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Creating visualizations

You create visualizations on a sheet by clicking to the right or bottom of the grid.

For instructions on creating specific types of visualizations, see the subsequent pages in this section.

  1. If this is a new sheet, select the default visualization.

    Otherwise, click Add item to the right or below of a visualization to add the new visualization there.

  2. Select a visualization type.

    If you are unsure what kind of visualization to use, select Autochart. Autochart will pick the best visualization for the data you add.

    You can switch between visualizations types as you create a visualization. This is useful if you want to view different options for presenting your data.

  3. Drag and drop fields or master items from Assets under Data. Alternatively, click Add and then select them from the list.

    If you want to build a dimension or measure using an expression, in the visualization in the sheet, click Add dimension or Add measure and then click Open expression editor. If you want to add additional expressions, click Advanced options and add them under Data in the properties panel.

  4. Optionally, to add filters:

    1. Drag and drop fields under Filter to use as filters in the visualization.

    2. Select the filter type and set any additional filter parameters.

    For more information about filters, see Applying filters to visualization.

  5. Optionally, to change how the chart is sorted, in Sorting select By measure or By dimension and the sort order.

    For more information, see Sorting.

  6. Optionally, to change colors used by the chart, in Color, select Custom and choose the color option for the chart.

    The following coloring options are available:

    • Single color: Select a single color to be used in the visualization.

    • Multicolored: Select to use different colors for the different measures in a visualization.

    • By dimension: Select to color the chart by dimension values.

    Additional color options are available in Advanced properties. For more information, see Coloring a visualization.

    For more information on color settings, see Color.

  7. Optionally, in Labels, add a title, subtitle, or footnote to the visualization.

    For more information on label settings, see Labels.

  8. Optionally, for bar charts, combo charts, pie charts, and donut charts, in Styling, set additional chart styling.

    For more information on styling settings, see Styling.

  9. Optionally, in Tooltip, add a custom title and description to the tooltips in the visualization.

    Additional custom tooltip options are available in Advanced properties.

    For more information on tooltip options, see Tooltip.

  10. Optionally, in Axis, adjust the orientation, position, and scale of the axes.

    Axis is available in the following charts: 

    • Bar charts

    • Scatter plot

    • Waterfall chart

    • Box plot

    • Distribution plot

    • Bullet chart

    • Histogram

    For more information on axis options, see Axis.

Tip noteYou can also add a visualization by copying visualizations. This is useful if you want to use existing visualization settings in another visualization type. For more information, see Copying a visualization from an existing visualization

Custom objects are added in a similar manner. In Advanced options, drag a visualization extension onto the sheet. For more information, see Creating a visualization using a custom object.

You can use containers to save space on your dashboard, by quickly switching between tabs with different visualizations. For more information, see Container.

The types of data you have in your tables and fields impacts whether they can be used as dimensions or measures.

  • Dimensions determine how the data in a visualization is grouped. For example: total sales per country or number of products per supplier. For more information, see Data grouping with dimensions.
  • Measures are calculations used in visualizations, typically represented on the y-axis of a bar chart or a column in a table. Measures are created from an expression composed of aggregation functions, such as Sum or Max, combined with one or several fields. For more information, see Measures.

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