Adding a Reference Line

You can define reference lines to show important values on your chart; for example, the average and maximum prices of your company's products.

Context

There are two types of reference lines: fixed and dynamic.

  • Fixed reference lines are created with a specific reference value, and don't change when you change the data in your chart (for example, if you filter your data).

  • Dynamic reference lines are updated when filters, ranking, and sorting are applied to the chart. Dynamic reference lines can be used with any measure, including story calculation measures.

When you add a reference line, you can choose to fill the background area above and below the line with color. Reference lines are maintained when you change the chart type.

Procedure

  1. Add a reference line in one of these ways:
    • On a canvas or responsive page, select a chart, right-click or select and then select Start of the navigation pathAdd Next navigation step Reference LineEnd of the navigation path.

      1. On a canvas or responsive page, select a chart, open the Designer and select Builder.

      2. Find Chart Structure and select Start of the navigation path(Add Chart Components) Next navigation step Add Reference LineEnd of the navigation path.

    • On a grid page, open the Examine panel, select (more), and then select Reference Lines.
    • In the Explorer, select Start of the navigation path Next navigation step Reference LinesEnd of the navigation path.
  2. Choose whether you want a fixed or dynamic reference line.
    • For a fixed reference line, enter a value and a label for the line.
    • For a dynamic reference line, select the parameters you want to base the reference line on, and enter a label for the line.
  3. If you want to color the background areas above and below (or to the left and right of) the reference line, choose colors in the Above and Below color-pickers.
    If two reference lines try to set the same background area to different colors, the line created first takes precedence.
  4. If you have applied a Top N filter to the chart, and are adding a dynamic reference line, you can choose whether you want to include the Top N options as a filter for the reference line.
    For example, if you're adding a dynamic reference line with average aggregation, and you have a Top 5 ranking applied, you can choose whether the reference line averages all values or only the Top 5 values.

Results

Select OK to add the reference line to the chart. You can hover over the reference line to see details about the line.
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