Trend Line-Need suggestion

[SunilaAd1]

I've noticed that the x-axis labels on my chart aren't accurately reflecting the chosen date range for the visualization. This is impacting my ability to interpret the data correctly. Could you help me understand why this might be occurring and how to resolve it?

[Imbalakumar]

Hi @SunilaAd1 

I think its because the link chart is locked, can you uncheck as shown in the below image and try?

If this is un-checked, the chart will automatically adjusted to the selected date range. Let me know if its not working.

Thanks,

Bala

[MandyGeorge · Accepted solution]

@SunilaAd1 are the three components you're using custom date ranges that are all the same length but during different? When you create a line graph, it's going to start everything at the same point. So if you have three date ranges, for example, May, June, and July, they're all different months, but when you put them in the same graph, it will start them all at the same point. Same way that freeform tables work with trying to line up date ranges in different columns.

What I would suggest to do instead is to use annotations to identify individual periods. When you hove over it, it will show you the entire time period that the annotation applies to. 

You can also use different colours for different annotations so that they are easier to see and know what each is. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Yes, as Mandy said, using date ranges in the table natively will result in Adobe trying to slot them as "comparative periods"... 

However, if you create segments, you can have the data appear as a progressive line (I used Last Week, 2 Weeks Ago, and 3 Weeks Ago as examples):

Setting these segments up as columns, you can graph like this:

If you don't like the drop X pattern during the crossover, you can set your data to "Interpret zero as no value"

Which will result in this:

Still not quite ideal, since now you have some gaps between the days....

But, if you add another, unsegmented column over the full range, you can sort of hide those holes:

You can even use an Area chart to make each period more visible:

Those gaps will appear a lot smaller when you are dealing with longer periods of time (like you are)

Personally, I am not a big fan of the implementation of Annotations in Adobe... those little "post-its" aren't the most visible, and the really don't work all that well when you export to PDF....

This is a little more work involved, but another way to visualize the data.