Horizontal bar charts

Bar charts can now lie sideways. Orientation, a new setting in the Style tab of any bar chart, turns a column chart into a horizontal one — categories down the left, values along the bottom.

Rankings and long names

Top ten products by revenue, countries by sign-ups, campaigns by cost: a ranking reads naturally from top to bottom, and long category names get the room they never had under a vertical axis. Set Orientation to Horizontal and the chart flips; the first category in your sort order sits at the top.

Everything else stays put. Color by still stacks or groups the bars, reference lines, number formats and top N limits apply unchanged, and clicking a bar still explores or filters it. The axis sections of the Style tab are simply labelled Category axis and Value axis while the chart is horizontal, so there is no guessing which one you are editing.

It is a setting, not a separate chart type, so you can switch back and forth without losing anything. The option steps aside only when a bar chart also carries a line series or a right-hand axis, which have no sideways reading.

Axi knows it too: ask for a horizontal bar chart of revenue by product and it sets the orientation for you.

📖 Charts