Overview
A Box Plot Chart renders the statistical distribution of a Measure across one or more grouping variables. Each box visualizes the median, quartiles, and range of the data, with whiskers showing extent and (typically) outliers shown as individual points. Box Plots are the standard visualization for distribution comparison, comparing how spreads, central tendencies, and outliers differ between groups without losing information through over-aggregation.
Box Plot Charts are authored from Lens → Design → Chart Designer → Visualization → Box Plot Chart. The Box Plot Chart property group exposes three configuration selectors: Dimension (groups), Sample (per-observation identifier), and Measure (the variable whose distribution is summarized). Properties and Columns inherit from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
When to use it
- Distribution comparison across groups — how do scores vary by team, response times by region, sales by product category.
- Identifying outliers in grouped data — points beyond the whiskers stand out visually.
- Comparing central tendency and spread together — median, quartiles, and range in one visualization.
Box Plot–specific configuration
The Box Plot Chart property group exposes three dropdowns that drive the visualization.
| Dimension | The categorical variable defining the groups. Each Dimension value produces one box on the chart. |
| Sample | The variable defining individual observations within each group. |
| Measure | The numeric variable whose distribution is summarized within each box. |
Properties tab — inherited
All other Properties tab customization inherits from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
| Table Chart Properties | All Properties documented on Table Chart that don’t conflict with the distribution rendering. | Table Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Bar Chart Properties | Properties documented on Bar Chart that are not also on Table Chart. Axis-related properties (X-Axis, Y-Axis, Multi-Axis) likely apply on Box Plot since Box Plot uses rectangular axes (categorical X, numeric Y). | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
Columns tab — inherited
Columns tab customization inherits from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
| Columns tab | Inherited from Table Chart and Bar Chart. Per-column settings (Header, Display Name, Sorting & Filter, Type, Aggregate, Column Settings, plus Bar-specific Tool Tip, Outline, Gradient, Label Rotation) apply. | Bar Chart PD → Columns tab; Table Chart PD → Columns tab |
Box Plot anatomy
A Box Plot box visualizes five statistical points of a distribution. Lens follows standard statistical convention
| Median line | The 50th percentile of the data within the group — the value that splits the data in half. |
| Box body (Q1 to Q3) | The interquartile range (IQR). Q1 is the 25th percentile (lower edge of the box); Q3 is the 75th percentile (upper edge). The middle 50% of the data falls within the box. |
| Whiskers | Lines extending from the box to the data extent or to a percentile-based bound. |
| Outliers | Individual data points beyond the whiskers. |
Key behaviors
Box per group. Each Dimension value renders as one box. The number of boxes on the chart equals the number of distinct Dimension values. For high-cardinality Dimensions, the chart can become wide; consider filtering to a smaller subset for readability.
Distribution-first visualization. Box Plot is fundamentally different from Bar / Line / Area charts — those aggregate data to a single value per group (sum, average), losing within-group variation. Box Plot preserves the within-group variation and visualizes it. Use Box Plot when the spread of values within each group is part of the analytical story.
Box Plot exists in two Chart Designer surfaces. Box Plot is documented both as a Visualization chart type (this page) and as an Analytics → Analysis type.
Use Box Plot for distributions; Bar Chart for aggregates. Both Box Plot and Bar Chart show a Measure across groups. Bar Chart aggregates each group to a single value (sum, average). Box Plot preserves the full distribution. Pick by whether the analytical narrative is “what’s the typical value per group” (Bar) or “how do the values vary within each group” (Box Plot).