Chart basics in Amplitude

Before you begin

If you haven't done so yet, stop and read how to create a chart in Amplitude before proceeding.

Also, keep in mind some features may require a certain subscription or a paid add-on:

• Create Dynamic Group Property is a paid add-on for Plus and above.
• Monitors are available to Enterprise and are a paid add-on for Growth.
• Collaboration features are accessible to all plans.

Start from a template

From the new Chart screen or the chart switcher, click Templates at the top of the left sidebar. On the Chart Templates panel, search for an existing template, filter by goal, or browse by chart type.

When you select a template, Amplitude prepopulates the chart definition. Save the chart directly, or edit it to better meet your requirements and then save.

Share your chart

To share your chart, click the link icon to copy the chart's URL to your clipboard, or click the share icon to open the Share your analysis modal.

Enter the names or emails of the stakeholders you want to share the chart with, and set their access privileges with the dropdown to the right. When you're ready, click Modify Owners.

Add your chart to a dashboard or notebook

To add your chart to a new or existing dashboard or notebook, click + Add to and scroll down until you find the dashboard or notebook you want. You can also use this chart as the basis for creating a new dashboard or notebook.

Add custom legend labels

You can edit the legend of your chart to make it more readable. This helps when, for example, you applied multiple group-bys to a chart and want to make it easy for viewers to understand what each segment refers to.

Click the legend label you want to change, then type in the description you want. However, the segment names in the breakdown data table below the chart don't change to reflect custom legend labels.

Customize your chart's Y-axis

If the data that comprises your chart doesn't fit the default scale, customize the chart's Y-axis for better viewability.

To customize the Y-axis, click it on the chart. The Custom Y-axis modal appears.

Axis name and values

By default, the Y-axis name comes from the displayed measurement. For example, if your chart displays event totals, the axis name is Totals. When you need to share the chart or provide more context, enter a more descriptive name.

To help the data fit more cleanly on the chart, set minimum and maximum values. By default, a chart's Y-axis starts at zero. Sometimes, your data might be in a small range, but with higher values.

In the examples below, the chart on the left uses the default axis values, and the chart on the right has the minimum set to 10000 and the maximum set to 15000.

Enable Display data out of the min and max value to ensure that if any data falls out of the range you set, it still appears on the chart. Otherwise, chart data extends only within that range.

Customize the unit of measure that appears on a chart to ensure that the chart represents the data accurately. Choose from:

• Raw number.
• Percent.
• Currency (defaults to the currency set at the project level).
• Custom (add a prefix or suffix).

Add a second Y-axis

If the chart displays more than one event, add a second Y-axis to ensure best visibility. For example, on a chart that tracks Weekly Active Users, if you add a second event that measures new users, add a second Y-axis to ensure best visibility for both.

In this example, Weekly Active Users, measured by Any Active Event, falls in the range of 12,000 to 13,500. Weekly New Users has a range between 5,500 and 6,000. Adding a second Y-axis ensures both events display with enough granularity to observe increases and decreases over time.

The second Y-axis supports the same customization options as the primary Y-axis.

Switch projects or chart types

To switch the project you're viewing, click the project name in the title of the chart and select a different project. Your chart reflects the data of the newly selected project. The new chart matches the controls of the original chart as closely as possible and drops any events or properties not instrumented in the new project.

You can also switch the chart type. Click the chart type name and select a different type. You can choose to preserve the events or segments you've already added to your current chart.

Chart cache times

Amplitude caches charts and requests. The cache time depends on the time interval (daily, weekly, monthly) and the number of days from the present day. Amplitude also caches CSV downloads from charts.

Cache time depends on the interval of the chart (for example, hourly, daily, or weekly), the interval length, and whether the chart is standalone or:

• on a dashboard.
• part of a CSV export.
• retrieved from a REST API call.

Dashboards, CSV exports, and REST API calls cache content longer than individual charts.

During the time when Amplitude caches a chart's results, Amplitude doesn't automatically recompute the chart. Sometimes, after the cache time expires, Amplitude may still show cached results by default while it recomputes the chart in the background. Click Refresh to recompute a chart at any time.

Releases and annotations

Click the + icon to the right of the x-axis on a time series chart to add an annotation. Amplitude opens a modal where you can specify the date, add a description, and set the visibility. Annotations appear as vertical lines on your chart, and as numbers under the x-axis.

Annotations help you mark the date of a feature release or a marketing campaign. Remove annotations from your project's Settings page.

Annotations have the following limitations:

• Only users with Admin or Manager permission levels can create annotations.
• Chart-specific annotations are only available for Event Segmentation and User Sessions charts.
• Annotations don't support public links and aren't accessible in dashboards or notebooks.

Releases represent a change in your product. For more information, refer to Releases.

Give annotations a date range

Provide a start date and end date for your annotation to apply it to specific dates and times. For example, if you ran a marketing campaign from March 4 through March 8, specify those dates in the annotation so it reflects the entire campaign.

Categorize an annotation

Specify an annotation's category to group it with similar annotations. Annotation categories let you show and hide groups of annotations, so your chart displays only what you want.

Manage annotation categories in Project Settings. When you create a category, you can specify whether it displays by default on all charts within a project, or if users must manually enable it on each chart.

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