Overlap labels placed outside of data points

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1. Overview

Data point labels placed outside will normally be hidden if they overlap with data or other labels. But there are a couple of chart properties that allow you to override this functionality and have the labels displayed.

2. Display data point labels outside

Consider the following line chart.

Line chart
Line chart

Go to Properties, click Series 1, and then click Text to see the text-related properties of the series. Click the + button under Labels.

Text properties for chart series
Text properties for chart series

Data Label Settings item is added. Click this to edit its properties as follows:

  • Set the Placement to Outside.
  • Set the Rotation to None.
  • Enter the name of the measure (e.g. OrderQty) in square brackets in the Text property. This is a placeholder which will be replaced with the actual measure value at each data point.

Set the Placement, Rotation, and Text properties
Set the Placement, Rotation, and Text properties

Measure values are now displayed outside of data points. Observe that labels for some data points are missing because they would overlap with other labels or data if they were to be shown.

3. Can Overlap Data

Use the Can Overlap Data option to allow outside data point labels to be shown even though they overlap with data points.

Allow overlap with data points
Allow overlap with data points

4. Can Overlap Labels

Use the Can Overlap Labels option to allow outside data point labels to be shown even though they overlap with other data labels.

Allow overlap with other data labels
Allow overlap with other data labels

5. Notes

The other options in Data Label Settings can be changed to be more restrictive and force the labels to overlap more often.

6. See also

Dundas Data Visualization, Inc.
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