How to build a chart

A chart is a view of a report you have already built. It draws the same numbers as the table, so nothing about the report changes when you switch to it.

If you have not built a report yet, start with how to build a report.

Switch from table to chart

Look above the results for Table and Chart.

The Preview area of the builder. Above a table of ten projects sit two buttons, Table and Chart, with Table pressed, and a "Show top" dropdown set to All rows. The table has columns Project and Issues, and a Total row reading 61,400.

The two buttons only appear once something is on the Measure shelf. There is nothing to draw until then.

Press Chart.

The same report drawn as horizontal grey bars, one per project, longest at the top. Each bar is labelled with its project key and its figure — PLAT 14,208 down to SUP 2,244. There are no dropdowns above the chart.

The chart replaces the table. There are no controls above it, and that is the answer rather than a gap: this report is split one way, by a field that is not a date, so bars are the only chart that fits and there is nothing to choose.

The list of chart types follows the report

Split the report by a date instead, and there is a choice to make.

The same builder split by month resolved. Above the picture is a dropdown labelled "Which chart" with Line selected. The chart is a line running left to right across eight months labelled Jan-26 to Aug-26, against a vertical scale from 0 to 2,000.

A date on Split by gives a Which chart dropdown offering Line and Bars, with the line first. Time runs left to right.

Add a second field to Split by and the bars stack.

The same report split by month resolved and then by issue type. The Which chart dropdown offers Stacked bars, selected, and Line. Each of the eight months is one bar built from five stacked pieces in a grey ramp. The larger pieces carry their names — Story, Bug, Task — inside them, and a key underneath names all five including Sub-task and Epic.

The second split becomes the pieces of each bar, named in a key underneath. When the first split is a date you can still choose Line, which draws one line per piece instead.

So the list is short and it changes:

What the report is split by	What you can draw
One field, not a date	Bars
One date	Line, or bars
One date that runs past today	Bars, or a line
Two fields, the first a date	Stacked bars, or a line
Two fields, neither a date	Stacked bars
Three or more fields	Nothing. The table is the report.

If your report measures more than one number, a second dropdown appears: Which number to draw. A chart draws one number at a time.

When a chart would not be readable

A chart can only separate seven pieces. Past that it says so.

The same monthly report with Project as the second split instead of issue type. Where the chart was, a message reads "The second split has 10 values. This chart can show 7. Filter it down, or stay in table view."

The message is:

The second split has 10 values. This chart can show 7. Filter it down, or stay in table view.

Switching to Line does not get round it. Ten lines in seven shades is a picture nobody can read back, so the limit applies to every kind of chart.

Two ways forward. Add a filter so the second split has seven values or fewer, or stay in table view. The table is the report and it still holds every row.

When there can be no chart

Split a report three ways and the Chart button switches off, with the reason beside it.

The builder with three pills on Split by — Project, Issue type and Priority. The Chart button is greyed out, and beside it a line of text reads "This report is split too many ways to make a chart worth reading. Take one split off, or stay in table view." A twenty-row table is below.

The message is:

This report is split too many ways to make a chart worth reading. Take one split off, or stay in table view.

There is one other case. With nothing on Split by, the report is a single total row, and the button says:

A chart needs the report split by something. Split it by a field, or stay in table view.

Both are recoverable in one click. Take a split off, or add one.

Dates that run past today

Some dates look forward: due date, sprint end, a fix version's release date. Split by one of those and part of the chart is a plan rather than a record.

A bar chart of issues due, one bar per month from Jun-26 to Feb-27. The first four bars are solid. A dashed vertical rule marked "Today · 02-09-2026" crosses the chart, and every bar to its right is drawn with a hatched fill. Underneath, a key reads "Settled — due date on or before today" and "Plan — due date after today", above a bold line reading "Everything right of the line is plan, not actual."

Bars come first for these, not a line. The difference between what happened and what is planned is carried by the fill of the bar, and only a bar has a fill. A line is still offered, and it dashes its plan half instead.

The rule falls before the first month that is entirely ahead of today. The month today sits inside is drawn solid, because part of it has already happened.

Everything right of the line is plan, not actual. The chart says so underneath, and it is worth repeating out loud before anybody treats a forecast as a result.

Two things worth knowing about a chart

Issues with nothing in the field you split by keep their place. They are drawn and labelled (no value), exactly as the table shows them.

A chart draws the rows on the page you are looking at, not the whole report. Past a hundred rows it says so above the picture: "This chart shows the first 100 rows. There are more." Page on and the note changes to name the rows it is actually drawing.

A chart has no Total row. Switch back to Table for the total.

Where to go next

How to build a tabular report — sorting, column order, "Show top" and the Total row.
How to build a report — the shelves, from the start.
Export to CSV — the numbers, not the picture.

All guides