Bar & Line Combo Charts

Bar & Line Combo Charts are used to compare discrete values (represented by bars) alongside a trend over time (represented by a line), allowing you to see both the individual data points and how they relate to an overall pattern.

When to Use a Bar & Line Combo Chart

• When you want to compare two different data sets on the same graph, without necessarily focusing on the cumulative impact of categories. 
• If you want to compare values with different measurements.
• If the values are different in range

When to Avoid Using a Bar & Line Combo Chart

• If you want to display more than 2-3 types of graphs it’s better to have separate graphs to make it easier to read and understand.
• If the datasets you want to use for the bar and line elements of the chart have vastly different scales it will make it difficult to accurately compare them, so consider breaking them up into two separate charts instead 
• Consider whether your two datasets complement one another. If one dataset is significantly more important than the other, the less prominent one may be either be unnecessary to include, or end up being overshadowed and disregarded.

Example Use Cases for Bar & Line Combo Charts

1. Displaying individual team performance (bars) against a set target line to identify areas where teams are exceeding or falling short.
2. Visualizing monthly sales figures (bars) with the corresponding average sales trend line.
3. Comparing product sales by category (bars) while showing the overall sales growth trend over time (line).
4. Showing customer satisfaction scores for different customer segments (bars) while illustrating the change in satisfaction levels over time (line).

Set-up Instructions

Below are the chart settings used to create the example Bubble chart shown above. 

1. Select which fields to include in the chart: 

2. Under the "Format" tab, select which field to plot along the x-axis (quarters with the "Group by this field" checkbox checked in this example), which field to represent as the Line (sales Goal in this example), and which field to represent as the vertical bars (Total Sales Actual in this example).

3. Under the "Customize" tab, you can enter a title for the chart, and edit the labels for the x and y axes if needed: 

4. If you want to change the colors of your chart, you can do so by navigating to the chart view, then clicking on the View Menu and selecting "Change Colors":

Related articles: 
Charts Overview
Line Charts
Smooth Line Charts
Pareto Charts