MicroStrategy ONE
About formatting metrics on a report
A metric used on a report inherits the number formatting applied in the Metric Editor when it was created, but MicroStrategy allows you to customize the formatting of the metrics on reports. You can specify metric format properties such as the display of numeric values, alignment, font styles and sizes, and cell display colors. The formatting allows you to highlight the information that needs attention.
You can format all the metrics on a particular report or format each one separately (called report metric formatting). You can also create different formats for metric headers (that is, the titles) and metric values (that is, the numbers calculated by the metric). You can allow formatting (other than number) from the metric level to display on the report.
You can format metrics at the following formatting levels:
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At the lowest level, the metric level formats a particular metric, regardless of the report it is on. This formatting is performed in the Metric Editor. For more information on metric level formatting, see Formatting metrics (metric level formatting). However, metric level formatting is typically used for number formatting only, such as currency or percentage. For other types of metric level formatting to appear on a report, you must change settings on the report itself, using Report metric level formatting, described below.
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All metrics on the report can be formatted simultaneously. In the Report Editor, the Format menu provides the All Metrics option when there is more than one metric on a report.
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At the highest level, the report metric level formats an individual metric on a particular report. Select the metric from the Format menu of the Report Editor or Viewer to format a metric on this level.
In the hierarchical formatting structure, higher layers override the formatting of the lower layers. That is, the All metrics level and the report metric level (any Report metric formatting on a specific metric in the report) override formatting done at the metric level. Whether All metrics or Report metric level prevail depends on which one was applied last: the final level applied overrides any level applied before it. Default values at any level are obtained from the formatting values specified in the underlying levels. Specific scenarios are described in the table below.
When a report is opened in Graph view, the graph's number formatting picks up the number formatting from the grid report or from the metric itself, depending on various factors which are listed in the following table. For graphics displaying each of the grid and graph reports described in the following scenarios, see the Formatting a Report chapter in the Basic Reporting Help.
Scenario |
Graph Data Label Output |
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A grid report contains a single metric with specific formatting applied to that metric. |
The data labels and axis on the graph version of the report display the same metric formatting as the grid report. |
A grid report contains a single metric without formatting applied. |
The graph version of the report displays General formatting (no specific number format). |
A grid report contains multiple metrics without any formatting applied. |
The graph version of the report displays General formatting (no specific number format). |
A grid report contains multiple metrics, all with the same formatting. |
The data labels and axis on the graph version of the report show the same formatting as the grid report. |
A grid report contains multiple metrics with the same formatting category with different settings (different details). |
The data labels and axis for the graph version of the report display the same formatting category and settings as the first metric (the metric listed furthest to the left on the grid report). |
A grid report contains multiple metrics, each with different formatting. |
The graph version of the report displays General formatting (no specific number format). |
A report contains metrics on the Page-by of the report. |
The formatting for the data labels and axis on the graph version of the report changes depending on the metric selected on the Page-by, and reflects the formatting specific to the selected metric. |
If a grid includes two metrics formatted with the category Currency, but the formatting settings are different, for example, "$100.00" and "$100", then the graph displays the General formatting (no specific number format).
For more information on number formatting for graphs, see the Basic Reporting Help. For more information on formatting layers, see the Advanced Reporting Help.