---
title: "Previous Report Builder: Column Chart"
description: Add a Column Chart to your report to show results at a glance. This is a great way of displaying data as it is easy to compare the columns. Discover it now👉
---
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# Previous Report Builder: Column Chart
## Add a Column Chart widget to your customized report to show respondents' results at a glance. This is a great way of displaying data because it is easy to compare the columns.
##### You'll need this:
- One of these Pointerpro plans:
 Professional  Enterprise  ReportR  DistributR
---
With this graph, we recommend using rounded numbers. Here's an example of how it could look like at your personalized report:Learn how to build it in this video, or follow the steps in the guide below.
##### On this help guide page:
1. [Setting up the widget](https://help.pointerpro.com/previous-report-builder-column-chart#setup-widget)
2. [Widget logic rules](https://help.pointerpro.com/previous-report-builder-column-chart#widget-rules)
---
#### 1. Setting up the widget
1.1 [Create a single column chart](https://help.pointerpro.com/previous-report-builder-column-chart#create-single)
1.2 [Create a multi-column chart](https://help.pointerpro.com/previous-report-builder-column-chart#create-multi)
1.3 [Widget Placement & Size](https://help.pointerpro.com/previous-report-builder-column-chart#widget-placement)
Start by giving your graph a widget name and title.
You need three elements to build your graph: Dimension Group label, Dimension Labels, and Metrics.
- Dimension group labels are the names given to the sets of results along the horizontal axis. These could be, for example, different topics of a subject.
- Dimension labels are the description of each category and are shown in the legend underneath the graph. These could be "Employee A" and "Average Score"
- The metrics are the numerical data in each dimension. This would usually be a score, either picked from one of the survey variables, or a set value.
Before we move to the next step, you'll have to decide what type of graph you would like to use. A single column, where you present each respondent's score in a column or you can use a multi-column to compare scores with a benchmark.
### 1.1 Create a single column chart
If you choose to create a graph similar to this example, you don't need to create any dimension groups. Instead, you can immediately start with the Dimension Labels and Metrics.
1. Dimension Label - give a name to the column. This name will be shown in the key under the graph.
2. Dimension Color - choose the column color by clicking on the color selector. Take care to choose distinctly different colors for each of the columns so the graph will be easy to read.
3. Dimension Metric - choose where the data for the first column of the graph should be taken from. You can either type in a number or click Variables to access the drop-down menu of variables that you can use. Variables take the data entered during the survey and display it in the graph.
4. Add dimension - click to add another column and repeat the steps above. To create the graph in the example, we created four dimensions in total.
NOTE
If you change your variable data, you must collect a new response in order to preview your graph.
TIP
You can also add negative values into your dimension metrics as shown below.
**
### 1.2 Create a multi-column chart
Start by adding dimension groups, which correspond to each set of columns. In our example, we created six dimension groups in total, one for each subject.
Click add group to add the number of dimension groups you need, and label each one.
Next click add dimension to start creating the axes for your data points. Start your graph by clicking add dimension.
1. Dimension Label - give a name to the column. This name will be shown in the key under the graph.
2. Dimension Color - choose the column color by clicking on the color selector. Take care to choose distinctly different colors for each of the columns so the graph will be easy to read.
3. Dimension Metric - choose where the data for the first column of the graph should be taken from. You can either type in a number or click Variables to access the drop-down menu of variables that you can use. Variables take the data entered during the survey and display it in the graph. Ideally, you should have as many Dimension Metrics as you have Dimension Groups. In this case, each value stands for a score. The value for Metric 1 matches with Group 1, in this case, Maths. In total, we added four metrics, one for each dimension group (which correspond to a different school subject).
4. Add dimension- click to add a second data value for each dimension group. You can use this to compare respondent's answers to a benchmark.
TIP
To make advanced design changes to the graph, use [custom CSS](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/previous-report-builder-pdf-design-settings-using-css?hsLang=en).
In the example shown above, the class average was the second data value for each column, and we entered a number rather than a variable. But you can do anything you want!
NOTE
Make sure the number of dimension groups matches the number of data metrics. Dimension group 1 is the name for all of the columns shown under dimension metric 1 and dimension group 2 is all of dimension metric 2 values.
Now you've set up your graph, you can also configure the y-axis.
- Y-Axis scale interval - choose the interval spacing for gridlines marking the vertical axis. Make sure you have a few to make the graph easy to read.
- Y-Axis max - until which value do you want your y-axis to display? Enter it here.
In our example above, which shows values as percentages, the maximum value is 100, and gridlines are shown at an interval of 20.
### 1.3 Widget Placement & Size
Choose how you would like to align your widget. You can choose to align it to one side and have explanatory text or another widget on the other side or center it.
- Left - widget will be aligned to the left side of the page, in a column layout
- Center - widget will be presented centered across the entire page from the left to the right (full width)
- Right - widget will be aligned to the right side of the page, in a column layout
If you would like a widget to appear side-by-side the graph, make sure to set the widget aligned on one side of the page, and the graph on the other. For example, choose to align the text widget to the left, and align a graph to the right.
Use the arrows or enter a value for the graph height and width. If you choose to place the graph on either the left or the right side of the page, the graph will be automatically resized. You can also change the background to be either white or transparent.
WARNING
The max-width of one page is 810 px. To leave some room for spacing the recommended Width value is around 600 px.
Click the Update preview button to see how the widget you've created looks like
Take a look below at some different possibilities.
Now if you want to show your graph to all respondents, you're done! Just make sure to click save PDF and continue adding widgets. Check out section 3 to see all available widgets.
#### 2. Widget logic rules
If you want to only show this widget under certain conditions, it's time to set the widget logic rules. If you want to show a general widget that is visualized every time a PDF report is generated, you can choose not to include a widget logic rule. Learn more about [Widget Logic](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/logic-rules-for-conditional-content?hsLang=en).
Once you've saved your logic rules, don't forget to save PDF and you're ready to add more widgets!
#### What's next?
- [Conditional Rendering](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/conditional-rendering?hsLang=en) is a way of displaying elements based on a condition. It allows you to create simple conditions inside a widget and reduce the number of widgets and rules. With Conditional Rendering, you can render different UI markups based on certain conditions.
- The [custom results by respondent table](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/previous-report-builder-custom-results-by-respondent-table?hsLang=en) is a dynamic type of widget that will add records automatically to the table once you have set it up. You can set the maximum number of records to show and set the table to sort records from low to high or high to low.
- The [PDF text widget](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/previous-report-builder-text-widget?hsLang=en) allows you to write and display your content in your report. You can use it to give further information about questions, give feedback or explain a particular answer. This is an absolutely essential building block of your PDF report.
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