Gap between 20 and 50 for most layouts.

Which Data Zoom orientation should I use?

Set Orientation to Vertical. This scrolls through the category list on the Y-axis, which is what you need on a horizontal chart. Horizontal orientation scrolls the value axis, which is not useful on this chart type.

Why are bars in my clusters extremely thin?

Thin bars mean too many measures or too many categories for the chart height. Reduce the measure count to 4 or fewer, reduce the category count by pre-filtering in Transform, or increase the chart height on the dashboard canvas.

Horizontal Grouped Bar Chart

Compare two to ten measures side by side per category with bars running left to right. Best when category names are long and multi-measure comparison is needed.

A horizontal grouped bar chart - also called a horizontal clustered bar chart - is a grouped bar chart rotated 90 degrees: categories run down the Y-axis, each category shows a cluster of bars (one per measure), and bar length encodes the value on the X-axis. Drop one categorical or date field into Column and two or more numeric fields into Row. Use this chart when you need multi-measure comparison per category and category names are too long to fit comfortably on a vertical chart.

When to Use

The choice between horizontal and vertical grouped bar comes down to label length. The horizontal grouped bar chart solves the same problem as the vertical Grouped Bar - comparing multiple measures side by side per category - but category names sit on the Y-axis where they have full horizontal space to breathe. Use it when category names are long (product line names, campaign names, job titles) and rotating them on a vertical chart would make them unreadable.

Cluster height collapses with too many measures or categories. On a horizontal chart, each cluster occupies vertical space instead of horizontal space. With 5 measures and 12 categories, there are 60 bars stacked vertically. Each bar becomes a thin line. Keep the product of measures times categories under 40, and keep measure count at 4 or fewer for most dashboard layouts.

Switch to a different chart when:

Category names are short and fit on a vertical chart - use Grouped Bar
You have only one measure per category - use Horizontal Bar
The question is about composition, not absolute values - use Horizontal Stacked Bar
Your dimension is time - use Line Chart

Scenario	Dimension	Measures
Revenue vs. cost by product line	Product line name	Sum of revenue, Sum of cost
Planned vs. actual by campaign	Campaign name	Sum of plan, Sum of actual
New vs. returning users by acquisition channel	Acquisition channel	Count of new users, Count of returning users
Budget vs. spend by department	Department name	Sum of budget, Sum of spend
Gross profit vs. net profit by region	Region name	Sum of gross profit, Sum of net profit

Required Inputs

Field	Type	Count
Dimension	Categorical or Date	Exactly 1
Measure	Numeric	2 to 10

For step-by-step build instructions, see Build Your First Chart.

Formatting Options

The Format tab unlocks after at least one field is assigned. Once your chart is rendering, use these controls to define how it looks and how viewers interact with it.

Style

Use the chart title to state the comparison question clearly. On a horizontal grouped bar, viewers are reading multiple measures per category from left to right - the title needs to tell them what the measures represent before they look at the legend.

Control	What it does
Show Chart Title	Shows or hides the title. The text is preserved when hidden so you can toggle it back without re-entering.
Enter Chart Title	Title text. Maximum 50 characters.
Font family	Font applied to the title.
Font size	5 to 30.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Alignment	Left, center, or right within the chart container.

Defaults to transparent, inheriting the dashboard canvas color. Set an explicit color when the chart needs a distinct surface inside a card layout, or when exporting as a standalone image and a white background is required.

Control	What it does
Background Color	Fill color of the chart container.

Reach for these controls when clusters feel too tightly packed or bars need visual polish. All measures share the same gradient - the legend and position within each cluster differentiate them, not individual bar colors. Border controls are not available on this chart type.

Control	What it does
Cluster Gap	Space between category clusters, 0 to 100. At low values, clusters pack tightly and bars within each cluster become thinner. At high values, clusters are well-separated but each bar is also thinner. Keep between 20 and 50 for most layouts.
Gradient Start Color	The color at the left edge of each bar. Set Start and End to the same color for a flat fill.
Gradient End Color	The color at the right edge (tip) of each bar. Set to a lighter or darker shade of the Start Color for a subtle gradient.
Background Color	A secondary color filling the full axis width behind each bar cluster, like a track. Use this to show remaining capacity against a target. Leave it off if there is no reference value.
Corner Radius (top-left, bottom-left, top-right, bottom-right)	Rounds bar corners independently, 0 to 10 each. On a horizontal bar, the right edge is the tip - rounding top-right and bottom-right gives a pill-like tip. Do not push all corners to 10 when bars are thin - narrow bars become pill shapes and the length encoding breaks down.

Data labels on a horizontal grouped bar print the value to the right of each bar tip. With 3 or more measures per cluster, labels from adjacent bars in the same cluster will overlap unless font size is very small. Use data labels on charts with 2 measures and no more than 8 categories.

Control	What it does
Show Data Labels	Shows or hides value labels on each bar.
Font family	Font applied to data labels.
Font size	Maximum 18. On dense clusters, keep this at 9 or 10 to avoid label collision between adjacent bars.
Bold / Italic / Color	Text styling.
Position	Vertical and horizontal alignment of the label inside the bar. Vertical Top places the label near the top edge of the bar; Middle centers it; Bottom places it near the base. Horizontal Start places it toward the left end; End toward the tip. On thin bars, keep the default (Middle / Center) to avoid clipping.
Number Type	Default (raw value), Scientific, Decimal, or Percentage.
Display Unit	None, Thousand, Million, or Billion. Match this to the X-axis Display Unit.
Decimal Places	0 to 6. Available when Number Type is not Default.

The legend is the only way viewers can identify which bar corresponds to which measure in a cluster. It is critical on this chart - do not hide it.

Control	What it does
Show Legends	Shows or hides the legend. On by default. Hiding it makes clusters unidentifiable.
Vertical position	Top, middle, or bottom alignment of the legend block relative to the chart area.
Horizontal position	Start, center, or end alignment.
Show Name	Default: legend item labels are always visible. On Hover: labels appear only when the viewer hovers the legend. Use Default on shared or exported dashboards.
Orientation	Vertical: legend items stacked in a column. Horizontal: legend items in a row. Horizontal works best when measure names are short and there are 4 or fewer measures.
Item Gap	Spacing between legend items.
Font Size	Legend label font size.
Color	Legend label text color.

Axes

On a horizontal grouped bar, the X-axis is the value axis and the Y-axis carries category names. The X-axis name should describe the shared unit across all measures. The Y-axis name is often redundant when category labels already identify the dimension.

Select X or Y before making changes. Settings apply to the selected axis only.

Control	What it does
Show Axis Name	Shows or hides the axis name label.
Axis name text	Label text. Maximum 20 characters. Defaults to the field name.
Font family	Font applied to the axis name.
Font size	5 to 30.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Offset (%)	Distance between the axis name and the axis line. Increase if the axis name overlaps the axis labels.
Alignment	Start, center, or end along the axis.

Leave these at their defaults unless you are building a minimal dashboard layout. On a horizontal chart, the Y-axis line runs vertically alongside category labels - hiding it gives a cleaner look but removes the visual separator between labels and bars.

Select X or Y before making changes.

Control	What it does
Show Axis Line	Shows or hides the axis line. Hiding it also hides ticks.
Line Color	Color of the axis line.
Line Width	Thickness of the axis line, 0 to 5.
Line Type	Solid, Dashed, or Dotted.
Show Ticks	Shows or hides tick marks on the axis line.
Tick Color	Color of the tick marks.
Tick Length	Length of the tick marks, 5 to 10.
Boundary Gap	Adds padding at both ends of the category axis so the first and last clusters do not sit flush against the chart edges. On by default.

The Y-axis category labels are the primary navigation aid on a horizontal chart. Keep them readable - do not reduce font size below 10. If category names are being clipped, increase the left margin under GridLines rather than shrinking the text.

Select X or Y before making changes. Hiding axis labels also hides the axis name.

Control	What it does
Show Axis Label	Shows or hides labels along the axis.
Font family	Font applied to axis labels.
Font size	Label font size. Do not go below 10 on Y-axis category labels.
Bold / Italic / Color	Text styling.
Rotation	Angle of label text. Rotation is rarely needed on Y-axis category labels on a horizontal chart - they are already horizontal. Available for X-axis (value scale) labels if needed.
Text case	Title Case, Uppercase, or Lowercase. Available on the categorical axis (Y) only.
Display Unit	Scale for numeric axis labels: Auto, None, Thousand, Million, or Billion. Available on the value axis (X) only.

On a horizontal grouped bar, X-axis grid lines run vertically through the bars and give viewers a reference for reading bar length against the value scale. Y-axis grid lines run horizontally between clusters and add visual noise. Leave Y-axis grid lines off.

Select X or Y before making changes.

Control	What it does
Show Gridlines	Shows or hides grid lines for the selected axis.
Grid Color	Color of the grid lines.
Left / Right / Top / Bottom	Plot area margins as a percentage. Increase Left when long category names are clipped. Increase Right when data labels overflow beyond the chart boundary.

Interactivity

Set Tooltip Trigger to Axis on a horizontal grouped bar - it shows all measure values for the hovered category in one pop-up, giving viewers the full cluster comparison without hovering each bar individually.

Control	What it does
Show Tooltip	Shows or hides the tooltip on hover.
Trigger	Item: tooltip shows data for the specific hovered bar only. Axis: tooltip shows all measure values for the hovered category. Use Axis - it delivers the full cluster comparison in one hover.
Pointer	When Trigger is Axis: the visual indicator - Line, Shadow, Cross, or None. Shadow highlights the full cluster row at the hovered position.
Background Color	Tooltip background color.
Headers / Values tabs	Separate styling for the category label row (Headers) and the measure value rows (Values). The Values tab includes Number Type, Display Unit, and Decimal Places.

Keep animation on when the chart is used in a presentation where the left-to-right build draws attention to bar length differences. Turn it off on operational dashboards that auto-refresh frequently.

Control	What it does
Enable Animation	Turns the build animation on or off.
Duration	How long the animation runs, 0 to 3000ms. The default is 1000ms.
Delay	Time before the animation starts after the chart loads, 0 to 2000ms.
Easing Function	The motion curve of the animation. Cubic Out (the default) gives a natural deceleration.

Enable Data Zoom when the category count exceeds what fits in the chart height. On a horizontal chart, set Orientation to Vertical so the zoom scrolls through the category list on the Y-axis, not across the value scale.

Control	What it does
Show Data Zoom	Shows or hides the zoom control.
Zoom Type	Slider: a draggable range bar alongside the chart. Inside: scroll-to-zoom directly on the plot area. Use Slider. Avoid Inside on trackpad-scrolled dashboards.
Slider Size (px)	Width of the slider bar, 10 to 100. Slider type only.
Position	Position of the slider relative to the chart.
Alignment	Alignment of the slider control.
Orientation	Set to Vertical for a horizontal grouped bar chart. Vertical scrolls through the category list. Horizontal scrolls the value axis, which is not useful here.
Show Detail Label	Shows range values at the slider handles so viewers know which categories they are viewing.
Background Color	Slider background.
Filler Color	Color of the selected range inside the slider.
Border Color	Slider border.
Handle Color	Color of the drag handles.
Brush Selection	Enables click-and-drag to zoom into a range.

Avoid Zoom Type "Inside" on dashboards that viewers scroll with a trackpad. Scroll events captured by the chart zoom the chart instead of scrolling the page, which is disorienting and hard to exit without knowing to click outside the chart first.

On a horizontal grouped bar, Series focus is the most useful emphasis mode - it highlights all bars of the same measure across every cluster, letting viewers trace one measure through the full category list without losing it in the cluster.

Control	What it does
Show Emphasis	Enables or disables the hover effect entirely.
Focus Type	Item: highlights only the hovered bar and dims all others. Series: highlights all bars of the same measure across every cluster and dims the rest - use this on a horizontal grouped bar with more than 3 measures. None: no visual change on hover.
Enable Scale	Scales the hovered bar slightly taller. At Scale Size above 1.2 on a dense cluster, bars visually overlap with adjacent bars in the same cluster.
Scale Size	How much the hovered bar scales. 1.1 is subtle. 1.5 is aggressive.

Enable the Toolbox when viewers need to export the chart or verify exact values - budget reviews, performance comparisons, or any context where a viewer will question what a bar represents.

Control	What it does
Show Toolbox	Shows or hides the toolbox icon bar.
Save as Image	Adds a download icon that saves the chart as a PNG.
Data View	Adds an icon that opens the underlying data table in the chart area.

Best Practices

Keep measure count at 4 or fewer and categories at 10 or fewer. On a horizontal chart, clusters grow vertically with each additional measure. At 5 or more measures, each bar in a cluster becomes too thin to read. With 3 or more measures and more than 10 categories, cluster height collapses entirely. If you need more categories, enable Data Zoom with Vertical orientation and let viewers scroll rather than squeezing everything into a fixed height.

Set Data Zoom Orientation to Vertical. This is the most common misconfiguration on horizontal charts. The default Horizontal orientation scrolls across the value axis - useless on a single-measure-per-cluster basis. Set it to Vertical so the zoom scrolls through the category list on the Y-axis.

Use Axis tooltip trigger, not Item. One hover should show all measure values for the hovered category. Item trigger forces viewers to hover each bar in the cluster individually, defeating the purpose of the grouped layout.

Use Series focus in Emphasis when measure count is high. With 4 measures per cluster, individual bars are thin enough that the hovered bar is hard to distinguish from its neighbors. Series focus highlights all bars of the same measure across every category - much easier to follow than a single highlighted bar.

Give category labels room on the left. The primary reason to use a horizontal chart is readable category names. If names are being clipped, increase the Left margin under GridLines. Do not reduce the Y-axis font size below 10 or truncate names in Transform to fit a narrow chart - increase the chart height or left margin instead.

FAQs

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