Overview
Charts let you visualize your ObservePoint report data without leaving the platform. Instead of exporting to Excel or Tableau, you can create bar, line, area, pie, and donut charts directly from any report — and they stay in sync with your filters, sorting, and grouping automatically.
Charts are available in all Reports and persist when you save a report, so your team can open a report and immediately see the visual you built.
How to Add a Chart
Open any report and configure your columns, filters, and grouping as needed.
Click the Add Chart button to the left of the column picker in the report header.
A new tab row appears below the filters bar, with a Table tab and your new Chart tab.
The chart editor opens automatically so you can configure your chart.
You can add as many charts as you want to a single report, just click the + button at the end of the tab row to add another.
How to Configure a Chart
The chart editor has three sections:
1. Chart Setup
Enter a Chart Title and optional Subtitle, these appear on the chart itself.
Select a Chart Type:
Column: vertical bars, great for comparing categories
Bar: horizontal bars
Line: trends over time or across categories
Area: like line charts but with filled area underneath
Pie / Donut: proportional breakdowns
2. Configure Data
Category Column: the column that defines your X-axis (for bar/line/area/column) or slice labels (for pie/doughnut). Usually a text, date, or grouped column.
Value Column(s): the numeric column(s) that determine bar heights, line positions, or slice sizes.
For bar, line, area, and column charts, you can add multiple series (multiple value columns on the same chart). This is where breakouts are really powerful.
Use the Add Series button to add more value columns. This report shows this powerful configuration in action.
3. Customize
Legend: choose where to display the legend (top, bottom, left, right, or off).
Data Labels: toggle labels on or off for each data point.
Axis Titles: add descriptive titles to horizontal and vertical axes.
Series Aggregation: Enable this to summarize the data subset currently displayed in the table.
Axis Min/Max: set custom value ranges on the Y-axis.
Pie charts: Enable Show Percentage to display percentages alongside values.
Click Close Editor when you're done. You can reopen it anytime by clicking Edit on the chart tab.
Switching Between Table and Charts
Click any tab in the tab row to switch views:
Table: the standard data grid
Chart tabs: your saved charts (you should name these)
The data in all views stays in sync. Changing a filter or sort on the Table tab immediately updates your charts too.
Managing Charts
Click the 3-dot menu)on any chart tab to:
Duplicate: create a copy of the chart with all its settings
Delete: remove the chart (a confirmation dialog appears)
Reorder charts by clicking and dragging the grip icon on the left side of any chart tab.
Saving and Sharing Charts
Saved Reports
Charts are saved as part of the report. When you or a teammate opens the saved report, all charts are ready to view.
Unsaved / "New" Reports
Charts are encoded in the URL, so you can copy and paste the URL to share a chart with a colleague, even before saving. The URL preserves your table configuration, filters, and chart setup.
Deep Linking to a Specific Chart
When you're viewing a chart tab, the URL updates to reflect which chart is active. Copy and paste that URL to send a colleague directly to the specific chart you're looking at.
Tip: Drag a chart to be first will make it the default view.
🌟 Tips and Best Practices
Whether you're using Excel or a BI tool like Tableau, a clean data table is the essential foundation for any visualization. Investing time in proper structure ensures your charts are accurate and insightful, rather than misleading or broken.
Here are a few guiding principles to follow:
Configure your table first. Charts use the columns, filters, and grouping from your report, set those up before adding a chart for best results.
Use grouping for cleaner charts. Grouping your data (e.g., by domain or date) often produces more meaningful chart data than ungrouped row-level data.
Use breakouts for powerful side by side comparison. Breakouts allow you to turn data values into individual columns to create pivot-style reports.
Pie charts work best with fewer slices. If your category column has many unique values, consider grouping or filtering first.
Line and area charts shine with date columns. Use a formatted date or timestamp as your category column to visualize trends over time.
Add a subtitle for context. A subtitle like "Last 30 days" or "Audit: Homepage Scan" helps teammates understand the chart without digging into the filters.