When you want to look at result trends over time, charts with a left to right progression are a good choice to give a sense of flow.
Line
A line chart is the best option for looking at a detailed time series or for adding trend lines. If you add a trend line to a line chart, the trend line will appear in the same color as the metric it represents. You can add trend lines either in Chart configuration > Trend line or when you add a new metric (see Adding metrics on a trend line).
When you select a line chart, you can change the following options in the chart configuration menu ():
- In Chart, you can edit the shape of your lines, insert missing values, or represent result points with different shapes. You can also change the width of your lines by entering a new number in Stroke width.
- In Colors, you can change the grid and line colors.
- You can change the style, text, and position for X and Y axis.
- If you placed a metric on a dual axis, you can edit the secondary axis settings in Secondary axis (see Adding metrics on a dual axis).
Column
A column chart is useful when the time series does not have many results, for example annual results over a short period. Column charts also enable you to stack results, so you can easily compare metrics for each category.
When you select a column chart, you can change the following options in the chart configuration menu:
- X, Y, and secondary axis have the same customization options as line charts.
- In Colors, you can edit the grid and column colors. You can also choose to display your chosen colors as gradient colors.
- In Chart, you can select Stacked to view metric results in the same column, rather than side-by-side. After you check the Stacked box, you can edit the settings for how your results are stacked.
If you want to view an attribute values as stacked, you can add the attribute to the Rows panel and select all of the attribute values in the row selector. You must also add an attribute to the Columns panel if you want your results to render properly.
Area
Similar to a line chart, area charts use lines to track results. Area charts also shade underneath the line to demonstrate the weight of the results.

- X, Y, and secondary axis have the same customization options as line and column charts.
- In Colors, you can edit the line and shading colors.
- In Chart, you can edit the opacity of the shaded areas, insert missing values, or represent result points with different shapes. You can also change the shape of the line and stack results. If you select Stacked, your metric results will automatically appear on top of each other.
Sparkline
Sparkline charts display time in a different way than the other trends over time charts. The sparkline chart highlights key values like the last value to date, the lowest value, the highest value, and whether the trend is decreasing or increasing across the time period.
The sparkline chart will also display a simplified representation of the report in your chosen chart type. You can hover over points in this smaller chart to see the attribute and metric results. The sparkline chart will only take into account the first metric added to Metrics and the first attribute added to Columns. However, you can divide the results further by adding attributes to Rows.
In the example below, Tickets is added to Metrics, Month is added to Columns, and Ticket Type is added to Rows.
- In Colors, you can edit the text color, the point colors, and each of the column colors.
- In Chart, you can select whether to hide or show columns, bandlines, and values.
- You can also select the type of chart, by choosing a new type from the Visualization type drop-down list in Chart.
15 Comments
Can you stack the secondary axis?
I am looking for it in "Chart" and in "Secondary Axis" menus and can't find it. I have a few metrics as lines in the main axis (working great), and two more metrics as secondary columns, which show up side by side - I am trying to get them stacked. Is that possible?
Hey Gal,
The only way you can stack is if the metrics are on the main axis. Secondary axes do not offer the "stack" option. I might suggest switching to those metrics from dual to main and seeing if that offers the query look that you were hoping for.
I would also ask if you wouldn't mind posting in our Product Feedback forum about adding this feature set to the platform as I am sure others would also be interested is this as well!
Maybe a silly question, but how do I flip the axis? I created a column chart to show ticket volume month over month, but it leads with the most recent month, and then goes further out in time as it goes along the X axis. I can't find anywhere in chart config where I can flip this.
Amber, you can use the "sort" choices in Result Manipulation > Sort to change the sort. However, if you have month on your axis, then it defaults to showing in standard calendar year order, i.e. Jan, Feb, Mar, etc. If you want to show in more of a timeline order you can add year to your axis before month so that it sorts more chronologically.
Is it possible to compare the data in % from time to time?
Irene, this article shows you the options for manipulating how results are shown: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036324034-Calculation-types-Result-manipulation
Hi Hillary Latham ,
Maybe I rephrase my question.
I'd like to see the % of ticket increase/decrease from last month to this month, I know in Maths it should be ((Last - This)/Last)*100%, but how can i apply to Zendesk?
Irene, sounds like you might want to use a Result Metric Calculation: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022184374-Using-result-metric-calculations
I'm trying to compare tickets solved in the past week to how many tickets solved in the past 30 days by each agent, but it says I still need to add metrics & attributes in order to save. What am I missing?
Hi Lauren Wippman -
Thanks for reaching out. It appears that you have successfully created custom metrics, but Explore is not recognizing them as metrics in this query. First, I would try refreshing your instance and recreating the query to see if maybe there was just a slight delay in the creation of those metrics.
If that doesn't work, are you able to post a screen shot of one of your custom metrics so we can review further?
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Brandon
How can I change the column chart to show each column as a different colour? Choosing a pallette doesn't make each column a different colour. Thanks
Hi @Tina Yates,
You can change the color of each column by going to the paintbrush on the righthand sidebar in your query, selecting "color" and then clicking on the color box next to the bar you're trying to change.
I hope that helps!
Is there a way you can plot data over multiple years by months in sequence?
Henry Alley. Not sure if this is what you need but if you place year before month in the column section you will see each month and listed below the months will be the year.
So I'm confused about something. I've created a KPI report and a Sparkline report for the same data - in this case, Average Call Duration. The KPI is based on the last seven days through yesterday, and the Sparkline is based on the last 3 months through yesterday, with the graph based on week of year.
The odd thing is that the "Last" value in the sparkline is never the same as the average value as the KPI, which SHOULD be for the same period of time. Am I doing something wrong, or misunderstanding how these two report formats reflect the same data? See below for an example of one such duo of reports:
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