Locking in Colors for Charts in Dashboards (Avoiding category colors changing with dynamic data)

eskaplan

Hi,

I am having an issue with Pie charts changing colors when data in the underlying sheets is altered.

For example. If I have a pie chart with categories for task status: Not Started, In Progress, and Completed. Lets say I designate those colors Red, Yellow, and Green in the Pie Chart.

If the underlying data changes so that an individual currently has no "In Progress" tasks (for example). The loss of a category of data (or addition), seems to revert colors to defaults and throw off the color scheme of the dashboard. So for example all of a sudden the Not Started part of the pie turns to blue.

Is there some way around this, or something I am not doing correctly? Thanks,

Mike Wilday

I've heard of others having this issue as well. I would definitely report it to support and submit a product enhancement request as well. 

Paul Newcome

I agree with Mike about the Product Enhancement Request. This is something that unfortunately "is just built that way".

Don Young

Any updates on this issue or workarounds? I am concerned about running into the same.

Doug Harrison

This problem is killing me. The irony might be I am blind to the work-around, or the fix. Can anyone help here? I would be so grateful. This seems so basic -- remembering a color in a pie chart! It's SO basic, I'm beginning to think the problem is me. My application is exactly what "eskaplan" describes in the start of this thread. I look like I don't know what I am doing to the groups I support. That makes me feel like I need to look for a different software platform.

Silvia Rangel

@Doug Harrison Same issue here, for some reason assigned colors won't stay and every time new data is entered the colors in the pie chart change....WELP!!! ☺

Paul Newcome

THIS THREAD has a great solution. Basically you add 0.0001 to the end of the number so that it is never actually zero. You can then adjust how many decimals are shown on the sheet to hide that from view but store it on the back-end. This will keep a value for all cells which allows you to effectively lock in a color in a chart, but does not show that extra decimal value.