Visuals/Pl. XXXVII

    Time Series

    Every chart with time on the axis, in one visual

    Line, area, combo, sparklines, candlestick and ridgeline over the same fields, switched with tabs, with forecasts, comparisons and trend tests computed inside Power BI.

    Read the documentationComing soon to Microsoft Marketplace
    Datasheet
    Status
    Coming soon to Microsoft Marketplace
    Price
    $4.49 /user/mo · $45 /user/yr
    Licensing
    Per user, assigned in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Unlicensed viewers see the free tier, never a blocked visual.
    Data
    Computed inside Power BI. No external calls, no API keys, no telemetry.
    Visuals API
    5.11.0
    Views
    Line, Area, Combo, Sparklines, Candlestick, Ridgeline (joy plot)
    Accessibility
    One tab stop with arrow-key navigation, screen-reader live region, dash and marker shape per series, high contrast, Reduce motion, focus outline and minimum text size
    Languages
    20: English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional)
    Data volume
    30,000 periods per window, up to 150,000; up to 60 series
    Statistics
    Computed inside the visual, golden-tested against statsmodels, scipy and pandas
    Network
    No external calls, no telemetry
    Works in
    Power BI Desktop, Service, Embedded
    SmartVisuals Time Series line view with Bikes, E-bikes, Components and Service revenue from 2022 to 2026 and the view tab bar
    Pl. XXXVII  ·  Time Series  ·  Six views over the same fields, switched from the tab bar. Here the line view with end labels.rendered from the shipped visual
    What it does

    SmartVisuals Time Series draws the six charts analysts reach for when the x-axis is time, from one set of fields. Bind a date and a measure and you get a line with an end label and a calm date axis, with no setup; a click on the tab bar turns the same data into areas, columns with lines, a sparkline table, candles or a ridgeline.

    The views share one engine, so the legend and two axes, actual-to-plan styling, gap rules, reference lines, forecasts with prediction intervals and comparisons work the same in each. Every statistic runs offline inside the visual and is golden-tested against statsmodels, scipy and pandas. The single views (Line Chart, Area Chart, Combo Chart, Sparklines and Candlestick) are separate offers built on the same engine.

    Documentation

    Find the answer in the Time Series docs.

    Search all visuals

    Free and premium

    Where the line is, exactly.

    Report authors see the full premium set in edit mode, so you can evaluate every feature on your own data before assigning a single licence. Unlicensed viewers always get a working chart.

    Free tierevery viewer
    • Legend and two value axes at the same timeSplit a measure by Legend and still put a second measure on the right-hand axis, with the zero line aligned across axes when they start at zero.
    • Lines that read themselvesEnd-of-line labels with the series name and last value, the maximum and minimum marked, a linear trend line and five rules for missing values.
    • Actual to plan in one lineDashed after the last actual period, the gap to plan shaded in two colours, and threshold colouring split exactly at the crossing.
    • Areas and ridgelinesOverlapping, stacked, 100 % stacked, streamgraph, range band and difference layouts, and a ridgeline (joy plot) of the same series.
    • ComboClustered, stacked or 100 % stacked columns with lines on two axes, the plan as a tick on every column, and IBCS scenario notation.
    • SparklinesA table or KPI tiles of up to 10 rows, drawn as line, area, columns, win / loss or last value vs target, on an honest shared scale, with Power BI tooltips.
    • CandlestickCandles, hollow candles, OHLC bars, Heikin-Ashi, Renko and close line; a volume pane; one moving average; a trading-day axis.
    • Reference lines, bands, zoom and presetsReference lines (a value, or the average, median, percentile, minimum or maximum of the first series), value and period bands, a range navigator, and style presets you can copy between visuals.
    • Tooltips, cross-highlight and drilldownTooltips with the change to the previous point, report page tooltips, cross-filter with Ctrl multi-select, cross-highlight, drilldown on the date hierarchy, bookmarks and the context menu.
    • Conditional formatting and dynamic format stringsConditional formatting (fx) on columns and markers, dynamic format strings honoured per value, data labels, a legend, four themes and localization in 20 languages.
    • AccessibilityOne keyboard tab stop with arrow-key navigation, a screen-reader live region, dash and marker shape per series, high contrast and Reduce motion.
    Premium$4.49 /user/mo · first month free
    • Forecasts with prediction intervalsFor every series: exponential smoothing chosen by AICc, 80 and 95 % bands, a horizon in periods or through a date, and anomalies flagged.
    • Comparisons with variance barsAgainst the same period last year (by calendar), the Target or the Comparison field, with the gap shaded and absolute or relative variance bars.
    • Trend tests and seasonal decompositionMann-Kendall with Sen's slope, in the caption and per sparkline row; seasonal decomposition into trend, seasonal and remainder.
    • Time-saversShow values as year to date, running total, index or % change; Top N + Others; polynomial, exponential, logarithmic, power and LOESS trends and moving averages with equation and R²; reference lines for every series; the smart caption; annotations from a measure.
    • Every sparkline rowSparklines past ten rows (up to 60 in this visual), with a year-end projection per row.
    • Candlestick indicatorsMoving averages 2 and 3, Bollinger bands, VWAP, pivot levels, and RSI, MACD, Stochastic and ATR panes.
    • Value axes 3 and 4 and small multiplesTwo more value axes on the outer edges, and one panel per value of the Small multiples field.
    In depth

    Time Series in Power BI, explained.

    How do I show line, area, combo, sparklines and candlesticks from one set of fields?

    Bind the fields once: a date in Axis (date), measures in Values, and optionally Legend, Column values, Target, or Open, High, Low, Close and Volume. The tab bar at the top of the visual switches between Line, Area, Combo, Sparklines, Candlestick and Ridgeline. In edit mode a tab click is saved with the report; in reading view it changes the view for that reader only, and a later change of Format pane > View > Chart always wins. Format pane > View > Show View Tabs hides the bar when you want a fixed chart.

    A view whose fields are missing says what to add instead of drawing a blank, for example "Add Open, High, Low and Close to draw candles." The same engine draws every view, so the axis, the legend, colours, reference lines, tooltips, selection and the keyboard model behave the same way whichever tab is open.

    How do I put a legend and two value axes on one chart?

    Put Region in Legend, Revenue in Values and Gross margin % in Secondary axis values. Every region gets its own Revenue line on the left axis and its own margin line on the right, and the series names in the end labels read "US · Revenue" and "US · Gross margin". Each axis scales to its own data. When every axis includes zero (Y-Axis > Start At Zero > Always for lines; columns and areas start at zero automatically), Y-Axis > Align Zero Across Axes, on by default, puts zero at the same height on both, so a value above zero on one axis is never drawn below the other axis's zero.

    Each series can also pick its axis in Format pane > Series Axes. Secondary Y-Axes > Colour Each Axis Like Its Series colours an axis in its series' colour when it carries one series, so the reader knows which scale belongs to which line.

    How does the forecast work, and can I trust the intervals?

    Forecast > Show Forecast fits exponential smoothing models (simple, Holt, damped trend, seasonal and Holt-Winters additive) to each series and keeps the one with the lowest AICc, or the model you choose. The season comes from the dates (12 for months, 4 for quarters, 52 for weeks, 7 for days); seasonal models need two full seasons and any forecast needs at least 6 periods. The horizon is a number of periods or a date (Or Forecast Through), and the 80 % and 95 % prediction intervals are drawn as two bands. Mark Anomalies rings the past points that fell outside the one-step interval.

    Every number is computed inside the visual and checked by golden tests against statsmodels, scipy and pandas: the same model, parameters and interval widths as the Python reference. The footnote names the model that was chosen, such as ETS(A,N,A), so the forecast can be reproduced outside Power BI.

    How do I compare actuals with plan or with last year?

    Put the plan measure in Target. Actual and Forecast Styling > Actuals End At > Last period with an actual draws the line dashed after the last actual period, with a labelled vertical rule. Difference Fill shades the gap between the first series and the Target in a better and a worse colour, and Threshold Colouring changes the line colour exactly where it crosses a value or the Target.

    Compare > Compare With takes the same period last year (computed from the dates by calendar, so March compares with March even when a month is missing), the Target field or the Comparison field. It draws the comparison line, a variance band and absolute (Δ) or relative (Δ %) variance bars under the chart; in Combo the plan can sit as a tick on every column, and IBCS Scenario Notation styles actual, plan, previous year and forecast by role.

    What data does the visual expect?

    A date or date/time column gives a true time axis: real spacing, gaps that stay visible and calendar ticks such as "Jan / 2026". The visual detects the grain (hour, day, week, month, quarter, year) from the median gap between dates and uses it for the tooltip date format, the forecast step and the season. A number gives a linear axis; text periods or date hierarchy levels give one slot per value in data order, and drilldown walks Year > Quarter > Month > Day.

    Blank means missing; a real 0 is a value. Lines > Missing Values decides what a blank does: leave a gap (default), treat it as zero, connect across, interpolate (drawn as hollow markers) or repeat the previous value. Leading and trailing blanks are never filled, so the line never runs on past your last actual period.

    What are the limits?

    Power BI sends 30,000 periods per window and the visual asks for more, up to 150,000. Power BI sends up to 60 Legend values, so up to 60 series are drawn (60 rows in the Sparklines view, where the footnote says when the limit is reached); filter the Legend field to choose which. Lines with more points than the plot has pixels are simplified for drawing with LTTB, which keeps the first, last, minimum and maximum points, while every statistic uses all points. Forecasts are drawn for up to 12 series per visual.

    Not in this version: multiplicative seasonality in forecasts, horizontal combo orientation, writeback and live streaming. Tell us what is missing on the feedback board.

    Use cases

    Where Time Series earns its place.

    Monthly sales by product line, with a forecast

    Helios puts Month in Axis (date), Revenue in Values and Product line in Legend. Bikes, E-bikes, Components and Service each get a line with an end label; Forecast > Show Forecast continues every line with its own model and 80 and 95 % bands, and the footnote names the model chosen for the first series.

    Revenue against plan, one tab away from the line

    Revenue goes in Values and Plan in Target. On the Line tab, Actuals End At > Last period with an actual draws the plan dashed after September and Difference Fill shades the gap; on the Combo tab, with Revenue in Column values, the plan sits as a tick on every column, and Compare > Compare With > The Target field adds Δ to plan as variance bars underneath.

    A plant KPI table and a share-price chart on the same page

    Plant (Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Toronto and the rest) in Legend, Week in Axis (date) and OEE in Values: the Sparklines tab shows one row per plant on a shared scale with last value, change and change %. A second copy of the visual on the share-price table, with Open, High, Low, Close and Volume bound, shows candles with a volume pane on the Candlestick tab.

    Revenue and margin per region on two axes

    Region in Legend, Revenue in Values and Gross margin % in Secondary axis values. Each region keeps a revenue line on the left axis and a margin line on the right, labelled "US · Revenue" and "US · Gross margin", each axis scaled to its own data; Y-Axis > Start At Zero > Always lines up the zero of both axes.

    Getting started

    From empty canvas to first chart.

    1. 01

      Add SmartVisuals Time Series to the page and put a date column, or a date hierarchy, in Axis (date).

    2. 02

      Add one or more measures to Values, such as Revenue, and a field like Product line to Legend for one series per value.

    3. 03

      Switch views with the tab bar or Format pane > View > Chart. Combo draws Column values as columns; Candlestick needs Open, High, Low and Close.

    4. 04

      Add a plan measure to Target and set Actual and Forecast Styling > Actuals End At to Last period with an actual.

    5. 05

      Turn on Forecast, Compare or Trend Test in the format pane, and pick a theme or a preset under Presets and Templates.

    Get Time Series

    On its way.

    Installation instructions for both paths are on the download page.

    Microsoft Marketplace (recommended)

    The offer is prepared for Microsoft Marketplace and not published yet. This page will link to the listing the moment it is live.

    Coming soon
    Accessibility

    Readable and usable for everyone.

    Tab
    Moves to the view tabs (Line, Area, Combo, Sparklines, Candlestick, Ridgeline), which are buttons, and then to the chart, which is one tab stop. Focus lands on the first point.
    Enter or Space on a view tab
    Switches to that view.
    Left / Right arrow
    Moves to the previous or next point along the focused series (the previous or next candle in Candlestick).
    Up / Down arrow
    Moves to the same period in the previous or next series; in Sparklines, to the previous or next row.
    Home / End
    Jumps to the first or the last point.
    Page Up / Page Down
    Jumps ten series (ten rows in Sparklines) at a time, stopping at the first or the last.
    Enter or Space
    Selects the focused point, row or candle and cross-filters the page. Hold Ctrl to add it to the selection.
    Esc
    Clears the selection.

    • Screen readers

      The chart is labelled with a sentence that describes it, such as "Revenue rose 165 % from Jan 2022 to Sep 2026. Peak in Dec 2025 ($8.6M).", whether or not the smart caption is drawn. A polite live region reads the focused point as series, period and value, for example "Revenue, Mar 2026: $7.1M". The view tabs are buttons with the tab role, and the active one is marked as selected.

    • Not colour alone

      Accessibility > Distinguish Series Without Colour gives every series its own dash pattern and marker shape, in the lines, the markers and the legend. Up and down candles also differ by hollow and filled bodies, and changes carry a sign or an arrow.

    • High contrast

      In Windows high contrast mode the visual uses only the contrast theme's colours: text, axes, lines and marks take its foreground colour, the focus outline and the worse side of a variance take its selection colour, fills become outlines, gridlines are dropped and Distinguish Series Without Colour is switched on.

    • Reduce motion

      Accessibility > Reduce Motion switches off transitions and animations; they are also off when the operating system asks for reduced motion.

    • Focus outline and text size

      Accessibility > Focus Outline Colour and Focus Outline Width set the dashed ring around the focused point (the theme's ring at 2.5 px by default). Minimum Text Size raises every label in the chart to at least that size.

    • Context menu

      Right-clicking a point, column, candle or row opens the Power BI context menu for it; right-clicking elsewhere opens it for the visual.

    • Languages

      The format pane and every string the visual writes come in 20 languages: English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). Dates and numbers follow the report's locale.

    Questions

    Asked before you did.

    More questions? See support or write to hello@smartvisuals.io.

    All six views are free: line, area, combo, sparklines (up to 10 rows), candlestick (one moving average) and ridgeline, with the legend and two axes, actual-to-plan styling, reference lines, the linear trend and every accessibility feature. Premium (Forecast & Compare) adds forecasts with prediction intervals, comparisons with variance bars, trend tests, seasonal decomposition, the time-savers, every sparkline row, candlestick indicators, value axes 3 and 4 and small multiples, for $4.49 per user per month or $45 per user per year, with the first month free. Premium previews in full in Power BI Desktop and edit mode; readers without a licence see the free chart, with no watermark and nothing blocked.

    SmartVisuals Time Series has been prepared for Microsoft Marketplace and is not published yet. This page will link to the listing once it is live.

    Line, Area, Combo, Sparklines, Candlestick and Ridgeline (joy plot). Click a tab on the tab bar, or set Format pane > View > Chart. In edit mode a tab click is saved with the report; in reading view it changes the view for that reader only. View > Show View Tabs hides the bar.

    The single views (SmartVisuals Line Chart, Area Chart, Combo Chart, Sparklines and Candlestick) use the same engine for their chart type. Microsoft licenses every offer separately, so a licence for one never unlocks another. For one or two chart types the single views cost less; for three or more, or to switch views over one set of fields, Time Series does.

    Axis (date) and at least one measure in Values. Optional: Legend (one series per value), Column values (columns in Combo), Secondary axis values (the right-hand axis), Target, Comparison, Low and High (a range band), Open, High, Low, Close and Volume (candles), Annotation (a text measure that pins a note on a period), Small multiples and Tooltips.

    No. The visual declares no network privileges, makes no external calls and sends no telemetry. Forecasts, trend tests and every other statistic are computed inside the visual in your report. The licence is checked through Power BI's own licensing service.

    30,000 periods per window, and the visual asks Power BI for more, up to 150,000. Power BI sends up to 60 Legend values, so up to 60 series (or Sparklines rows) are drawn. Long lines are simplified for drawing (first, last, minimum and maximum points are always kept) while statistics use every point, and forecasts are drawn for up to 12 series.

    A forecast needs at least 6 periods after the missing-value rule; seasonal models need two full seasons (24 months for monthly data). On 100 % stacked areas the forecast is the mix of each series' forecast, without intervals, and on a streamgraph there is none. The footnote and the tooltip say which case applies.

    Put the plan in Target and set Actual and Forecast Styling > Actuals End At to Last period with an actual, or to A date. Points after that period are drawn dashed with hollow markers, and Vertical Rule (on by default) marks the switch with a labelled line. Difference Fill > Compare With > The Target field shades the gap in two colours.

    Yes. The chart is one tab stop: Left and Right arrows walk along a series, Up and Down move to the same period of the next series (or the next row in Sparklines), Home and End jump to the ends, Enter or Space filters, with Ctrl to add, and Escape clears. A polite live region reads each point, such as "Revenue, Mar 2026: $7.1M", and the chart is labelled with a sentence that describes it. The view tabs are buttons you reach with Tab.

    20: English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), for the format pane and every string the visual writes. Dates and numbers follow the report's locale.

    Post it on the public board at smartvisuals.io/feedback, where other users can vote and comment, or use the Report a bug block on the support page (smartvisuals.io/support) or email hello@smartvisuals.io. A screenshot, the view and the fields you bound help most.
    Troubleshooting

    When it does not look right.

    Found a bug or missing something? Post it on the requests board or vote for what others asked; the developer answers within two business days.

    The chart says "Add a date or period to Axis".
    A time series needs a time axis. Put a date, a date hierarchy level, a number or a text period column in Axis (date). Measures in Values without an axis would give one point per series, which is not a time series.
    The Candlestick tab shows "Add Open, High, Low and Close to draw candles".
    The candlestick view needs all four price measures. Bind Open, High, Low and Close (and Volume for the volume pane). The other tabs keep working with the fields you already have.
    My line has breaks in it.
    A blank value is drawn as a gap by default. Lines > Missing Values offers Treat as zero, Connect across, Interpolate (hollow markers) and Repeat previous value. Leading and trailing blanks are never filled, so the line does not run on past the last actual period. A real 0 is always drawn as 0.
    No forecast appears, or the footnote says the forecast needs more periods.
    A forecast needs at least 6 periods, and seasonal models need two full seasons (24 months for monthly data); with less history the automatic choice falls back to a non-seasonal model or draws nothing. Forecasts are drawn for up to 12 series ("Forecast shown for the first 12 series"), and on a streamgraph there is none. On a stacked area the forecast follows the stack total.
    Some Legend values are missing, or the Sparklines footnote says "Power BI sends up to 60 rows".
    Power BI sends up to 60 Legend values to the visual. Filter the Legend field, use a coarser category, or bring the most important series forward with a Top N filter on the Legend field in the Filters pane.
    A feature marked Premium on this page shows in Desktop but not for some readers.
    Premium features preview in full in Power BI Desktop and in edit mode. In reading view, a reader without a licence sees the free chart, set up in memory without the premium settings, and Power BI shows its own licence banner once; nothing is blocked or watermarked.
    Further reading
    For developers & AI agents

    Add this visual programmatically.

    Use the GUID and data roles below to add Time Series to a Power BI report via PBIR or the Report Authoring agent. Full catalog (JSON)

    GUID available after the visual is published on Microsoft Marketplace.

    RoleDisplay nameKind
    axisAxis (date)Grouping
    legendLegendGrouping
    valuesValuesMeasure
    columnsColumn valuesMeasure
    secondarySecondary axis valuesMeasure
    targetTargetMeasure
    comparisonComparisonMeasure
    openOpenMeasure
    highHighMeasure
    lowLowMeasure
    closeCloseMeasure
    volumeVolumeMeasure
    annotationAnnotationMeasure
    facetSmall multiplesGrouping
    tooltipsTooltipsMeasure
    Missing something?

    Tell us what is missing.

    A feature you need, a bug you hit, a visual that does not exist yet. Every message reaches the person who builds these visuals, and feature requests shape what ships next. We also build visuals to order.

    Write to hello@smartvisuals.ioAsk about a custom visual
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