> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** This page describes visualization options for Looker. For information about Data Studio visualizations, see [Types of charts in Data Studio](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/studio/types-of-charts-in-looker-studio).

Waterfall charts help you visualize how a sequence of positive and negative values adds up to a total. These charts are often used for financial data, to show how various profits and losses make up a total. Waterfall charts can also be used more generally to illustrate how different categories contribute to a total, especially if the data contains positive and negative values.

## Building a waterfall chart

To choose a waterfall chart, click the ellipsis (...) in the Visualization bar and select **Waterfall**.

Ignoring fields that are [hidden from the visualization](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/creating-visualizations.md.txt#specifying_lookml_fields_to_include_in_the_visualization), waterfall visualizations require one of the following options in the **Data** section:

- One dimension and one measure
- No dimensions and one or more measures
- One dimension, one measure, and one or more pivots

Other configurations prevent a waterfall visualization from rendering.

A waterfall chart automatically calculates a total based on your data values, and adds a **Total** column to the chart. Totals in your data table are not necessary.

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** You cannot change the name of the **Total** column, either with a visualization setting or with the `checkpoint` attribute in the [Chart Config Editor](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/waterfall-options.md.txt#edit_chart_config). Totals are calculated by querying the database directly after removing unpivoted dimensions, and not by summing the values in the visualization columns. Because of this, the `checkpoint` JSON attribute in the Chart Config Editor does not override or rename the **Total** column.

After your chart is created, you can use the visualization options menu. Click **Edit** in the upper right corner of the visualization tab to edit your chart.

![](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/looker/docs/images/explore-vis-waterfall-menu-610-v2.png)

## Series menu options

### Color Configuration

You can define the color palette for a chart in the **Color Configuration** section.

#### Collection

A collection lets you create themed visualizations and dashboards that look good together. All of Looker (Google Cloud core)'s built-in color collections appear on the [Color collections](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/color-collections.md.txt) documentation page. Your Looker (Google Cloud core) admin may also create a custom color collection for your organization.

You can choose a color collection from the **Collection** drop-down menu. The **Palette** section will update with a palette from your chosen color collection.


#### Palette

Once you've selected a color collection, you can choose a different palette from the collection, or customize your palette, by clicking the color palette itself. This opens the palette picker and displays all the palettes from the collection.

For a [categorical palette](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/color-collections.md.txt), the first three colors in the palette apply to the [**Up Color** , **Down Color** , and **Total Color**](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/waterfall-options.md.txt#up_color,_down_color,_and_total_color). If your palette contains fewer than three colors, first a lighter and then a darker version of your palette colors will be used. For a [sequential or diverging palette](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/color-collections.md.txt), the color at the left end of the palette applies to the **Up Color** , and the colors for the **Down Color** and **Total Color** move to the right on the palette.

#### Creating a Custom Color Palette

To create a custom color palette, select the **Custom** tab on the palette picker. You can edit your palette in several ways:

![](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/looker/docs/images/color-palette-custom-2106.png)

1. Click on one of the colors present to edit it.
2. Click the **+** or **-** buttons to add a color to the end of the palette or to remove a selected color.
3. Click **EDIT ALL** at the bottom right of the menu to use a comma-separated list of color values.

To change a selected color, or edit all colors at once, you can input [hex strings](https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_hexadecimal.asp) (such as `#2ca6cd`) or [CSS color names](https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_colors.asp) (such as `mediumblue`) into the color value box at the bottom of the picker.

![](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/looker/docs/images/color-hex-value-2106.png)

To bring up a color picker to select a color, click the color wheel to the right of the color value box. The corresponding hex value for that color appears in the color value box.

![](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/looker/docs/images/color-picker-2106.png)

If you click **EDIT ALL**, the color value box populates with the hex codes of the color palette you've chosen or customized. Copying and pasting this list is the best way to copy custom color palettes from one chart to another.

### Reverse Colors

Select **Reverse colors** to reverse the palette. For a [categorical palette](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/color-collections.md.txt), this applies the last three colors in the palette to the **Up Color** , **Down Color** , and **Total Color** . For a [sequential or diverging palette](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/color-collections.md.txt), this applies the color at the right end of the palette to the **Up Color** and move left on the palette for the **Down Color** and **Total Color**.

### Up Color, Down Color, and Total Color

You can configure the color of the chart's bars, based on whether the underlying data is positive or negative. Click on a color swatch to reveal the palette picker and select a new color from an existing palette or choose a custom color.

- **Up Color** determines the color of positive values in the chart.
- **Down Color** determines the color of negative values in the chart.
- **Total Color** determines the color of the **Total** bar in the chart.

### Custom Tooltip

You can click the **Custom Tooltip** switch to configure tooltips within the [Explore visualization editor](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/creating-visualizations.md.txt#quick_guide) by using a combination of UI settings and an HTML editor that supports Liquid templating. [Learn more about **Custom Tooltips**](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/custom-tooltips.md.txt).

### Edit Chart Config

The **Edit Chart Config** button at the bottom of the visualization menu opens the [Chart Config Editor](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/advanced-visualization-editor). This editor lets you modify [HighCharts](https://api.highcharts.com/highcharts/chart) visualizations by exposing certain JSON parameters of the visualization, enabling deep customization. These customizations will not dynamically interact with data.

The **Edit Chart Config** button is available if you have either the Looker [Admin role](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/admin-panel-users-roles.md.txt#default_roles) or the [`can_override_vis_config` permission](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/admin-panel-users-roles.md.txt#can_override_vis_config).

See the [**Examples**](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/advanced-visualization-editor#examples) section of the Chart Config Editor article for examples of some common use cases, including the following examples:

- Changing the background color and axis text color
- Conditional formatting of values within a series
- Customizing tooltip color
- Adding vertical reference bands and captions
- Adding chart annotations

## Values menu options

### Value Labels

You can toggle the appearance of value labels for each data point on a chart.

### Value Colors

You can define the colors of the value labels. This field takes a color value formatted as a RGB hex string (such as `#2ca6cd`) or as a [CSS color name](https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_colors.asp) (such as `mediumblue`).

If no color value is provided, Looker (Google Cloud core) assigns the first color in the palette to the value labels.

## X menu options

### Scale Type

You can specify how the x-axis scale is calculated and displayed:

- **Automatic Based on Data**: The scale is inferred from the underlying data. This setting is the default.

- **Ordinal**: Data is plotted along the x-axis as evenly spaced, discrete entries, regardless of relative distance between data points.

- **Time**: Data is plotted as time values. The x-axis is labeled with appropriate time increments.

### Show Axis Name

You can toggle the appearance of the x-axis name label.

### Axis Value Labels

**Axis Value Labels** toggles the appearance of value labels on the x-axis.

### Allow Zoom

This option is available only for [Cartesian charts](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/visualization-types.md.txt#cartesian_charts) (column, bar, scatterplot, line, area, waterfall, or boxplot charts).

This option defaults to enabled. When it's enabled, you can zoom on a visualization in a dashboard, a Look, or an Explore.

See the [Viewing dashboards](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/viewing-dashboards.md.txt#zooming_on_cartesian_charts) or [Viewing Looks in Looker](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/viewing-looks.md.txt#zooming_on_cartesian_charts) documentation page for information about how to use the zoom feature.

When this option is disabled, the [**Allow Zoom** option](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/waterfall-options.md.txt#y-allow_zoom) on the **Y** menu is hidden and you cannot zoom on the visualization.

## Y menu options

### Show Axis Names

You can toggle the appearance of y-axis name labels.

### Axis Value Labels

You can toggle the appearance of value labels on the y-axis.

### Gridlines

You can toggle the appearance of gridlines extending from the y-axis. Gridlines are spaced based on the scaling of the y-axis.

### Allow Zoom

This option is available only for [Cartesian charts](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/visualization-types.md.txt#cartesian_charts) (column, bar, scatterplot, line, area, waterfall, or boxplot charts).

This option is available only when the [**Allow Zoom** option](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/waterfall-options.md.txt#x-allow_zoom) on the **X** menu is enabled. This option defaults to enabled. When it's enabled, you can zoom on a visualization in a dashboard, a Look, or an Explore.

See the [Viewing dashboards](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/viewing-dashboards.md.txt#zooming_on_cartesian_charts) or [Viewing Looks](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/viewing-looks.md.txt#zooming_on_cartesian_charts) documentation page for information about how to use the zoom feature.

If this option is disabled but the [**Allow Zoom** option](https://docs.cloud.google.com/looker/docs/waterfall-options.md.txt#x-allow_zoom) on the **X** menu is enabled, you cannot zoom into a tighter view of the y-axis; you can zoom only into a tighter view of the x-axis.