Add reference lines and bands

Draw target, average, threshold and percentile lines, and bands between two values, between two categories, or a mean plus and minus a number of standard deviations - by hand or from the chat.

4 min readUpdated November 2, 2026

A reference line is a horizontal or vertical rule drawn across a chart at a value you care about - a target, an average, a threshold. A reference band is the same idea over a range: a shaded region between two values, for an acceptable zone or a forecast window. Neither changes your data; both give the marks something to be read against.

Open the panel

Open an analysis and select a bar, line, area, or scatter chart.
In the Format pane on the right, open the Chart Options section.
Find "Reference Lines" - the helper text reads "Targets, averages, thresholds".
Click Add. Once lines or bands exist, the button reads "Edit" with a count.

Note: The control appears only on those four chart types, and only in an analysis - the dashboard tile's chart-options dialog deliberately leaves reference lines and annotations out.

The panel is titled "Reference Lines & Bands" and floats beside the chart rather than covering it. There is no Apply or Cancel: every edit takes effect on the chart as you make it. It has two tabs, Lines and Bands, each showing its current count.

Quick add

The Lines tab opens with a row of quick-add buttons - Average, Maximum, Minimum, Median - each carrying the color it will draw in. One click adds that line, already labeled and already bound to a measure on the chart. This is the fastest path and usually the only one you need.

Below them, "Add Custom Line" adds a blank line you configure yourself. With nothing configured yet the tab reads "No reference lines yet".

Configure a line

Label - the text drawn beside the line. Change the Type and Golden re-labels for you, as long as you have not written a label of your own.
Type - Constant Value, Average, Minimum, Maximum, Median, or Percentile.
Orientation - Horizontal (Y value) or Vertical (X value).
Value - shown for a Constant Value line only.
Percentile (0-100) - shown for a Percentile line only.
Based on Measure - which measure the statistic is computed from. Shown only when the chart has more than one.
Color, Width (1-5px), and Style - Solid, Dashed, or Dotted.
Show Label, with a position of Start, Middle, or End.

Note: On a chart split into colored series, a statistical line or band reads every series, not just the first color - the stack total where the bars stack, and every value otherwise - so the line sits where the whole chart puts it.

Bands

Switch to the Bands tab and click "Add Reference Band". A new band carries a Range dropdown that sets what its two edges are:

Between two values - a From and a To value you type. On a percent axis they read From (%) and To (%).
Mean ± standard deviations - a band centered on the measure's mean. A single input, "Standard deviations either side of the mean", sets how wide it is (2 by default), so the band covers the mean plus and minus that many standard deviations.
Between two categories - a band that spans from one category on the axis across to another.

Whatever its range, a band also takes an orientation, a color, an opacity between 5% and 50%, and a label you can show or hide. The empty tab reads "No reference bands yet" with the hint "Add bands to highlight value ranges".

Note: A Mean ± standard deviations band is computed from a measure, so like the statistical lines it can't be added to a chart with no measure on it.

Tip: The Chart Options row shows a small colored dash for each configured line, so you can see what is set without opening the panel - hover a dash to read its label.

Note: Every type except Constant Value is computed from a measure, so those lines cannot be added to a chart with no measure on it. A constant line is always available.

Add a band from the chat

The chat can add a standard-deviation band for you - ask for something like "show a ±1 SD band" or "add a normal range", and it draws a band at the mean plus and minus that many standard deviations, labeled "Mean ± 1 SD". If the chart has no measure, or the measure sits on the right axis, the chat says why instead of drawing one.

Remove a line or band with the trash icon on its card. Because edits apply immediately, deleting is how you undo one - closing the panel does not roll anything back.