# 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.

Analyze · 4 min read · Updated 2026-11-02

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

1. Open an analysis and select a bar, line, area, or scatter chart.
2. In the Format pane on the right, open the Chart Options section.
3. Find "Reference Lines" - the helper text reads "Targets, averages, thresholds".
4. 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.

### Related

- [Select marks and act on them](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/select-marks-on-a-chart)
- [Split a scatter plot into quadrants](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/scatter-quadrants)
- [Format a chart](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/format-a-chart)

Source: https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/reference-lines-and-bands