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Creating scatter plots

The scatter plot presents pairs of values from two or three measures.

This is useful when you want to show data where each instance has two numbers, for example, the relationship between Sales and Quantity per Customer. In the scatter plot below, a third measure (Cost) is used to generate the bubble size.

You can create a scatter plot on the sheet you are editing.

In a scatter plot you need one dimension and at least two measures. You can have maximum one dimension and three measures, where the third measure is visualized as bubble size.

Do the following:

  1. In a sheet, click to add a new visualization.
  2. Under Visualization, select Scatter plot.

  3. Click Add and select a field or master dimension for the bubble dimension.

  4. Click Add and select a field or master measure for the x-axis.

  5. Click Add and select a field or master measure for the y-axis.

  6. Optionally, if you want bubble size to be set according to a third measure, click Add and select a field or master measure.

When you have created the scatter plot, you might want to adjust its appearance and other settings in the advanced edit mode. For information about styling, see Styling the scatter plot. For information about customizing other aspects of the chart's appearance, see Changing the appearance of a visualization.

Styling the scatter plot

With Advanced options turned on, you have a number of styling options available under Appearance in the properties panel.

Click Styling under Appearance > Presentation to further customize the styling of the chart. The styling panel contains various sections under the General and Chart tabs.

You can reset your styles by clicking next to each section. Clicking Reset all resets styles for all available tabs in the styling panel.

For general information about styling an individual visualization, see Applying custom styling to a visualization.

Customizing the text

You can set the text for the title, subtitle, and footnote under Appearance > General. To hide these elements, turn off Show titles.

The visibility of the different labels on the chart depends on chart-specific settings and label display options. These can be configured in the properties panel.

You can style the text that appears in the chart.

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Appearance section.

  3. Under Appearance > Presentation, click Styling.

  4. On the General tab, set the font, emphasis style, font size, and color for the following text elements:

    • Title

    • Subtitle

    • Footnote

  5. On the Chart tab, set the font, font size, and color for the following text elements:

    • Axis title: Style the titles on the axes.

    • Axis label: Style the labels on the axes.

    • Value label: Style the labels for the bubbles representing each dimension value.

    • Legend title: Style the title of the legend.

    • Legend labels: Style the labels of the individual legend items.

Customizing the background

You can customize the background of the chart. The background can be set by color and image.

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Appearance section.

  3. Under Appearance > Presentation, click Styling.

  4. On the General tab of the styling panel, you can select a background color (single color or expression). You can also set the background to an image from your media library or from a URL.

    Information note

    To add a background image from a URL, the URL's origin needs to be added to the allowlist in your tenant's Content Security Policy. The origin must be added with the following Directive: img-src. This is done by a tenant administrator.

    For more information, see Creating a CSP entry.

    When using a background color, use the slider to adjust the opacity of the background.

    When using a background image, you can adjust image sizing and position.

Customizing the border and shadow

You can customize the border and shadow of the chart.

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Appearance section.

  3. Under Appearance > Presentation, click Styling.

  4. On the General tab of the styling panel, under Border, adjust the Outline size to increase or decrease the border lines around the chart.

  5. Select a color for the border.

  6. Adjust the Corner radius to control the roundness of the border.

  7. Under Shadow in the General tab, select a shadow size and color. Select None to remove the shadow.

Styling bubble outlines

The outlines of the bubbles in the scatter plot can be styled. You can change the size, color, and opacity of the outlines.

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Appearance section.

  3. Under Appearance > Presentation, click Styling.

  4. On the Chart tab, adjust the settings for Bubble outline. You can set the size, color, and opacity.

Adding reference lines

You can add reference lines to the scatter plot. Reference lines can be added on the X-axis and Y-axis.

Adding an X-axis reference line

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Add-ons section.

  3. Expand X-axis reference lines, and then click Add reference line.

  4. Under Reference line expression, enter a static value or expression to define the position of the line.

  5. Further customize the reference line with the following additional settings:

    • Show condition: Set whether to show or hide the line depending on a condition.

    • Label and Show label: Add a label for the line that will be shown in the chart and/or the properties panel.

    • Show value: Set whether to show the value of the expression defining the line.

    • Color: Change the color of the line.

    • Line type: Select between a solid or dashed line.

    • Colored background: Set whether the label and value bar above the chart data area is styled with a colored background.

Adding a Y-axis reference line

Do the following:

  1. Click Advanced options.

  2. In the properties panel, expand the Add-ons section.

  3. Expand Y-axis reference lines, and then click Add reference line.

  4. The position of the line is defined with the equation format y=kx+m, where k is the slope and m is the y-intercept. You can define these parameters with the following settings for the newly created reference line:

    • Reference line expression: Enter a static value or expression to define the y-intercept.

    • Slope: Enter a static value or expression to define the slope.

  5. Further customize the reference line with the following additional settings:

    • Show condition: Set whether to show or hide the line depending on a condition.

    • Label and Show label: Add a label for the line that will be shown in the chart and/or the properties panel.

    • Show value: Set whether to show the value of the expression defining the line.

    • Color: Change the color of the line.

    • Line type: Select between a solid or dashed line.

    • Colored background: Set whether the label and value bar inside the chart data area is styled with a colored background.

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