Show, Hide, and Format Mark Labels

You can add labels to the data points in your visualization. For example, in a view that shows product category sales over time as a line, you can label sales next to each point along the lines.

Show mark labels

To show mark labels in a viz:

• On the Marks card, click Label, and then select Show mark labels.

  

• To add another field to the mark labels, drag that field to Label on the Marks card.

If the marks are dense, you may not see labels for all the marks unless you check the option Allow labels to overlap other marks. This is not on by default as it can often be illegible if there are too many marks in close proximity.

Hide mark labels

To hide mark labels in a viz:

• On the Marks card, click Label, and then clear Show mark labels.

Choose which marks to label

After you show mark labels in a worksheet, you can specify which marks to label.

To specify which marks to label:

• On the Marks card, click Label.

• In the dialog box that opens, under Marks to Label, select one of the following options:

• All

  Label all marks in the view.

  

• Min/Max

  Label only the minimum and maximum values for a field in the view. When you select this option, you must specify a scope and field to label by.

  For example, the image below shows the mark labels scoped to pane, and specifies to show the minimum and maximum sum of sales values. This means that the minimum and maximum sales are labeled for each pane in the view. In this case, there are four panes in the view.

  

• Line Ends

  You can label the start or the end of all lines in the view, or both.

  

• Selected

  Label only the selected marks in the view. Labels appear when you select one or more marks in the view.

  

• Highlighted

  Label only the highlighted marks in the view. Labels appear when you select a member in a legend (for example, Office Supplies, in the following image), when you select one or more marks in the view, or when you select marks using the Highlighter. For more information about how to use the Highlighter, see Highlight Data Points in Context.

  

• Most Recent

  Label the most recent marks in the view. When there is a time or date field in the view, you can label all marks that correspond to the most recent date or time in the view. When you select this option, you can specify a scope for the labels in the view.

  Marks labeled are determined by the level of detail of the view.

  For example, the following image shows labels for each category, because the Category field is on Color on the Marks card. There is no label for the Furniture category, because the most recent mark in that category is excluded from the view.

  

Show and hide individual mark labels

Rather than showing all mark labels or dynamically showing labels based on the view, you might want to show labels for only individual marks. You can use mark labels to call out the values of specific marks of interest, as well as hide overlapping mark labels.

To show or hide individual mark labels:

• In a worksheet, right-click (control-click on Mac) the mark you want to show or hide a mark label for, select Mark Label, and then select one of the following options:

  • Automatic - select this option to turn the label on and off depending on the view and the settings in the Label drop-down menu.

  • Always Show - select this option to show the mark label even when it would otherwise be hidden (based on the settings in the Label drop-down menu).

  • Never Show - select this option to hide the mark label even when it would otherwise be shown (based on the settings in the Label drop-down menu).

Move mark labels

After you show a mark label in a view, you can reposition it to best fit your view and presentation. For example, in a stacked bar chart, the mark labels are automatically placed in the center of each bar. However, you may want to stagger the labels so that the longer ones don’t overlap.

To move a mark label:

1. Select the mark whose mark label you want to move.

2. Click and drag the move handle to a new location.

   

You can also change the alignment of marks. See Edit the label alignment:in the next section on formatting mark labels.

Format mark labels

When you select to show mark labels in the view, there are several formatting options to help you adjust the appearance of the labels. You can customize the text, adjust the font properties, and set an alignment for all labels.

Edit the label text:

1. On the Marks card, click Label.

2. In the dialog box that opens, under Label Appearance, click the text button.

   

3. Edit the text and then click OK.

To include other fields in the label, drag them to Label on the Marks card.

Edit the label font:

1. On the Marks card, click Label.

2. In the dialog box that opens, under Label Appearance, click the Font drop-down.

3. In the Font drop-down menu, you can do the following:

   • Select a font type, size, and emphasis.

   • Adjust the opacity of the labels by moving the slider at the bottom of the menu.

   • Select a color for the labels

     To select a specific color, Click a color from the options.

     To match labels to the color of their marks, click Match Mark Color.

     

4. When finished, click OK.

Edit the label alignment:

1. On the Marks card, click Label.

2. In the dialog box that opens, under Label Appearance, click the Alignment drop-down.

3. In the Alignment drop-down menu, you can do the following:

   • Select to align the label horizontally (left, center, right).

   • Select to change the direction of the text.

   • Select to align the label vertically (bottom, middle, top).

   • Select to wrap the text for all labels in the viz.

   

4. When finished, click OK.

Overlap other marks and labels

By default, mark labels do not overlap other marks or labels in the view. You can show all labels in the view, even the ones that overlap other marks and labels.

To overlap other marks in the view:

• On the Marks card, click Label , and then, under the Options section, select Allow labels to overlap other marks.

See Also

Add Annotations(Link opens in a new window)

Create Aliases to Rename Members in the View(Link opens in a new window)