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Power BI Scatter chart

Scatter chart visual Power BI

Scatter charts, also known as Bubble chart, shows the relationship between two numerical values.

Using two points of data we consider the chart a Scatter chart, when adding a third point of data then the chart will become a Bubble chart.

We usually use the third point for sizing, which turns the points into a circle with varying sizes based on the data in the size field.

In Scatter charts you can set the number of data points, up to a maximum of 10,000.

Note: Scatter chart does not support data labels, You can only enable category labels for chart. 



Let’s start with an example. Download the sample dataset from the link below:

Global Super Store Dataset

1- Scatter Chart:

To compare sales and profit values by category and subcategory, you’ll need to plot a scatter chart. To do this, drag Sales to the X-axis and Profit to the Y-axis.

Scatter chart PBI 2023

Scatter chart PBI 2023




Formatting for Scatter Chart:

You can set the formatting for a scatter chart; some important properties are:

  • General: Allows you to set X axis, Y axis, width & height of chart.
  • X-Axis: Allows you to modify the appearance of the x-axis section of this chart.
  • Y-Axis: Using this section allows you to modify the appearance of the y-axis section of this chart.
  • Category label: Its enables the category name on scatter chart.
  • Fill Point: Fill the circle points by colors on chart, if you turned off this it will remove all category colors from circle points on chart.
  • Title: Specified the Title name for scatter chart.
  • Markers: You can use this to change the marker shapes and sizes, customize marker shapes for each category individually, and also modify the colors used for each series in the chart.
  • Zoom Slider: Enables zoom feature on chart, using this you can easily saw the small values on chart.
Scatter Chart in Power Bi - 2

Scatter Chart in Power Bi – 2



2 – Bubble chart

A bubble chart replaces data points with bubbles, where the bubble size represents an additional third data dimension.

As you can see in the screenshot below, we added a third data point, “Sales,” under the Size section. This will increase the bubble size based on the sales volume for each category and subcategory.

Bubble Chart in Power Bi

Bubble Chart in Power Bi

3 – Data Storytelling with Power BI Scatter Chart

You can create a storytelling data using a Scatter chart with the Play Axis feature of the chart. Drag the date column field here and click on the play icon.

Scatter Chart Play Axis

Scatter Chart Play Axis

Scatter Chart Play Axis 2

Scatter Chart Play Axis 2

Refer other visuals: Power BI Visualizations

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2 thoughts on “Power BI Scatter chart”

    1. Hello Gary Miller,

      Right now data label option is not available with scatter/ bubble chart. You can see only category name and on mouse hover you can see values as in tooltip.

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