Histogram · Distribution

How your values are spread, bin by bin

An average says nothing about the shape behind it. A filling line can hit 500 g on average while one bottle in twenty is over the limit. A histogram shows this at a glance, but Power BI has none built in: Microsoft’s own Histogram visual was taken off AppSource, and the usual workaround is a bar chart over a binned column, with bins you have to set up in the model and no mean, median or limits.

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Most bottles weigh between 499 and 503 gFill weight of 1,160 bottles, 0.5 g bins
Fill weight (g)n 1,160 · mean 501.04 · sd 1.8750100150Median 500.90Mean 501.04497499501503505507 g
Light report
Most bottles weigh between 499 and 503 gFill weight of 1,160 bottles, 0.5 g bins
Fill weight (g)n 1,160 · mean 501.04 · sd 1.8750100150Median 500.90Mean 501.04497499501503505507 g
Dark report

What it shows

Histogram counts your values into bins and draws one bar per bin. The bins are picked for you (a round width such as 0.5 or 25 that suits the spread of the data), or you set the width or the number of bins. A dashed line marks the mean and a solid line the median, each with its value, and the header gives the number of values, the mean, the median and the standard deviation. Bars can show counts or percent.

How to set it up

Add Histogram from AppSource or the .pbiviz file, then drag in:

Value
The number to count, such as fill weight or delivery days.
Detail
The field that makes one value per row, such as Bottle or Order ID.
GroupPro
Two groups drawn over each other on the same bins, such as Line 1 and Line 2, or this year and last year.
Lower limitPro
The lower spec limit, as a measure. You can also type it in Format › Spec limits.
Upper limitPro
The upper spec limit, as a measure. You can also type it in Format › Spec limits.

Read the full Histogram guide

In the report

  • Hover a bar for its range, its count and its share (per group when there are two).
  • Click a bar to filter the report to the rows in it; the other bars dim. When another visual is selected, each bar shows the highlighted part.
  • Light or dark background, high-contrast mode, and your own colours.
  • Tab into the chart and move between bars with the arrow keys; screen readers hear each bar’s range and count.
  • The format pane, the labels and the messages are in English and Norwegian.

Free and Pro

FeatureFreePro
Bins picked for you, or a set width or number of bins✓✓
Counts or percent, mean and median lines, n, mean, median and standard deviation✓✓
Tooltips, click to filter, cross-highlighting, keyboard, high contrast, light and dark✓✓
Curve: a smooth density curve, or the normal curve with the same mean and standard deviation—✓
Two groups: drawn over each other on the same bins, each with its own mean, median and curve—✓
Spec limits: limit lines, the area outside shaded, bars outside in orange, Cp, Cpk and the share outside—✓

Free features always work, with no key and no tag. Pro features need a licence key for Histogram or Everything. Without a valid key, Histogram draws one histogram of all values with no curve and no limits, with a short notice and a “Try Pro free” button. A paid key keeps Pro working for 7 days after it runs out, so a late renewal never breaks a report.

Your data stays in your report

Histogram makes no network calls and stores nothing outside the report. The licence key is checked inside the visual, so it also works offline, in Report Server and in locked-down tenants.

How the visuals handle data

Pro licence
$36per creator a year
$3per viewer a year

For Histogram alone. The entire suite is $90 per creator and $7.50 per viewer, or license the whole organisation.

See pricing

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