Word Cloud

The Word Cloud tool visualises text data and categorical information as a cloud of words, where word size indicates frequency. Words that appear more often are displayed larger than less common words.

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What is a Word Cloud?

A Word Cloud extracts words from your collection

data and displays them in a visual arrangement. The more frequently a word or category appears, the larger it's shown in the cloud.

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Using the Word Cloud

1. Open the Word Cloud

From your collection, click the cloud icon in the toolbar to open the Word Cloud in the side pane.

2. Select a Field

Use the Field dropdown in the toolbar to choose which field to visualise. The Word Cloud will extract and display words from this field.

3. Interact with Words

• Hover over words to see tooltips showing the word and its count
• Click on a word to interact with it

4. Customise the Display

Use the toolbar settings (cog icon) to adjust how the Word Cloud appears.

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Supported Field Types

The Word Cloud can visualise data from various field types:

Text Fields

• String fields: Words are extracted from free-form text
• Rich Text fields: Words are extracted from formatted text content
• Computed String fields: Words from dynamically calculated text values

Categorical Fields

• Option fields: Each option label is counted as a category
• Multi-Option fields: Each selected option is counted individually
• Record fields: Labels of linked records are used
• Multi-Record fields: Labels of all linked records are counted

Words shorter than 3 characters and common words (like "the", "and", "is") are automatically filtered out.

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Display Settings

Access display settings through the cog icon in the toolbar:

Rotation

Control how words are oriented in the cloud:

• No rotation: All words displayed horizontally (0°)
• Vertical (90°): All words rotated vertically
• Mixed (0° and 90°): Words randomly horizontal or vertical (default)
• Angled (-60° to 60°): Words at random angles for a more dynamic look

Font

Choose the typeface for the word cloud:

• System (Sans-serif): Clean, modern look (default)
• Serif: Traditional, formal appearance
• Monospace: Technical, code-like style
• Impact: Bold, attention-grabbing text (displayed in uppercase)

Layout

Select how words are arranged:

• Spiral: Words arranged in a spiral pattern from the centre (default)
• Rectangular: Words arranged in a more structured rectangular pattern

Colours

Choose a colour scheme for the words:

• Rainbow: Full spectrum of colours (default)
• Cool (Blues & Greens): Calming blue and green tones
• Warm (Reds & Oranges): Energetic red, orange, and yellow tones
• Monochrome: Shades of grey for a subtle look

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Configuring Word Cloud Settings

Administrators can configure default settings for each collection:

1. Open Collection Configuration (click ⋯ → Configure)
2. Navigate to Features → Tools
3. Find Word Cloud and click the cog icon to open settings

Maximum Words

Set the maximum number of words to display (10-500). The default is 100 words. Only the most frequent words up to this limit will be shown.

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Example Uses

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Tips

• Choose the right field: Text fields give you word-level analysis, while Option fields give you category-level counts
• Filters apply: The Word Cloud respects your current view filters, so you can analyse subsets of your data
• Empty states: If the selected field contains no text data, the Word Cloud will display a message indicating no data is available

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Read our guide on Data Visualisation Tools to learn about other ways to explore your collection data.