A bar chart compares values across categories with horizontal bars. Each category gets one bar, and the longer the bar, the larger the value. Categories run down the left side and values run along the bottom.

Here is the test: do you want to compare one number across many categories, especially ones with long names? If yes, Bar is the type. If the categories are points in time, see Column Chart. If the values are shares of one whole, see Pie Chart.

Example: a Vendor Management solution with a Findings table. The Security lead builds a Chart view called Findings per vendor. Each bar is a vendor, and its length is the count of findings. Vendor names are long, so they read better beside a bar than under a column.

Findings per vendor as a bar chart: one bar per vendor, the Chart Settings sidebar open at the left, the legend at the right.

Create a Chart view and the Chart Settings sidebar opens at the left of the chart. On an existing view, select Chart Settings in the toolbar to open it. The dropdown at the top of the sidebar lists the chart types in six groups: Bar, Bubble, Column, Heatmap, Line and Pie. A new Chart view starts as Bar Chart, so for a bar chart there is nothing to change. The chart redraws as you change a setting.

The Bar group holds three types :

The chart type dropdown open, with the Bar group at the top and Bar Chart selected.

The sidebar holds the settings below in this order. Values and Group By are always open, and Sort by Values shows only while Group By is empty. The rest are collapsed sections; select one to open it.

Values decide what each bar measures. Each row has a field dropdown with a search box and a function dropdown. A new view starts with the table's first field after the title and Count, which counts records. A numeric field such as Number or Currency starts on Sum, and its list offers Min, Max and Avg. Select ADD NEW to add a second value; it starts on the next field in the table, so change it. The trash icon removes a row.

A field with more than one way to read it appears more than once. A Status field is listed as Status value and Status completed or not, and a Time Tracking Log field as its hours.

For Findings per vendor, the value is Finding ID with Count: one count of findings.

Group By decides what each bar stands for. Select Field lists the table's fields, with a search box, and the chart draws one bar per value of the field you pick. A Date field is listed twice, as its value and as overdue or not. Without a Group By field, the chart draws one bar per value of the Values field. A select field, or a lookup of one, gives one bar per choice; an Auto Number gives one bar per record.

For Findings per vendor, the Group By field is Vendor, the linked record field on Findings. Hover over a bar and a card shows the vendor's name and the count.

A switch, off to start, shown only while Group By is empty. Its info tooltip reads "Chart results will be automatically sorted by the resulting value". Turn it on and the bars are ordered by their values. Set a Group By field and the switch disappears.

A Chart Total shows one number as a card above the legend: the word Total, the field name and the value. Select Field lists the table's numeric fields, Formula fields included, and the function starts on Sum with Min, Max and Avg in the list. Once a field is set, ADD NEW appears under the row. A chart carries up to five totals, and the same field can be used twice. The trash icon removes a row; on the last row the x in the field box clears it instead.

A Benchmark Line draws a dashed reference line across the chart at a value you set. Select ADD NEW and a row appears with Name (optional), a Number box, a color button and a delete button. The color button opens a palette of ten swatches, blue to start. The legend gains a dashed entry for the line. Use it for a goal or a threshold, such as a ceiling of five findings per vendor.

A Dynamic Filter adds a one-click filter to the chart itself. Its info tooltip reads "Set filters that can dynamically adjust chart's content with a single click." Select Field lists date, member, select and status fields. With Status chosen, a reader switches the chart between the statuses without opening the Filter panel.

Four checkboxes, all off to start: Include empty values, Show Data Labels, Show X Axis Label and Show Y Axis Label. Include empty values adds a bar for the records with no value in the field; without it they are left out. Show Data Labels writes each bar's value on the chart.

The X-Axis Formatting button under the checkboxes opens a window for the value axis, which runs along the bottom of a bar chart. Format offers Number, Percent and Currency, Number to start, with a live preview. Precision runs from 1 to 1.000000, with no decimals to start. Thousands and decimal separators starts on Depends on Member's Locale. Large number abbreviation offers None, Thousand K, Million M and Billion B. The Display thousands separator switch is on. Apply saves the window and Cancel closes it.

The three bar types side by side on the example data: Bar Chart, Stacked Bar and 100% Stacked Bar.

Who can create a Chart view, change its settings and save them is the same for every chart type. See Chart View for public and private views, autosave and locked views.

Hover over a bar and a card shows the category and each value. The legend at the right lists one entry per value with its color dot; hover over an entry to see that value's total. Drag an entry to change the order of the values. Hover over an entry and select the x at its right to hide that value; the dot turns hollow and the name grays. Hover over the entry again and select the + to show it. Select the color dot to pick one of 30 swatches for that value. Both changes are saved with the view. See Interactive Legends in Charts.

Select a bar to open the records behind it in a drill-in window over the chart. The window has a title, an Export button with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and CSV, and an x. Under them sit a toolbar with Fields to Display, Sort, Group, Spotlight, Row Size and Find, then a grid with the record count at the bottom. See Edit records in a drill-in grid.

The same chart goes on a dashboard as a Chart widget. In Edit mode, select Add Widget, then the Chart card. Name the widget, pick the solution and table, and set the chart as above. See Chart widget.

Open the dropdown at the top of Chart Settings and pick another type. The settings that the new type uses stay in place; the ones it lacks disappear from the sidebar. Switching from Bar Chart to Column Chart keeps the values and the Group By and turns the bars upright. Switching to Pie Chart keeps the values and locks Group By. Switching to Scatter Chart asks for an X-Axis and a Y-Axis field instead of values.

Last verified 30 Oct 2026.