Box plot-Quick BI(Quick BI)-阿里云帮助中心

A box plot visualizes the distribution of one or more sets of continuous data. It clearly shows data skewness and identifies potential outliers. This topic describes how to add data to a box plot and configure its style.

Prerequisites

You have created a dashboard. For more information, see Create a dashboard.

Chart overview

A box plot uses six key statistics to describe the distribution of data: the upper cap, upper quartile, median, lower quartile, lower cap, and outliers. These elements provide an intuitive overview of data distribution trends.

Upper and lower caps: Represent the data's distribution range. For calculation methods, see Cap calculation in this topic.
Upper quartile (Q3): The 75th percentile of the data; the value below which 75% of the data points fall.
Median: The middle value of the dataset, separating the higher half from the lower half.
Lower quartile (Q1): The 25th percentile of the data; the value below which 25% of the data points fall.
Outlier: A value that is lower than Q1-1.5IQR or higher than Q3+1.5IQR.

Use cases

Common use cases for box plots include:

Analyzing data distribution, such as salary levels across different regions or temperature distributions in various geographic areas.
Detecting outliers, for example, auditing transaction amounts for unusually large or small values.
Managing quality by monitoring the distribution of product characteristics to ensure consistency.
Examining central tendency and skewness, such as analyzing sales figures in different regions to understand the average value and range of fluctuation.

Key features

Computation capabilities: Supports multiple cap calculation rules, advanced calculations such as cumulative, period-over-period, and Top-N, and smart reference lines.
Visualization: Adjust chart styles for a more intuitive display, with support for auxiliary configurations like a legend, an overview axis, and tooltips.
Data comparison: Supports period-over-period comparison for data across different dimension values.
Annotations and notes: Add custom notes and endnotes, and configure navigation to an external link for interaction between your data and other systems.
Interactive operations: Includes dimension and measure filtering, and in-chart filtering.

Example

You can analyze the following information from a box plot:

Central tendency: The median reflects the central tendency of the data.
Dispersion: The length of the box indicates the spread of the data distribution.
Skewness: The distance from the box to the upper and lower caps indicates whether the data distribution is skewed.
Outliers: Marked outliers indicate the presence of anomalous values.
Range: The span of the whiskers and the distribution of data points show the overall data range.

Field configuration

This section uses an analysis of annual order amounts to demonstrate how to configure fields.

In the Data pane, select the dimension and measure fields you need. Double-click or drag the fields to the corresponding sections on the Fields tab.
- In the Category axis / Dimension section, add a dimension to define how the data is compared.
  This example uses report_date(year) to compare order amounts by year.
- In the Value axis / Measure section, add the primary measure for your analysis.
  This example uses Order Amount as the primary analysis measure.
- In the Distribution Granularity / Dimension section, specify the granularity for your analysis. Data points, which are the basis for the box plot's calculations, are generated based on this field.
  This example uses Region to view the distribution of order amounts across different regions.
- To further break down the comparison, add other dimension fields to the Color legend / Dimension section. The chart is split based on the number of values in this field. For example, you can analyze annual profit by product type.
  This example does not use this field.
  Note
  You can drag the same field into both the Category axis and Color legend sections to assign unique colors based on dimension values.
  - If there is only one field in the Category axis and one field in the Value axis, the number of boxes equals the number of dimension values in the category axis.
  - If there are multiple measures in the Value axis, the chart displays the first measure by default. You must open the field filter panel to switch to other measures.
Select Update. The system automatically updates the chart.
To view data for a specific measure in the tooltip, add the measure to the Tooltip / Measure section.
To filter data from certain regions, drag the Region field to the Filters section, then click the icon. In the Set Filters window, select the data you want to display.
Auto-refresh
If you enable this option, the system automatically refreshes the chart data. For example, if you enable this option and set the duration to 5 and the unit to Minute, the system refreshes the chart data every 5 minutes.

Style configuration

The following sections describe the style settings for the chart. For general Title and card settings, see Configure the chart title.

Chart area

On the Style tab, in the Chart Area section, configure the visual style of the box plot.

Parameter	Setting	Description
Orientation		Sets the orientation of the boxes. Valid values are Horizontal and Vertical.
Visual style		Sets the visual style of the boxes. Valid values are Wireframe, Fill, and Zonal Fill. Wireframe: This style focuses on overall chart harmony and clearly displays all data elements. The box is outlined with a border, and you can configure the colors of both the box and the whiskers together. Fill: This style emphasizes the median line, making it easy to compare the middle value of each dataset. The box has no border, and you can set the colors of the box and whiskers separately. Zonal Fill: This style highlights the distribution of data at different levels, helping viewers quickly understand the distribution characteristics of each dataset. The box has no border, and you can set the colors of the box and whiskers separately.
Box colors		Sets the color scheme for the boxes corresponding to the field in the Value axis / Measure section. You can customize the box colors.
Box width		Sets the width of the boxes. This setting is ignored if the specified width exceeds the maximum allowed range.
Caps and whiskers	Cap calculation	Sets the calculation method for the upper and lower caps. Four methods are supported: General Algorithm: The upper cap is the smaller value between the dataset's maximum and `Q3 + 1.5 * IQR`. The lower cap is the larger value between the dataset's minimum and `Q1 - 1.5 * IQR`, where `IQR = Q3 - Q1`. This algorithm determines the caps by comparing actual minimum/maximum values with statistical boundaries, which prevents outliers from skewing the chart's overall appearance. It is suitable for scenarios where you need to minimize the impact of extreme values. Max/Min: The upper cap is the maximum value in the dataset, and the lower cap is the minimum value. This algorithm uses the dataset's true maximum and minimum values as the caps to provide a direct view of the actual data range. It is suitable for scenarios where the true data range is important and significant outliers are absent. =1.5IQR: The upper cap is `Q3 + 1.5 * IQR`, and the lower cap is `Q1 - 1.5 * IQR`. This algorithm uses statistical boundaries directly as the caps, which effectively highlights the data's central tendency and skewness. It is suitable for scenarios that require emphasizing statistical features and identifying outliers. <1.5IQR: The upper cap is the largest data point that is less than or equal to `Q3 + 1.5 * IQR`. The lower cap is the smallest data point that is greater than or equal to `Q1 - 1.5 * IQR`. This algorithm uses statistical boundaries while ensuring the caps do not extend beyond the dataset's actual range. It accurately displays the data's true distribution while still identifying outliers. It is suitable for scenarios where you need to both represent the true data distribution and identify outliers.
Caps and whiskers	Show caps	Specifies whether to show the cap lines at the upper and lower caps of the box plot. If enabled, you can also set the width of the cap lines.
Median line		Specifies whether to show the median line and configures its style.
Data points	Content	Specifies whether to display Outliers and Normal Values on the chart. Note You can configure data point styles only when the points are visible.
	Data point size	Sets the size of the data points.
	Outlier style	Sets the shape and color of outliers.
	Normal point style	Sets the shape and color of normal data points.
Mean	Mean style	If the mean is displayed, this setting configures the shape and color of the mean indicator.
Mean	Circle size	Sets the size of the mean indicator.

Axes

On the Style tab, in the Axes section, configure the axis styles. By default, axes are shown.

Parameter	Setting	Description
X-axis	Show X-axis	Specifies whether to show the X-axis.
	Show title and unit	Specifies whether to show the Title and Unit on the X-axis. You can customize the title name, the unit of measurement, and the text style.
	Show axis labels	Specifies whether to show axis labels on the X-axis and configures the text style of the labels.
	Show ticks	Specifies whether to show tick lines on the X-axis.
	Show axis line	Specifies whether to show the X-axis line. If enabled, you can customize the axis style, including line style, width, and color.
	Show gridlines	Specifies whether to show gridlines for the X-axis. If enabled, you can customize the gridline style, including line style, width, and color.
	Show zero line	Specifies whether to show the zero-value tick line on the X-axis. If enabled, you can customize the zero-line style, including line style, width, and color.
Left Y-axis	Show left Y-axis	Specifies whether to show the left Y-axis.
	Show title and unit	Specifies whether to show the axis Title and Unit. You can customize the title name, the unit of measurement, and the text style.
	Show axis labels	Specifies whether to show labels on the left Y-axis. If enabled, you can set the Axis label format and Text Style. You can set the axis label format to Auto or Custom. The default mode is Auto. In this mode, the axis labels inherit the data display format of the measure field. If multiple measure fields exist, the format of the first field is used. In Custom mode, click the icon to configure the data format in the Data Display Format dialog box. For more information about the configuration items in the dialog box, see Data display format > Custom.
	Show ticks	Specifies whether to show tick lines on the left Y-axis.
	Show axis line	Specifies whether to show the left Y-axis line. If enabled, you can customize the axis style, including line style, width, and color.
	Show gridlines	Specifies whether to show gridlines for the left Y-axis. If enabled, you can customize the gridline style, including line style, width, and color.
	Axis range and interval	Sets the maximum and minimum values for the left Y-axis, and the numerical interval between axis values. You can set the Max/Min Value of the Y-axis labels and tick range Manually or Automatically. Note When you manually set the maximum/minimum value: You cannot set a maximum value that is less than 0. You cannot set a minimum value that is greater than 0. You can set a custom interval by Step or Tick Count.

Legend

In the Legend section, click the icon to enable the chart legend and configure its style.

Parameter	Description
Content	Specifies whether to display background area metrics in the legend.
Position	Sets the position and alignment of the legend. If the position is set to Top or Bottom, you can align the legend to the left, center, or right. If the position is set to Left or Right, you can align the legend to the top, center, or bottom. You can also set the distance between the legend and the chart content.
Text	Sets the text style for the legend, including font color, size, weight, and whether it is italicized.
Mobile legend	Legend settings for PC and mobile clients are independent. You can switch to the mobile editing view by using the PC/mobile toggle button () at the top of the dashboard editing page to configure a legend specifically for mobile clients. You can customize the position and text style for the mobile legend.

Tooltip

In the Tooltip section, click the icon to enable tooltips and configure their style.

Parameter	Description
Content	Specifies whether to show minimum/maximum values and the mean in the tooltip.
Background color	Sets the background color of the tooltip.
Text	Sets the text style for the tooltip, including font color, size, weight, and whether it is italicized.
Mobile tooltip	Tooltip enable/disable settings for PC and mobile clients are independent. You can switch to the mobile editing view by using the PC/mobile toggle button () at the top of the dashboard editing page to edit the mobile tooltip. Font size can be set separately for PC and mobile clients, while other style settings are shared.

Auxiliary display

In the Auxiliary Display section, configure the display of the measure filter and view controls.

Parameter

Description

Enable measure filter

Specifies whether to enable the in-chart measure filter. If enabled, you can further set the default selected measure field.

View controls

When the data on a chart axis is too dense to be fully displayed in the current container, you can click the icon to enable chart view controls. This allows viewers to dynamically adjust the visible range of the chart by scrolling, providing an interactive experience while maintaining data integrity and readability.

You can use the following two control types to manage the visible area on the chart axis: Overview axis and Scroll bar.

If you select Overview axis, a simplified trend chart of the full dataset appears at the bottom of the chart. Viewers can drag the selection area to quickly browse all data or focus on a specific range. The overview axis uses absolute coordinates, meaning the selected range corresponds directly to a fixed number of data items on the actual axis. This is suitable for comparative analysis or complex scenarios requiring direct positioning. By default, the overview axis is displayed only when the amount of data exceeds the chart container's display width. To always show the overview axis, select Always Show. If this option is selected, the overview axis is always visible, even if the chart data does not fill the screen.
If you select Scroll bar, a horizontal scroll bar appears at the bottom of the chart. Viewers can drag the slider left or right to move the viewing window. The scroll bar uses a relative proportion, meaning the slider's length and position are determined by the ratio of the visible window to the total data range. This is suitable for general browsing scenarios. You can further set the minimum category width to limit the amount of data in the current chart window. This ensures that the chart content remains clear and legible within the visible area, preventing visual clutter from overlapping data labels or overly dense data points. The default minimum category width is 32 px, with a valid range of 16 to 100 px.
After setting the minimum category width, the scroll bar appears if the actual category width allocated to the chart is less than this value. When the scroll bar is enabled, chart elements and data labels are constrained within the rectangular area of the coordinate system. Any overflowing parts, such as markers or data labels, are automatically truncated or repositioned to fit.

Note

If view controls are not configured for the chart and the chart size is too small, the system automatically enables view controls, selects Overview axis, and configures it to appear only when the data volume exceeds the chart container's display width.

Analysis configuration

Parameter	Setting	Description
Interaction	Drill-down	If you have configured drill-down fields in the Fields panel, you can set the display style for drill-down hierarchy rows here. For more information, see Drill-down.
	Linking	If the data you want to analyze is in different charts, you can use chart linking to connect multiple charts for data analysis. For more information, see Linking.
	Navigation	If the data you want to analyze is in multiple dashboards, you can use navigation to connect them for data analysis. Navigation includes three methods: Internal Page, Component in Page, and External URL. For more information, see Navigation.
Analysis and alerts	Reference lines	Use a reference line to see the difference between the current measure value and a set value. The set value can be a fixed value or a calculated value, including average, maximum, minimum, and median. For more information, see Reference lines.
Annotations	-	When data in a chart is anomalous or requires special attention, you can use color highlighting, icons, comments, or data points to create annotations, helping you identify anomalies and take appropriate action. For more information, see Annotations.

Next steps

If you need to share the dashboard with others, see Share a dashboard.
To create a complex, menu-driven portal for thematic analysis, integrate your created dashboards into a data portal. For more information, see Data Portal.