# Bar Chart
### What is the Bar Chart Widget?
The Bar Chart is a core widget type available in Birdie Dashboards. It displays data as vertical bars, making it easy to compare values across different categories at a glance. With support for a primary and secondary breakdown, the Bar Chart lets you layer an additional dimension onto your data, for example, comparing feedback volumes across areas and further segmenting each bar by date, giving you a more granular view of how your metrics are distributed.
#### How to extract the most value from the Bar Chart?
The Bar Chart works best when you want to compare a metric across discrete categories rather than tracking it continuously over time. Use it when you want to answer questions such as:
* Which areas of the product received the most feedback in the last 30 days?
* How is feedback volume distributed across different support channels this quarter?
* Within each feedback area, how does the volume break down by week?
Adding a secondary breakdown is particularly useful when you want to understand not just which category leads, but also how that category is composed, for example, splitting each bar by date to reveal whether a high-volume area has been consistently active or driven by a single spike.
### Setting up a Bar Chart
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#### Select the widget type
When adding a new widget to your dashboard, select **Bar** from the widget type options at the top of the configuration panel.
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#### Add a title and subtitle
In the **Title** field, enter a clear name for your widget. You can also add an optional **Subtitle** to provide additional context for other users viewing the dashboard.
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#### Configure the vertical axis
Navigate to the **Setup** tab. The **Vertical axis** section controls the metric plotted on the Y-axis of the chart.
* **Metric**: Select the metric you want to measure. For example, choose **Overall** to display aggregate feedback counts.
* **Set vertical axis range**: Toggle this on to manually define the minimum and maximum values for the Y-axis. This is useful for standardizing charts across your dashboard or focusing on a specific value range.
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#### Configure the horizontal axis
The **Horizontal axis** section controls how data is grouped and displayed along the X-axis.
* **Primary breakdown**: Select the main dimension to group your data by. For example, selecting **Areas** will render one bar per area on the chart.
* **Selection**: Choose which specific items within the primary breakdown to include. By default, all available items are selected.
* **Limit**: Set the maximum number of bars displayed. This is useful when a breakdown returns many results and you only want to surface the most relevant ones.
* **Secondary breakdown**: Optionally, add a second dimension to further segment each bar. For example, selecting **Date** will split each primary bar into sub-segments by time period, turning the chart into a grouped or stacked view.
* **Secondary breakdown Limit**: Set the maximum number of segments shown within each primary bar.
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Using a secondary breakdown can significantly increase the visual complexity of the chart. Keep the limit values low for both breakdowns to maintain readability, especially when presenting to a broad audience.
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#### Configure display settings
Still in the **Setup** tab, scroll down to the **Display settings** section.
* **Always show values on chart**: Enable this toggle to display exact data point values directly on each bar, making it easier to read precise figures without hovering.
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#### Set filters
Navigate to the **Filter** tab to control the time range and granularity of the data shown.
* **Date range**: Select the period you want the chart to cover. The default is **Last 30 days**.
* **Time aggregation**: Choose how data is grouped over time. The default is **Week**.
* **Advanced filters**: Use the **Add filter** option to refine the data further, for example, by a specific tag, sentiment, or source. You can also enable **Ignore global filter** if you want this widget to display independently of any dashboard-level filters.
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#### Customize series labels and colors
Navigate to the **Customization** tab to review and edit how each series is labeled and colored on the chart.
* Each breakdown item appears as a numbered series (Serie 1, Serie 2, and so on).
* You can rename any series label by editing the text field next to it.
* Click the color swatch to change the color assigned to that series.
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Renaming series labels is especially useful when the default breakdown names are long or technical. Clearer labels make the chart easier to read for teammates who may not be familiar with the underlying data structure.
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#### Save the widget
Once you are satisfied with the configuration, click **Save changes** to add the Bar Chart to your dashboard.
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Remember to save the Dashboard itself after setting up the widget, otherwise your changes will not be persisted.
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