The Formatting panel is a context-sensitive panel from which you can set formatting preferences for your visualization. This includes the visualization colors, plotting area, slicers, legends, axes, titles, and more.
The formatting panel is designed to be used in conjunction with the formatting selector. This transforms the canvas into an intuitive, point-and-click formatting area. Hover your cursor over the components on the canvas to highlight those components for selection. Clicking an "activated" component opens its formatting options in the Formatting panel.
Access the Formatting Panel
Formatting Selection Tool
The Formatting panel can be opened and pinned as needed.
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From the left-hand Toolbox, click Formatting Selector.
This transforms the canvas into an intuitive, point-and-click formatting area. Hover your cursor over the content items on the canvas to highlight them for selection.
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Click the content item that you want to format.
Clicking an "activated" component opens its formatting options in the Formatting panel.
- Update the formatting options as appropriate to your requirements.
The options that are selected in the Formatting panel (orange highlight below) depend on the content item that you have selected.
When in the formatting selection mode, editable items are displayed with a blue border:
Ribbon
Component Tab
With the visual selected, go to the Component tab and select Show Panels > More Panel Options.
Slide Tab
With one or more visuals selected, go to the Slide tab and select Show Panels > More Panel Options.
Context Menu
- Right-click on a visual and select Panel Settings from the context menu.
- Right-click on a slicer and select Format from the context menu.
Visual Formatting
Linked Visuals
A linked visual is an instance of the original visual built in Discover or Tabulate. By default, visuals added to the presentation from the Content panel are linked visuals.
When the Formatting panel is opened for a linked visual, the Content item drop-down is locked (orange highlight below). In this scenario, you can only set the presentation-specific Panel Settings formatting options. Use these options to format the visual panel, including its general look and feel, the look and feel of its title and subtitle, and its panel tools when viewed at runtime.
Embedded One-Off Visuals
Embedding one-off visuals into your presentations gives you control over all formatting options for that visual. In contrast, by default, visuals added to the presentation from the Content panel enable you to apply formatting changes to the panel of the bounding box only.
Visuals that were created in, say, Discover, can be embedded into your presentation by unlinking the visual in the presentation from its original instance.
Alternatively, you can create new one-off visuals on-the-fly in Present:
- Using Smart Reporting.
- Using Discover Lite.
When opening the Formatting panel for a one-off visual, a Component drop-down list (green highlight) appears, allowing you to select and edit the formatting options associated with the selected visual type, like Report Title, Data Labels, Legend, and more:
The Formatting panel is available in Discover, Present, Publish, and Tabulate. In each of these modules, the Formatting panel shows some or all of the same formatting options. For details about applying various formatting changes to different visualization types, review the documentation in the Discover Pro section: Formatting Panel.
Visual Formatting Options
Many of the options in the Formatting Panel drop-down list (Pie Chart, Report Title, and so on) control the appearance for the content items that are specific to certain types of visual. If you want to learn about formatting and designing each visualization type, you might want to review the Discover topics:
- Grids: learn about general grid formatting, and extended grid formatting for advanced users.
- Cartesian Charts: includes all charts under the column, bar, line, and area chart menus.
- Segment Charts: formatting for pie, doughnut, pyramid, and funnel charts.
- Plotted Charts: formatting for scatter and bubble charts.
- KPI Charts: design and formatting for KPI gauges and bullet charts.
- Maps: bubble, shape, and geo heat maps.
- Advanced Charts: formatting and design for tree map, circle packing, Sankey, word cloud, sunburst, and icicle charts.
- Custom Visuals: formatting and design for custom build visualizations.
Grid Sizing
If you select a Matrix Grid visual on your presentation, a Grid Sizing option becomes available on the Component ribbon. You can use the Grid Sizing options on the drop-down to manage the appearance of the matrix grid at runtime.
- Click here to learn about formatting options for Matrix Grids.
Slicer Formatting
Slicers are used to filter queries using hierarchy elements from the data model. Using the Formatting panel and the formatting selector, set styling preferences for the slicers to customize the slicer colors, title position, and title icon. This gives you the flexibility to apply your own styling, or make styling changes in accordance with your organization's branding.
- Click here to learn about formatting options for slicers.
Panel Formatting
To improve the appearance and readability of your presentations and publications, you can change the formatting of the panels (or "frames") that contain each of your visuals. These formatting options determine the panel's general look and feel (shadow, title font, and so on) as well as the formatting of its title and subtitle. In Present only, the style also specifies the appearance of the panel tools that are available at runtime.
- Click here to learn about formatting options for panels.