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    Support & Documentation

    Get help with any SmartVisuals custom visual for Power BI

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    Email

    hello@smartvisuals.io

    For all our visuals — mention which product your question is about.

    Response Time

    We respond within 2 business days. For urgent issues, include "URGENT" in the subject line.

    Choose Your Product

    AI Chatbot

    Conversational AI for your reports

    Gantt Chart

    Project timelines & dependencies

    Radar Chart

    Fair multi-dimensional comparison

    Cohort Retention

    Retention triangles without DAX

    News Ticker

    Scrolling headlines & alerts

    Pareto Chart

    80/20 analysis, ABC zones

    SmartVisuals Research

    Likert, crosstab & NPS in one visual

    Crosstab

    Banner tables with significance letters

    Likert

    Diverging survey batteries

    NPS

    Net Promoter Score with its statistics

    General Questions

    SmartVisuals AI Chatbot

    1. Install the Visual from AppSource

    AI Chatbot is published in the Microsoft AppSource marketplace as SmartVisuals AI Chatbot. Open the listing and click "Get it now", or search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery, then click "Add" to install it. You can also download the .pbiviz file and import it manually.

    2. Get Your API Key

    AI Chatbot uses a "Bring Your Own Key" (BYOK) model. You'll need an API key from one of our supported AI providers:

    3. Enter Your License Key

    After adding the visual to your report, open the visual's format pane in Power BI. Navigate to the "License" section and enter your SmartVisuals license key. You can get a free license from our AI Chatbot page or purchase a paid plan from your dashboard.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Troubleshooting

    "Invalid API key"

    Verify your key is correct and has sufficient credits. Make sure you're using the right key format for your selected AI provider.

    "Network error"

    Check your firewall/proxy settings. The visual needs access to AI provider APIs (api.openai.com, api.anthropic.com, generativelanguage.googleapis.com, api.x.ai, or your-resource.openai.azure.com).

    "License expired"

    Renew your license at smartvisuals.io/dashboard

    SmartVisuals Gantt Chart

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery). Then drop in the three required fields and add optional ones as you need them:

    • Task, Start Date, End Date — required; this alone renders the chart
    • Parent Task — builds the collapsible work-breakdown hierarchy with rollup summary bars
    • Dependencies — comma-separated predecessor tasks; enables dependency arrows and critical path (premium)
    • Progress % — progress fill inside bars and rollup progress on summaries
    • Baseline Start / Baseline End — plan-vs-actual ghost bars with slip in tooltips (premium)
    • Category — color coding with an interactive legend
    • Grid Columns — up to 3 sortable data columns (Owner, Status, Cost…) next to task names

    Licensing

    The Gantt Chart is licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — there is no license key to enter and no account on this website. The licensing model is designed to never block your report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can try all features before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — hierarchy, milestones, themes, zoom, legend, and more
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: dependency arrows, critical path, and baseline comparison
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    Bars don't show up

    Check that Start Date and End Date are actual date/datetime fields (not text) and that End Date is not before Start Date.

    Hierarchy doesn't group tasks

    The Parent Task value must exactly match the Task name of the parent row. Tasks without a parent appear at the top level.

    Dependency arrows or critical path missing

    These are premium features: they render in edit mode for everyone, but in reading view they require a per-user license purchased through Microsoft. Also check that the Dependencies field contains task names separated by commas.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.

    SmartVisuals Radar Chart

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery). Two fields are enough:

    • Axis — the dimensions of the radar (skills, KPIs, criteria…)
    • Values — one or more measures, each drawn as a series; or one measure split by Legend
    • Target — optional goal values drawn as a dashed polygon (premium)
    • Pin the scale minimum and maximum in the format pane so slicer clicks stop rescaling the chart

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource per user ($1.99/user/month) — no license key, no account on this website, and the visual never blocks your report:

    • Free forever: up to 3 series, unlimited axes, every cosmetic option and the honest scale controls
    • Premium in reading view: 4+ series, normalization, inverted axes, target polygon, zones, benchmark, conditional formatting, chart modes and small multiples
    • Everything previews free in edit mode, so you can build the whole report before buying

    Troubleshooting

    The chart rescales when I click a slicer

    That is the default auto-scale. Pin the scale: set an explicit minimum and maximum in the Axis card of the format pane.

    Only 3 of my series render

    The free tier renders up to 3 series in reading view. A per-user license (assigned in the Microsoft 365 admin center) unlocks 4 or more; in edit mode all series always render.

    Axes with different units look wrong

    Raw dollars, days and percentages don't share a scale. Turn on normalization (min-max, percentile rank or z-score) and mark lower-is-better axes as inverted.

    SmartVisuals Cohort Retention

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery). Two fields are the whole setup:

    • Entity — who returns: customer ID, account, user…
    • Event Date — when they acted; the visual derives cohorts, offsets and denominators from these two fields
    • Value — optional revenue or amount, unlocking value retention, LTV curves and payback markers (premium)
    • Segment — optional field for side-by-side cohort comparison with significance markers (premium)

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource per user ($1.99/user/month) — no license key and no account on this website. Unlicensed viewers always see the full free tier:

    • Free forever: the count-based triangle, all four denominators, all three retention definitions, all three views, every theme, cross-filtering and keyboard navigation
    • Premium in reading view: value retention (NRR), LTV curves, payback markers, segment comparison with significance, benchmarks, the age-vs-calendar panel, insights and retention projection
    • Everything previews free in edit mode, so you can build the whole report before buying

    Troubleshooting

    Cells show hatching instead of numbers

    That is by design: hatched cells are unobserved periods — a cohort that hasn't lived that long yet. Rendering them as 0 % would be wrong, so the visual doesn't.

    A cohort shows its base count instead of a percentage

    Low-base suppression: cohorts with too few entities show "n=…" instead of a meaningless percentage. The threshold is adjustable in the format pane.

    Numbers don't match my spreadsheet

    Check the denominator and the retention definition — the active choice is named in the status strip on the visual. Four denominators × three definitions answer different questions; your spreadsheet most likely uses "cohort base" with "classic" retention.

    A truncation warning appears

    Derive mode pages up to 1,000,000 entity-grain rows. If your model is larger, switch to pre-aggregated mode and feed cohort-period rows instead — the status strip tells you when rows were truncated.

    SmartVisuals News Ticker

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery). One field is enough to get a working ticker:

    • Headline — required; a text column is all you need
    • Badge — a short category label rendered as a coloured chip; each badge gets its own colour picker, listed under your real badge names
    • Value and Change — stock-ticker numbers with an up or down arrow; both follow the format string on your measure
    • Image — an optional logo per item, stored in your model as a base64 data URI

    No fields at all? Type an Announcement in the format pane and the ticker runs on that alone.

    Licensing

    The News Ticker is completely free. There is no licence to buy, no key to enter, no account on this website and no premium tier — every feature renders for every viewer, in every report. Install it and use it.

    Troubleshooting

    Items appear in the wrong order

    The ticker follows the sort you set on the field. Sort your headline column by a dedicated order column (Column tools → Sort by column) instead of relying on the alphabetical default.

    Images do not show up

    The Image field renders base64 data URIs only — values starting with data:image/. Web addresses are deliberately not loaded, because fetching them would be an external call and the visual is built to stay offline and certifiable. A warning icon on the visual tells you when values were skipped for this reason.

    The ticker does not scroll

    Check whether Static Mode is switched on in the Ticker card. The strip also stops on purpose when the viewer's system asks for reduced motion, and while the pointer rests on it if Pause on Hover is enabled.

    Exports to PDF or PowerPoint catch the strip mid-scroll

    Switch Static Mode on before exporting. The ticker then renders a clean, complete frame instead of whatever position the animation happened to be in.

    Getting around it with a keyboard

    The whole ticker is a single tab stop. Press Tab once to enter it, then use the arrow keys to move between items, Enter or Space to cross-filter, and Escape to clear the selection.

    SmartVisuals Pareto Chart

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery), or import the .pbiviz from the download page. One category and one measure are enough:

    • Category — required; categories ranked by contribution (defect codes, SKUs, root causes). Add a hierarchy to drill
    • Value — required; the contribution measure (count, cost, downtime). Add more measures to switch metrics or draw a second cumulative line (premium)
    • Compare / Small multiples — optional group field: two values give a before/after comparison, more give one Pareto per group (premium)
    • Tooltips — extra measures shown in tooltips

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — no license key, no account on this website. The visual never blocks a report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can evaluate every feature before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — ranked bars, cumulative line, threshold, vital-few coloring, Top N with Others, the insight sentence, five themes, up to 25 individual categories
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: unlimited categories, ABC classification, Smart Insights+, QM mode, before/after comparison, small multiples, metric switching
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    The chart shows fewer categories than my data has

    The free tier renders the top 25 individual categories plus an Others bar; unlimited categories need a per-user license (unlocked in edit mode). Also check the Top N setting in the format pane — it groups the tail into Others on purpose.

    The cumulative line does not end at 100 %

    Categories with negative or blank values cannot be ranked by contribution. Filter them out or use a measure that is non-negative for every category.

    The bars are not in descending order

    The visual ranks by the Value measure and ignores the axis sort of the field. If a different order appears, another visual's cross-filter is limiting the categories; clear the selection or check the Compare field.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.

    SmartVisuals Research

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery), or import the .pbiviz from the download page. Map a long-format survey table (one row per respondent, question and answer):

    • Question — one row / table block per question; leave empty or filter to the recommend question in the NPS view
    • Answer / Score — scale answers in model sort order; the 0–10 likelihood-to-recommend score for the NPS view
    • Value — respondent count, or Sum of Weight for weighted results
    • Segment / Columns — optional (premium): Likert segments, Crosstab banner columns, NPS segments, with significance letters
    • Wave / Period — optional: tracker mode; NPS trend over waves, Likert and Crosstab show the latest wave with the change
    • Sum of Weight² (significance) — optional: SUM(weight²) as a measure enables Kish effective bases for weighted significance testing (premium)
    • Dimension / Group, Question Text, Benchmark — optional: sections with pooled scores, full wording for tooltips, a norm per statement

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — no license key, no account on this website. The visual never blocks a report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can evaluate every feature before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — all three views with unweighted counts and percentages, captions, footnotes, quick styles, tracker deltas, histogram, gap to target, search, transpose, CSV export and every cosmetic option
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: weighted results on effective bases, significance letters, nets and means with tests, NPS inference and the target line
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    The view I need is not showing

    The view is chosen in the format pane (Likert battery, Crosstab or NPS). All three read the same fields, so switching never needs a new field mapping.

    The scale is in the wrong order

    The visual uses the model sort order of the answer field. Set Sort By Column on the answer column (Column tools → Sort by column) to a numeric code so a 1 to 5 scale appears in order.

    Significance letters do not appear

    Letters are a premium feature: they render in edit mode for everyone, but in reading view they need a per-user license. They also need a comparison field (Segment or Columns) and a base above your low-base threshold — columns under it are flagged with * and excluded on purpose.

    Weighted percentages look right but the letters differ from SPSS

    Check that Sum of Weight² is mapped: without it the tests run on the weighted count instead of the effective base. The conventions (Kish effective base, column proportion z-test, low-base rule) are documented on the methodology page.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.

    SmartVisuals Crosstab

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery), or import the .pbiviz from the download page. Three fields build the table; the banner field turns it into a crosstab:

    • Question — required; one table block per question
    • Answer — required; answer categories in model sort order
    • Value — required; respondent count, or Sum of Weight for weighted results
    • Columns (banner) — optional: segments shown as table columns, with significance letters (premium)
    • Sum of Weight² (significance) — optional: SUM(weight²) as a measure enables Kish effective bases for weighted significance testing (premium)
    • Wave / Period — optional: tracker mode; the table shows the latest wave and the change since the previous one in every cell

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — no license key, no account on this website. The visual never blocks a report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can evaluate every feature before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — the table with column % or values, Total column, base row, heat shading, sticky headers, tracker deltas, search, transpose, focus mode, CSV export and every cosmetic option
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: significance letters, weighted cells on effective bases, net and mean rows with tests, the index vs Total test and the test on tracker deltas
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    The table is empty or shows one column

    Question, Answer and Value are required. Without Columns the table shows the Total column only — add the banner field to compare segments.

    Significance letters do not appear

    Letters are a premium feature: they render in edit mode for everyone, but in reading view they need a per-user license. They also need a comparison field (Segment or Columns) and a base above your low-base threshold — columns under it are flagged with * and excluded on purpose.

    Weighted percentages look right but the letters differ from SPSS

    Check that Sum of Weight² is mapped: without it the tests run on the weighted count instead of the effective base. The conventions (Kish effective base, column proportion z-test, low-base rule) are documented on the methodology page.

    The CSV export is missing the letters

    Export is the CSV button in the visual header; it writes the letters next to each cell. Power BI's own Export data on the visual menu exports the raw data model instead.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.

    SmartVisuals Likert

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery), or import the .pbiviz from the download page. Three fields draw the battery:

    • Question — required; one row of the battery per statement
    • Answer (scale) — required; scale answers in model sort order
    • Value — required; respondent count, or Sum of Weight for weighted results
    • Segment (comparison) — optional (premium): compare groups side by side with significance letters
    • Sum of Weight² (significance) — optional: SUM(weight²) as a measure enables Kish effective bases for weighted significance testing (premium)
    • Dimension / Group, Question Text, Benchmark (top box) — optional: sections with pooled score bars, full wording for tooltips, a norm per statement
    • Wave / Period — optional: tracker mode; the bars show the latest wave and each top box its change since the previous one

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — no license key, no account on this website. The visual never blocks a report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can evaluate every feature before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — the full battery with neutral handling, N/A, nets, means, margins of error, tracker deltas, dimensions, benchmarks, captions, footnotes and every cosmetic option
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: segment comparison with letters, weighted results on effective bases, and the vs-total, vs-benchmark and wave tests
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    The scale is in the wrong order

    The visual uses the model sort order of the answer field. Set Sort By Column on the answer column (Column tools → Sort by column) to a numeric code so a 1 to 5 scale appears in order.

    The neutral answer is not centred

    Neutral handling is a format pane setting: auto-centred, a custom position or none. The visual detects the middle category of an odd-length scale; for even scales or a non-standard neutral, pick the category explicitly.

    N/A answers change my percentages

    N/A is detached from the bar and has its own base rule in the format pane: in base or out of base. Pick the convention your report uses; the footnote prints the base either way.

    Significance letters do not appear

    Letters are a premium feature: they render in edit mode for everyone, but in reading view they need a per-user license. They also need a comparison field (Segment or Columns) and a base above your low-base threshold — columns under it are flagged with * and excluded on purpose.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.

    SmartVisuals NPS

    Quick Start

    Install the visual from Microsoft AppSource (search for "SmartVisuals" in the Power BI visuals gallery), or import the .pbiviz from the download page. Two fields give the headline; Wave adds the trend:

    • Score (0–10) — required; the likelihood-to-recommend answer as the raw 0–10 value, not a pre-computed score
    • Value — required; respondent count, or Sum of Weight for weighted results
    • Wave / Period — optional: the score over waves in model sort order, with a confidence band and rolling average
    • Segment — optional (premium): the score per segment, lettered and with tested movement
    • Sum of Weight² (significance) — optional: SUM(weight²) as a measure enables Kish effective bases for weighted significance testing (premium)

    Licensing

    Licensed through Microsoft AppSource with a per-user subscription — no license key, no account on this website. The visual never blocks a report:

    • Everything is unlocked while you author or edit a report, so you can evaluate every feature before buying
    • Free features always render for every viewer — the headline score, margin of error, split, histogram, trend, gap to target, captions, footnotes and every cosmetic option
    • A per-user license is only needed for premium features in reading view: the wave-over-wave significance test, segments with letters and tested movement, weighted NPS on effective bases and the target line
    • Licenses are purchased and assigned through Microsoft (first month free); the visual unlocks automatically for licensed users

    Troubleshooting

    The score is wrong or empty

    The visual needs the raw 0–10 answers in Score, one respondent per row (or a count in Value). A pre-computed NPS measure cannot be used, because the margin of error and the tests come from the distribution of answers.

    My scale is 1–10 or uses different cut-offs

    Remap the score cut-offs in the format pane; the label follows (NPS, eNPS, tNPS).

    The trend shows one point

    Add a Wave / Period field and make sure it sorts chronologically (Sort By Column on a date or wave number).

    Significance letters do not appear

    Letters are a premium feature: they render in edit mode for everyone, but in reading view they need a per-user license. They also need a comparison field (Segment or Columns) and a base above your low-base threshold — columns under it are flagged with * and excluded on purpose.

    Premium features locked for a viewer

    Make sure the viewer has been assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Licenses.