Intro to Building Visualizations

IMPORTANT: This document is specific to Sigma's new Workbooks feature. If you instead want to learn about worksheet and dashboard visualizations, please visit Visualize Your Data (Worksheets).

Visualizations are a subset of workbook data elements. Like tables and pivot tables, they are build directly from a data source and update in response to changes in that data source or its source(s). Each workbook can contain multiple data elements derived from a variety of data sources. 

Summary of Content

Visualization Types
Create a Visualization
Switch Between Visualization Types
Expand to a Full Page Detail View
Visualization Formatting
Related Resources

Visualization Types

Sigma supports the following visualization types:

• Bar charts
• Line charts
• Area charts
• Scatter charts
• Donut charts
• Pie charts
• Single value visualizations
• Funnel charts
• Gauge charts
  
• Map – by region, point (lat/long), or GeoJSON
• Box and whisker charts
  
  

Create a Visualization

Visualizations can be created via the PAGE ELEMENTS section of your workbook's editor panel or directly from an existing data element. 

Different visualization types support different plot and format options. Some plot options are required, and visualized data will not display on the page canvas until all required plot fields are defined. Please visit visualization-specific documentation to learn more about plotting and formatting your element.

Switch Between Visualization Types

You can switch a visualization element's visualization type (e.g. bar to line) at any time. However, you will lose any plot and format settings that are not also supported by your newly selected visualization type.

1. Select the element to view its configuration in the workbook's editor panel.
2. Select your desired visualization type from the dropdown menu located under the editor's VISUALIZATION section. 
   
   

Expand to Focus Mode

All data elements have two interactive view modes: the standard view and the focus view. When an element enters focus view, it expands to take up the entire page canvas. 

Focused visualizations show both the visualization and a spreadsheet-like version of the visualization’s data, called the focus view table. The visualization and its focus view table are linked – make a change to one and the other will react accordingly.

To open an element's focus view, click the maximize button in the element’s in-line toolbar (accessible on hover and when the element is selected).

To collapse it back to its standard view, click the minimize button in the page toolbar.

Learn more.

Visualization Formatting

Every visualization type supports some level of formatting. However, the complexity of available formatting options varies greatly between visualization types. 

To begin editing a visualization's format options, select the visualization to open its editor panel view. Then click the paint brush icon at the top of the editor panel.

Related Resources

Workbooks: An Overview
Intro to Data Elements
Intro to Element Types
Data Element Filters