Skip to main content Skip to complementary content

Choosing the right visualization

Visualizations let you present data so that your apps users can interpret and explore it. For example, a bar chart that compares sales numbers for different regions, or a table with precise values for the same data. Good visualizations help you quickly and accurately interpret displayed data.

Visualizations are easy to add and customize. They can take the form of charts, such as bar charts, pie charts,, tables, gauges, or treemaps. Each chart type has unique functionality. Qlik Cloud Analytics automatically highlights items associated with your selections so you can drill-down and filter.

Select visualization types that align with your purpose

Each visualization type has a specific goal. You need to think about the purpose of your visualization, and pick a visualization type that lets you explore your data for that purpose effectively.

For example: You want to show how a measure, quarterly sales, behaves over time. You should create a line chart, because one of its strengths is displaying how measure values change over time. Alternatively, you can start with the type of analysis you want to make. From the available analyses, you could select trend over time as your analysis type, which builds a line chart for you.

For more information, see:

Which visualizations are available?

The following types of visualizations are available in the assets panel:

  • Charts illustrate the data with visual elements like bars, lines, or points.

  • Text-based visualizations presents data in text form, for example, tables or filters.

  • Dashboard objects do not always visualize app data, but they help with navigation through collections of analytics. They can also automate the performance of certain actions.

There are analyses available in the assets panel.

The best choice of chart or analysis type depends on the purpose of the visualization.

For more information, see Best practices for choosing visualization types.

If the predefined visualizations does not fill your purpose, you can use a visualization extension. You find them in the assets panel under Extensions Custom objects.

Available built-in visualizations

The built-in visualizations are those that are included regardless of your Qlik Cloud subscription. Built-in visualizations are fully supported.

These are the built-in visualizations.

Charts

  • Magic wand Autochart: Autochart attempts to pick the best visualization for your selected data. It selects from the available built-in visualizations.

  • Vertical bar chart Bar chart: Visualize differences in measures over one or more dimensions, arranged as a series of bars with varying height. The following variants are available:

    • Vertical grouped bar chart Vertical grouped

    • Horizontal grouped bar chart /> Horizontal grouped

    • Vertical stacked bar chart Vertical stacked

    • Horizontal stacked bar chart Horizontal stacked

  • Box plot Box plot: The box plot is suitable for comparing range and distribution for groups of numerical data, illustrated by a box with whiskers, and a center line in the middle.

  • Bullet chart Bullet chart: Bullet charts can be used to visualize and compare performance of a measure to a target value and to a qualitative scale, such as poor, average, and good.

  • Vertical combo chart Combo chart: The combo chart combines bars and lines in the same chart. The bars and lines have different axes to enable comparing percentages and sums. Available as horizontal or vertical combo chart.

  • Distribution chart Distribution plot: The distribution plot is suitable for comparing range and distribution for groups of numerical data. Data is plotted as value points along an axis.

  • Gauge chart Gauge: The gauge is used to display the value of a single measure, lacking dimensions.

  • Histogram Histogram: The histogram is suitable for visualizing distribution of numerical data over a continuous interval, or a certain time period. The data is divided into bins.

  • Line chart Line chart: The line chart displays data lines between values. Line charts are often used to visualize a trend in data over intervals of time. Also available as an Area line chart Area line chart.

  • Map Map: The map is used to combine geospatial data and measure values, such as the sales for a region or a store.

  • Mekko chart Mekko chart: The mekko chart compares a group while comparing category items contained within these groups.

  • Pie chart Pie chart or Donut chart Donut chart: The pie and donut charts show the relation between a single dimension and a single measure.

  • Scatter chart Scatter plot: The scatter plot presents values from two measures. This is useful when you want to show data where each instance has two numbers, for example, country (population and population growth). An optional third measure can be used and is then reflected in the size of the bubbles. When showing large data sets colors will be used instead of bubble size to represent the measure size.

  • Treemap Treemap: The treemap shows hierarchical data. A treemap can show a large number of values simultaneously within a limited space.

  • Waterfall chart Waterfall chart: The waterfall chart illustrates how an initial value is affected by intermediate positive and negative values.

Text-based visualizations

  • Filter container Filter pane: The filter pane allows you to control what data that is shown in the visualizations on a sheet. A filter pane can filter the data of several dimensions at once.

  • KPI KPI: The KPI is used to present central performance figures. You can add a link to a sheet.

  • Natural language insights NL insights: The NL insights visualization displays natural language insights about data in the form of a chart.

  • Pivot table Pivot table: The pivot table presents dimensions and measures as rows and columns of a table. The pivot table allows you to analyze data in multiple dimensions at a time. The data in a pivot table may be grouped based on a combination of the dimensions, and partial sums can be shown.

  • Table Table: The table displays values in record form, so that each row of the table contains fields calculated using measures. Typically, a table includes one dimension and multiple measures.

  • Text Text & image: You can use the text & image visualization to add text, images, measures and links to a webpage. (Advanced edit mode only)

Dashboard objects

  • Button Button: You can use buttons to add quick links for easy selection and navigation in your app. (Advanced edit mode only)

  • Container box Tab container: You can add visualizations in a limited space and show or hide the visualizations inside the container based on conditions. (Advanced edit mode only)

Available custom objects

There are a number of custom objects available to add to your sheet.

Qlik Visualization bundle

The Qlik Visualization bundle is a set of charts that can be used to enhance and increase your Qlik Sense app's charting capacity.

Visualization bundle

  • Funnel Funnel chart: A funnel chart is a visual representation of the connected stages of a linear process.

  • Grid chart Grid chart: A chart that displays comparative data and with the values represented as colors.

  • KPI Multi KPI: A chart that shows KPI for multiple dimension values to quickly understand and track performance.

  • Network chart Network chart: Creates a cluster diagram representing a graphical chart of a computer network.

  • Org chart Org chart: Creates an organization chart with a tree structure.

  • Pivot table P&L pivot: Creates a pivot table that you can style, for example for profit and loss reporting.

  • Pivot table Pivot table: Creates a pivot table with additional styling options not available in the pivot table visualization.

  • Sankey chart Sankey chart: A flow chart diagram chart visually emphasizing major transfers or flows within defined system boundaries.

  • Trellis container Trellis container: Creates a trellis chart based on a master visualization.

  • Variance Waterfall Variance Waterfall: Shows the variance between two measures over the different values of a dimension.

  • Word cloud Word cloud: A cloud chart of words with their size based on measure value.

Qlik Dashboard bundle

The Qlik Dashboard bundle is a set of controls that you can use to enhance navigation and selection in your Qlik Sense app.

Dashboard bundle

  • Treemap Animator: You can animate changes in your visualizations over a period of time.
  • Container: Add multiple visualizations to a container to save space.
  • Date picker: You can select a single date or a range of dates from a calendar.
  • Layout container: Add and arrange visualizations in a container.
  • Line: Add vertical and horizontal lines to a sheet.
  • Variable input: You can set the value of a variable.
  • Video player: You can add a video to your sheet.

Available analyses

  • Anomaly (spike) Anomaly (spike): Detect and show large data variations including spikes and dips in a time series.

  • Anomaly (spike) Anomaly (trend): Detect and show abrupt data variations including change points between time series segments.

  • Breakdown Breakdown: Show multiple dimensions in order of contribution.

  • Breakdown (geospatial) Breakdown (geospatial): Show geographical contributions to a measure.

  • Calculated measure (KPI) Calculated measure (KPI): Show a calculated measure.

  • Clustering (k-means) Clustering (k-means): Show clusters of measures associated with a dimension using a statistical algorithm.

  • Clustering (k-means) Comparison: Show multiple measures for a dimension.

  • Correlation Correlation: Show the strength of the relationship between two fields.

  • Mutual information Mutual information: Detect and show dependencies between the source and driver fields.

  • Overview Overview: Show the distribution of measures for one or more dimensions.

  • Process control (mean) Process control (mean): Show measures over a time period compared with the overall mean of expected values.

  • Process control (mean) Process control (rolling mean): Show the performance of a measure over time between two calculated control limits.

  • Ranking Ranking: Show dimensions in the order of their contribution to a measure.

  • Ranking Ranking (grouped): Show hierarchical dimensions in order of their contribution to a measure.

  • Relative importance Relative importance: Show the relative importance of dimensions contributing to a total.

  • Time series decomposition Time series decomposition: Decompose a time series into trend, seasonal, and residual components.

  • Time series decomposition Trend over time: Show the performance of a measure over time, optionally broken down by a dimension.

  • Time series decomposition Trend with forecast: Show measures along with forecast over the current and future time periods.

  • Year to date Year to date: Show a comparison of dimensions for the same period in previous years.

Learn more

Did this page help you?

If you find any issues with this page or its content – a typo, a missing step, or a technical error – let us know how we can improve!