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Fields and settingsIntermediate13 min read· Published on October 21, 2026

Word Cloud Plume: every field and every setting

Complete reference of Word Cloud Plume: fields (words, size, color, comparison, excluded words, SVG shape, play axis) and every Format pane setting with its values.

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This page describes every field and every setting of Word Cloud Plume. The cards shared by all Plume visuals (Plume Studio License, Style, Tooltips, Title, Source note, Frame, Language and numbers) are described in the common basics.

The visual's fields

FieldRequired?How manyWhat to dropWhat it doesExample
Words or textYes1A column of words, labels or long textsThe words of the cloud; long texts are split into wordsTopics[Topic], Reviews[Comment]
SizeNo1A measureThe size of the words; without it, the number of occurrencesNumber of mentions
ColorNo1A text (color) or number measureColor of each word; a number gives a gradient ★Average sentiment
Comparison ★No1A measureThe same measure for an earlier period: rising ▲, falling ▼, new ✦Mentions last year
Excluded wordsNo1A text measureWords to remove, separated by ; , or new linesCONCATENATEX of a table
Shape (SVG) ★No1A text measure that returns an SVGShape of the cloud, takes precedence over Format › ShapeLogo of the filtered brand
Play axis ★No1A date, a year, an ordered categoryOne cloud per value, with a play barDate[Month]
TooltipsNoseveralMeasuresValues added to the tooltip (sum over the rows of the word)Revenue
Dynamic formatNoseveralMeasures named card.settingDrive a setting with DAXwordFont.maxSize

Words or text. The visual decides by itself whether to split (Split text into words on Automatic): when at least one value in five has four words or more, or three words on average. Short labels ("New York", "customer service") stay whole. Numbers and dates of a non-text column are written with the column format.

Size. With split text, each word receives the row value as many times as it appears (or once, with Count on Once per row ★). An empty, zero or negative size removes the row.

Color. A color as text (#AA0000, red) is used as is, for free. A number gives the weighted average of the rows that use the word (sentiment, satisfaction) and switches the coloring to a gradient ★.

Tooltips and Dynamic format: see the common basics and the dynamic formats tutorial.

The Format pane settings

The cards shared by every Plume visual (Plume Studio License, Style, Tooltips, Title, Source note, Frame, Language and numbers) and the two basic settings of the Interactions card are described in the common basics. Here are the cards specific to Word Cloud Plume, in the order of the pane. Color and text settings have the fx button: a measure or a rule can drive them.

Layout

How words are oriented, spaced and placed in the shape. First card after Style since version 1.1.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
Word orientationAngle of the words; a given word always keeps the same orientationAll horizontal · Horizontal and vertical · All vertical · Horizontal and diagonals (±45°) · From one angle to another (even steps) · Free angles between two limits
Share of rotated words (%)Share of vertical or diagonal words (the largest word stays horizontal) (shown when Word orientation = Horizontal and vertical or Horizontal and diagonals (±45°))25 (0 to 100)
Direction of vertical words(shown when Word orientation = Horizontal and vertical or All vertical)Bottom to top · Top to bottom
Start angle (°)(shown when Word orientation = From one angle to another (even steps) or Free angles between two limits)-60 (-90 to 90)
End angle (°)(shown when Word orientation = From one angle to another (even steps) or Free angles between two limits)60 (-90 to 90)
Number of orientationsAngles evenly spread between start and end (shown when Word orientation = From one angle to another (even steps))5 (2 to 19)
Spacing between words (px)Minimum room around each word2 (0 to 30)
Size fittingFill the shape: the words grow until they fill the shape (never below the minimum size); when the shape is small for every word, the least frequent ones are left out rather than shrinking everythingFill the shape (shrink or enlarge) · Shrink only when needed · Fixed sizes
Placement spiralPath followed to find a place, from the center of the shapeRound (cloud) · Rectangular (block)
Layout variantThe layout is always the same for the same data; change this number to try another arrangement1 (1 to 999)
Fill the shape with repeated words ★Once every word is placed, smaller copies fill the remaining room (texture)off
Repeated words opacity (%)—55 (10 to 100)
Maximum number of repetitions—900 (50 to 3000)
Words appearWhen the data changes; never when animations are reduced (Style › Animations or the system)From the center · Fade · None

A word that does not fit is tried again in the other orientation, then smaller down to the minimum size. If it still does not fit, the "n word(s) not placed" note appears in edit mode; hover it for the list. With Fill the shape, when the shape is too small to keep every word without shrinking them all to the minimum size, the least frequent words are left out (at most 15% of the total weight): a discreet grey note "n less frequent word(s) not shown" says so in edit mode.

Data colors

How the words are colored.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
ColoringColor mode of the wordsPalette (one color per word) · Single color · Gradient by size ★ · Gradient by the “Color” field ★ · Change (“Comparison” field) ★
ColorColor of every wordcolor; empty
One color per wordWith Palette and words that are not split: the 30 largest words, each with its color (fx button available)palette color
GradientGradient paletteSequential (style palette) · Diverging (around the middle)
Colors in size orderOn: the largest word takes the first color, the next one the second… Off: each word keeps its color whatever its sizeon

A numeric Color field selects the gradient ★, a Comparison field selects the change ★, when the coloring is left on Palette. Gradient tints that are too pale are darkened to stay readable.

Words

Text splitting, stop words, case and number of words.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
Split text into wordsAutomatic: values of several words (comments, titles) are split into words; short labels are kept wholeAutomatic (long texts) · Yes · No (one value = one word or phrase)
PhrasesPhrases ("customer service", "delivery lead time") are counted like words; stop words never start or end a phraseSingle words · Two-word phrases ★ · Words and two-word phrases ★ · Three-word phrases ★
CountOnce per row: a word repeated in the same comment counts onceEvery occurrence · Once per row (answer, comment) ★
Minimum length (letters)Shorter words are ignored (split text)3 (1 to 20)
Ignore numbers"Words" without letters (2025, 12.5) are ignoredon
Keep special characters (#, @, emojis)Hashtags (#sale), mentions (@store), amounts ($20, 20€) and emojis are kept as words.off
Remove French elisions (l', d', qu'…)"l'équipe" → équipe, "d'accueil" → accueilon
Merge singular and plural ★"order" and "orders" become one word (the most frequent form is shown)off
Word caseWords are always grouped regardless of case; split text: the lowercase form wins over a sentence-initial capitalMost frequent form · lowercase · UPPERCASE · Capitalized
Built-in stop wordsCommon words without meaning of their own (the, and, le, de…) are removed when the text is splitFrench and English · French · English · None
Other words to excludeCase and accents ignored; also for words that are not splittext; empty
Maximum number of words (top N)The N largest words150 (1 to 1000)
Minimum weight (0 = all)Words whose weight (or number of occurrences) is lower are not shown0 (min. 0)

Word text

The font, the weight and the size scale of the words.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
FontFonts installed with Windows or Microsoft Office (no web font); a similar font is used when one is missingStyle font, then 55 fonts: Segoe UI (Light, Semilight, Semibold, Black), Arial, Arial Narrow, Aptos, Bahnschrift (SemiCondensed, Condensed), Calibri, Calibri Light, Candara, Century Gothic, Corbel, Ebrima, Franklin Gothic Medium, Gadugi, Gill Sans MT, Leelawadee UI, Lucida Sans Unicode, Microsoft Sans Serif, Nirmala UI, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Tw Cen MT, Verdana, Book Antiqua, Bookman Old Style, Cambria, Constantia, Garamond, Georgia, Palatino Linotype, Rockwell, Sitka Text, Sitka Heading, Sylfaen, Times New Roman, Cascadia Code, Cascadia Mono, Consolas, Courier New, Lucida Console, Comic Sans MS, Gabriola, Ink Free, MV Boli, Segoe Print, Segoe Script, Bradley Hand ITC, Lucida Handwriting, Arial Black, Impact ("· Office": shipped with Microsoft Office)
WeightStroke thicknessRegular · Semibold · Bold · Bold for the largest words
Italic—off
Minimum size (px)Size of the smallest word; never smaller, even to make words fit11 (6 to 80)
Maximum size (px)Size of the largest word (adapted by Size fitting)64 (8 to 300)
Size by weightWeight = the "Size" measure, or the number of occurrences without itLinear · Square root (balanced) · Logarithmic (compressed) ★ · By rank ★
Weight at the maximum size (empty = automatic)Keeps the sizes when another visual filters the cloud: a measure named wordFont.weightMax in “Dynamic format”, e.g. CALCULATE ( MAXX ( VALUES ( Topics[Topic] ), [Mentions] ), ALL ( Topics ) ) (ALL or REMOVEFILTERS ignores the filter; ALLSELECTED follows it), with Layout › Size fitting › Fixed sizes.text; empty

Shape

The shape the words fill, and its proportions.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
ShapeThe words fill this shape; ★ shapes and the custom SVG show the premium watermark without a licenseOval (fills the visual), Rectangle (fills the visual), Custom SVG ★, then 153 shapes by category: Basic, Arrows and symbols, Nature and weather, People, Objects and buildings, Containers and gauges, Maps and places, Business, Transport. Free: circle, square, rounded square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, hexagon, star, heart, cloud, drop, bubble, arrow, person, house
Shape SVGPaste an SVG (or a path "d"); it is cleaned (no script, no web link) (shown when Shape = Custom SVG)text; empty
ProportionsKeep the shape intact or stretch it to the size of the visual (shown with every shape except Oval (fills the visual) and Rectangle (fills the visual))Keep proportions · Stretch to fill the visual
Silhouette in the background ★Draws the shape behind the wordsoff
Silhouette color (empty = grid)(shown when Silhouette in the background = on)color; empty
Silhouette opacity (%)(shown when Silhouette in the background = on)40 (5 to 100)
Margin around the shape (px)Room left between the shape and the edge of the visual4 (0 to 80)

Legend

Shown with a gradient (gradient bounds) or the change (Rising, Stable, Falling, New; a click selects the words of the category).

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
ShowShown when the chart has several series.on
Position—Top · Bottom · Right · Left
Alignment(shown when Position = Top or Bottom)Start · Center · End
Legend title—off
Title text(shown when Legend title = on)text; empty
Size—9 (6 to 24)
Color (empty = secondary text)—color; empty
Click = select the series—on

Comparison ★

Shown when the Comparison field is filled.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
▲▼ arrows in the cloudMarker written small after the word; the direction is also in the tooltipon
A decrease is favorableSwaps the colors (complaints, returns)off
Negligible change (± %)Below it, the word is "stable" (gray)5 (0 to 100)
Favorable color (empty = style)Color of rising words (or falling words when a decrease is favorable)color; empty
Unfavorable color (empty = style)Color of words moving the wrong waycolor; empty
Mark new words (✦)Word absent from the earlier periodon

Playback ★

Shown when the Play axis ★ field is filled; card shared by every animated Plume visual. ★ feature (rebalancing of 10/22/2026): without a license, the player works with the watermark as soon as the field holds data.

SettingWhat it doesOptions (default in bold)
Frame shown on opening—The last one (most recent) · The first one
Duration of a frame (ms)At speed ×1; the speed button multiplies it (×0.5 to ×4) for the session1000 (100 to 10000)
Loop—off
Play automatically on openingOnce; never with reduced animations nor on a dashboard tileoff
Animated transitionsCommon words glide from one frame to the nexton
Play bar—on
Bar position(shown when Play bar = on)Bottom · Top
Tick marks(shown when Play bar = on)Automatic · Every frame · None
Tick labels(shown when Play bar = on)on
Start and end buttons(shown when Play bar = on)on
Speed button(shown when Play bar = on)on
Current value in large type—on
Large value size(shown when Current value in large type = on)44 (12 to 160)
Large value position(shown when Current value in large type = on)Bottom right · Top right · Top left · Bottom left · Center

Premium features ★

FeatureWhere to set it
Two- or three-word phrasesFormat › Words › Phrases
Gradient by a measure (sentiment)Numeric Color field, Format › Data colors
Comparison of two periodsComparison field, Comparison ★ card
132 ★ shapes, custom SVGFormat › Shape › Shape, Shape (SVG) field
Repeated words that fill the shapeFormat › Layout › Fill the shape with repeated words ★
Cloud that changes over timePlay axis ★ field, Playback ★ card
Gradient by sizeFormat › Data colors › Coloring
Logarithmic and rank scalesFormat › Word text › Size by weight
Merged singular and plural, once per rowFormat › Words
Silhouette in the backgroundFormat › Shape
Paid styles, advanced palettes, JSON themeFormat › Style