Progress, colors & appearance
This page covers how the chart looks: progress tracking on the bars, colors and the legend, owner circles, bar sizing, labels and fonts, and the overall appearance (dark mode and grid lines).
Progress tracking
Add a Progress bar measure (0–100) to fill each task bar according to how complete it is.
Progress scale
Format → Progress → Progress scale
Tells the visual how to read your progress values. Both conventions are common in models, and the wrong reading turns 45% complete into 1%:
| Setting | Reads 0.45 as | Reads 45 as |
|---|---|---|
| Auto (default) | 45% | 45% |
| 0–1 | 45% | 100% (capped) |
| 0–100 | 0% | 45% |
Auto looks at the column's format string first — a percentage format means the values are fractions — then falls back to the data type and the values themselves. Set the scale explicitly when Auto guesses wrong, which typically happens with a fractional measure that has no percentage format applied.
The setting applies to Planned progress as well, so both measures should use the same convention.
Progress style
Format → Progress → Progress style
Choose how the fill is drawn:
- Overlay — a darker progress fill drawn on top of the bar (default).
- Strip — a thinner progress strip inside the bar.
Planned vs. actual
Add a Planned progress measure alongside the actual Progress bar to compare where a task is against where it should be. This makes tasks that are behind (or ahead of) plan easy to spot.
Progress percentage label
Format → Data labels → Show progress percentage
When on, the actual progress percentage is shown before the task's data label (e.g. 50% · Design). Requires a Progress bar field. On by default.
Completion checkmarks
Tasks at 100% show a green checkmark in the task list. Toggle via Format → Project hierarchy → Show completion checkmarks (see Tasks → Completion checkmarks).
Colors
Data colors
Format → Data colors
- Default color — the color used when there's no Legend field, and for parent tasks whose children have mixed colors. Default:
#118DFF(blue). - When a Legend field is present, each legend value gets its own color swatch here that you can override individually.
Colors are resolved automatically for accessibility: in high-contrast mode, Power BI's system colors take over regardless of these settings.
Legend
Add a Legend field to color tasks by a category. The legend itself is controlled under Format → Legend.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show | Shows or hides the legend. | On |
| Position | Top, Bottom, Left, Right, and their centered variants. | Bottom center |
| Title | Shows or hides the legend title. | Off |
| Legend name | Overrides the automatic title text. | (auto) |
| Color | Legend text color. | Theme default |
| Font | Font family and text size. | Segoe UI, 11 pt |
The legend only appears when a Legend field is populated.
Owner circles
Add an Owner field to show each task owner as initials in a colored circle. Colors are assigned consistently per owner automatically.
Bars
Format → Bars
Control the size and shape of the task and summary bars.
| Setting | What it does | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task bar height | Height of task bars, in pixels. | 8–60 | 26 |
| Project bar height | Height of project/summary bars, in pixels. | 4–30 | 6 |
| Bar spacing | Vertical space above and below each bar within its row, in pixels. | 2–16 | 6 |
| Project bar corner radius | Rounding of summary bar corners, in pixels. | 0–15 | 3 |
| Task bar corner radius | Rounding of task bar corners, in pixels. | 0–15 | 3 |
Data labels
Format → Data labels
The labels shown to the right of each bar.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show task labels | Shows the task name to the right of each bar. | Off |
| Show progress percentage | Prefixes the label with the progress % (e.g. 50% · Design). | On |
| Show project duration | Shows the duration in days to the right of each top-level project bar. | On |
| Font | Family, size (7–24 pt), bold, italic, underline. | Segoe UI, 10 pt |
Appearance & layout
Format → Appearance
The Appearance card is organized into groups.
Task list width and font
Format → Project hierarchy
Drag the right edge of the task list to resize it between 200 and 600 px; double-click the edge to reset it to 300 px. Editors can also type an exact Column width.
A width an editor sets is saved with the report. When a viewer resizes the column it lasts for their session only, and the column returns to your width on refresh.
The task list has its own font family, size, bold and italic, separate from the rest of the chart. The color swatches and expand arrows scale with the font size, so larger text stays aligned.
Dark mode
Appearance → General → Dark mode
Switches the chart shell (backgrounds, text, grid lines) to a dark color scheme. Off by default. Ignored when Power BI high-contrast mode is active.
Grid lines & row banding
| Setting | Group | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical grid lines | Vertical grid | Vertical lines on the timeline. | On |
| Row banding | Horizontal grid | Alternating row shading. | Off |
| Project grid lines | Horizontal grid | Horizontal lines between top-level project rows. | On |
| Task grid lines | Horizontal grid | Horizontal lines between task and sub-task rows. | Off |
Related
- Time scale and starting view → Timeline & navigation
- Every setting in one place → Formatting reference