# Chart Types URL: https://docs.valsight.ai/chart-types/ Description: An overview of the chart types and worksheet tiles available in Valsight, in the same five groups you see when you add a chart. A chart in Valsight is a tile on a worksheet. Every type is added and configured the same way, so the only real decision is which one shows your data best. To add a chart, see [Creating Charts](/creating-charts/). To configure one you already have, see [Data Display in Charts and Tables](/data-display-in-charts-and-tables/). ## Start here if you want to: | If you | Go to | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- | | Compare figures, or show how they develop | [Diagrams](#diagrams) | | Read exact numbers across many dimensions | [Tables](#tables) | | Explain a difference between scenarios or between periods | [Bridges](#bridges) | | Let people simulate on the worksheet itself | [Simulations](#simulations) | | Show one KPI, the model behind it, or add text and pictures | [Others](#others) | | Rebuild a chart you have already configured once | [Template](#template) | ## Diagrams | Chart | Use it when | Example | | --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Column Chart** | You want to compare key figures of the same dimensionality, for example profit across scenarios and years. Data series stand next to each other as vertical bars. | ![Column chart comparing revenue per region, with the regions side by side for each year](./images/column-chart.png) | | **Bar Chart** | You want the same comparison, but horizontally. | ![Bar chart showing the same revenue per region as horizontal bars grouped by year](./images/bar-chart.png) | | **Line Chart** | You want to see the trend of one or more key figures. Values are connected as lines, which makes the direction of the development easy to read. | ![Line chart comparing revenue across two scenarios from 2026 to 2033](./images/line-chart.png) | | **[Mixed Chart](/mixed-charts/)** | One data series has to stand apart from the others, for example a benchmark line drawn across a stacked breakdown. Each data series can be shown as a bar, line, area or spline. | ![Mixed chart with a red target line running across stacked simulation bars](./images/mixed-chart.png) | | **Area Chart** | You want a trend with the area under the line filled, so the volume behind the development is visible as well. | ![Area chart showing electric and non-electric car sales as two filled areas stacked to the market total](./images/area-chart.png) | | **Pie Chart** | You want the shares of a single total at one point in time. Proportions are shown as segments of a circle. | ![Pie chart showing CO2 emissions split across three scopes as segments of a ring](./images/pie-chart.png) | Stacking is a setting rather than a chart type: columns, bars, areas, lines and mixed charts can each be stacked. See [Stacking and Stack Totals](/stacking-and-stack-totals/). ## Tables | Chart | Use it when | Example | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Table (all dimensions)** | You want the full detail in front of you: every dimension of the node, rather than an aggregate. This is the first entry under Tables. | ![Table showing revenue by region and engine type, with a subtotal per region and a grand total](./images/table-all-dimensions.png) | | **Table** | You want many figures at once, aggregated, with the dimensions you choose on rows and columns. Tables are how profit and loss statements, cash-flow statements and similar reports are built. | ![Table showing a profit and loss statement per year with a CAGR column on the right](./images/table.png) | A table only displays results. For one that readers can type into, see [Input Table](#simulations) under Simulations. For how to set the axes and choose the level of aggregation, see [Data Display in Charts and Tables](/data-display-in-charts-and-tables/). ## Bridges A bridge breaks a difference down into the individual effects that produced it. Both kinds use the same staircase shape, which the chart editor calls a **waterfall chart**, and they differ only in which difference they explain. | Chart | Use it when | Example | | ----------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **[Scenario Bridge](/scenario-bridges/)** | The steps should explain a difference between two or more scenarios, broken down by assumption, line-item or dimension. | ![Scenario bridge stepping from one scenario's gross profit to another through the effect of each assumption](./images/scenario-bridge.png) | | **[Time Bridge](/time-bridges/)** | Those effects should explain the change between two or more points in time within one scenario. | ![Time bridge stepping from the 2022 revenue to 2023 and 2024 through the effects in between](./images/time-bridge.png) | The steps do not have to be derived effects. Put **nodes** on the axis instead and you get a plain build-up, for example revenue and costs stepping down to gross profit. ## Simulations These tiles let people run simulations on the worksheet itself, rather than only read the results of one. | Tile | Use it when | Example | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Scenario Manager** | You want the full Scenario Manager as a tile, so simulations can be run on the sheet itself. It is configured per sheet and looks the same for every user, unlike the stationary Scenario Manager. | ![A worksheet with the Scenario Manager as a tile in the top left, next to three charts](./images/scenario-manager.png) | | **[Input Table](/input-tables/)** | You want readers to enter values on the worksheet instead of only reading them. | ![Input table with editable sales growth percentages per region, engine type and year](./images/input-table.png) | | **[Slider](/sliders/)** | You want selected line-items adjustable directly on the worksheet, without opening the Scenario Manager. | ![A slider tile holding one slider per line-item, each with a percentage value box](./images/slider.png) | | **[Split Slider](/split-sliders/)** | You want to redistribute a total across its parts, for example a product mix or an allocation, while the total itself stays fixed. | ![A split slider with one track split into three shares of 28, 28 and 44 per cent](./images/split-slider.png) | ## Others | Tile | Use it when | Example | | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **[Tree](/model-tree/)** | You want to show the value driver structure behind the numbers. The nodes of the underlying model are drawn as a graph, the model tree, and can display values for several scenarios. | ![Model tree showing gross profit broken down into revenue and cost nodes, each node listing values per year](./images/model-tree.png) | | **Text** and **[Image](/images/)** | You want to add something to the worksheet that is not data: a headline, a list of targets, a note for other users, a logo or a diagram. These are the two tiles that turn a sheet of charts into something you can present from. | ![A worksheet headed by a text tile reading Integrated Business and Sustainability Strategy 2030, an image tile beside it, and a second text tile listing strategic targets above the charts](./images/text-and-image.png) | | **Packed Bubble Chart** | You want to compare the magnitude of many items at once, for example the effects of several assumptions. Size and color carry the meaning, the position of a bubble does not. | ![Packed bubble chart comparing sold quantities per engine type as three differently sized bubbles](./images/packed-bubble-chart.png) | | **[KPI](/kpi-charts/)** | One number is the point. A KPI chart shows a single figure with its unit and, optionally, a reference value such as the previous year. | ![KPI chart showing gross profit as one large number with the year below it and a CAGR reference at the bottom](./images/kpi-chart.png) | | **[Perspective Selector](/perspective-selector/)** | You want saved filter combinations, optionally with a picture each, that switch the view of the whole worksheet. It only appears if perspectives are enabled for your instance. | ![A worksheet with the perspective selector as a column of region cards down the left side, North America and Europe both selected](./images/perspective-selector.png) | ## Template Below the groups above sits one more option, **From Template**. It is not a chart type but a shortcut: it builds a new chart from a configuration you saved earlier, so a layout you use often does not have to be rebuilt. See [Chart Templates](/chart-templates/). ## Choosing between similar charts **Column Chart vs Bar Chart** * Use a **column chart** by default, especially when the x axis is time. * Use a **bar chart** when category names are long, or when there are many categories, because horizontal labels stay readable. **Stacking vs Mixed Chart** * Switch on **[Stacked](/stacking-and-stack-totals/)** when every data series should look the same and all of them belong to the total. * Use a **[mixed chart](/mixed-charts/)** when at least one data series has to look different, for example a target or a benchmark that should not disappear into the stack. **Scenario Bridge vs Time Bridge** * Use a **[scenario bridge](/scenario-bridges/)** to explain why one scenario differs from another, within one time period. * Use a **[time bridge](/time-bridges/)** to explain why one period differs from another, within one scenario. **Slider vs Split Slider** * Use a **[slider](/sliders/)** to change one line-item by an absolute amount. The total moves with it. * Use a **[split slider](/split-sliders/)** to shift shares between the parts of a total while the total stays fixed. **Table vs Table (all dimensions)** * Use **Table** for an aggregated view, then put the dimensions you actually want on the axes. * Use **Table (all dimensions)** to see every dimension of the node instead of an aggregate. **Table vs Input Table** * Use a **table** to display results. It is read-only, and sits under Tables when you add a chart. * Use an **[input table](/input-tables/)** when readers should type values into the worksheet. It sits under Simulations instead, because entering values runs a simulation. ## Related * [Creating Charts](/creating-charts/): how to add a chart, duplicate one, and reuse a configuration as a chart template. * [Data Display in Charts and Tables](/data-display-in-charts-and-tables/): sorting, colors, axes and the rest of the chart editor. * [Bridges](/bridges/): grouping assumption effects and adding intermediate sums in scenario and time bridges.