# Strange numerical format for the annotation of the colour bar

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [December 13, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035 "2018-12-13T13:58:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Beer](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@Beer](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Beer)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035/1 "2018-12-13T13:58:31Z")

</div>

I did a 2-D contour plot of point data which has small numbers. I expected a exponential annotation in the colour bar. Instead I get the last value (which is the largest) in exponential form but the others in decimal form. Can I fix this ?

 ![Watsonerr](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/89b61653a4f9b6d3eeefe3ff1226594da1bc0cf5.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035/2 "2018-12-13T14:49:47Z")

</div>

Yes, you can change the formatting of both the tick labels (the intermediate labels) and range labels (the ones on either end). Open up the _Color Map Editor_ (View -\> Color Map Editor menu item) and click the ![image](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/2da0accc6785c679abfd074ef552e3c9d8663cde.png) icon top open the _Edit Color Legend Properties_ dialog. Click the gear icon in the upper right to show the advanced options. Uncheck the **Automatic Label Format** setting and change the **Label Format** setting to “%-#6.1e”. That will give you scientific notation for the intermediate tick labels.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Beer](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@Beer](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Beer)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035/3 "2018-12-20T15:30:32Z")

</div>

Thank you

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![kirit\_101](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@kirit\_101](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/kirit_101)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035/4 "2020-07-28T20:20:19Z")

</div>

Can you edit the number of Label displayed ? here you have 10 displayed label , Can you change it to 5 or 7 ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/strange-numerical-format-for-the-annotation-of-the-colour-bar/1035/5 "2020-07-29T04:57:46Z")

</div>

Yes, but not with the automatic labels. You must enable and enter custom label values.