Home / Statistical Tools / Analysis Tools / Pareto / Options
Options¶
The Options tab in the Pareto Analysis dialog lets you customize the chart output and control how categories are displayed and sorted.
Report Type¶
Cumulative Line¶
When checked, adds a cumulative percentage line to the Pareto chart. The line shows the running total as a percentage, helping identify how many categories account for a given percentage of the total (e.g., the "vital few" that make up 80% of occurrences).
Display Pareto Report¶
When checked, creates a summary table alongside the chart showing each category's count and percentage.
Bars¶
Maximum Number of Bars¶
Limits the number of bars displayed on the chart. Categories beyond this limit can be grouped into an "Others" category (see below). This is useful when you have many categories and want to focus on the most significant ones.
Display Items Beyond Maximum Number of Bars into 'Others'¶
When checked, categories that exceed the Maximum Number of Bars are combined into a single "Others" bar. When unchecked, categories beyond the maximum are simply not displayed.
'Others' Group Caption¶
The label used for the combined category when items are grouped into "Others". Default is "Others" but you can customize this to any text (e.g., "Remaining", "Other Defects", "Miscellaneous").
Category Label Orientation¶
Controls how category labels appear on the X-axis:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Normal | Horizontal labels (0 degrees) |
| Angle 45 | Labels rotated 45 degrees |
| Angle 90 | Labels rotated 90 degrees (vertical) |
| Angle -45 | Labels rotated -45 degrees |
| Angle -90 | Labels rotated -90 degrees |
| Stacked | Vertical stacked text |
Use angled or stacked labels when category names are long and would overlap at normal orientation.
All Charts Share Common Vertical Axis Scale¶
When creating multiple Pareto charts (using GroupBy), this option forces all charts to use the same Y-axis scale. This makes it easier to visually compare charts across groups, as the bar heights are directly comparable.
Sort Pareto Bars¶
Controls the order of bars on the chart:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Sort Descending | Largest values on the left (standard Pareto order) |
| Sort Ascending | Smallest values on the left |
The standard Pareto chart uses descending order to emphasize the most significant categories.
Sort Datasets¶
When analyzing multiple data columns, this controls the order in which datasets appear:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Sort by Name Ascending | Datasets ordered A to Z by column name |
| Sort by Name Descending | Datasets ordered Z to A by column name |
| Don't Sort | Datasets appear in the order they were selected |