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Getting started

This page takes you from an empty report to a working bump chart. No prior experience with custom visuals is required.

1. Add the visual to Power BI​

The Bump Chart is distributed through Microsoft AppSource, the marketplace built into Power BI. You can view the listing here: ChartPad Bump Chart on AppSource.

  1. In Power BI Desktop (or the Power BI service), open the report you want to add the visual to.
  2. In the Visualizations pane, select the ⋯ (Get more visuals) button.
  3. Search for ChartPad Bump Chart.
  4. Select Add. The Bump Chart icon appears at the bottom of your Visualizations pane.
tip

The Bump Chart is a Microsoft-certified visual, so it shows a blue Certified badge in Power BI. When browsing "Get more visuals", turn on the Power BI Certified filter to find it quickly.

note

Your organization may restrict AppSource. If you can't add visuals, ask your Power BI administrator to allow the ChartPad Bump Chart, or to import it as an organizational visual.

Certified by Microsoft​

The ChartPad Bump Chart is a Microsoft-certified Power BI visual. Certification means Microsoft has reviewed and tested the visual's code and confirmed that it does not access any external services or resources — your data stays inside Power BI and never leaves your tenant.

For report editors, that brings four practical benefits:

  • Safe for enterprise and regulated environments — nothing is sent to an outside service, so the visual suits organizations with strict data-governance rules.
  • Export to PowerPoint and PDF — reports using the Bump Chart export correctly.
  • Email subscriptions — the visual renders in the images delivered when users subscribe to report pages.
  • Easy to find — use the Power BI Certified filter in "Get more visuals".

Certification also explains one design choice you'll meet later: direct license keys are verified offline, inside the visual, with no network call (Licensing).

2. Place it on the canvas​

Select the Bump Chart icon in the Visualizations pane. An empty visual is added to the canvas, showing a landing page that lists every field you can bind and a Documentation button that opens this site.

3. Prepare your data​

The Bump Chart wants your data long, not wide: one row per series per period, with the number you want to rank by in a single column.

QuarterProductRevenue
2026 Q1Aurora412,000
2026 Q1Beacon388,500
2026 Q1Cascade301,900
2026 Q2Aurora355,000
2026 Q2Beacon402,100
2026 Q2Cascade344,700

Three rules matter:

  • One row per series per period. If your table is finer-grained than that (one row per order line, say), that's fine — Power BI aggregates it for you when you bind a measure.
  • The value must be a single number per series per period. The visual ranks that number; it never combines two measures.
  • A cross-tab layout won't work. If your periods are spread across columns (Q1, Q2, Q3…), unpivot them in Power Query first.
You don't need a rank column

Ranking is the visual's job. Bind the raw measure — revenue, points, score, share — and the visual ranks the series at every period for you. If you already have a rank column, see Using a pre-calculated rank.

4. Bind the fields​

With the visual selected, drag your columns into these field wells:

  1. Series ← Product — one line is drawn per distinct value
  2. Time ← Quarter — one step along the horizontal axis per distinct value
  3. Value ← Revenue — the number each series is ranked by

The landing page disappears and the chart renders as soon as all three are populated. Tooltips is optional and can wait.

tip

Value is a measure well, so dropping a plain column makes Power BI aggregate it — Sum by default. Check the aggregation in the field's dropdown: ranking an accidental Count is the most common "why is this chart wrong?" moment.

5. Check the order of your periods​

The horizontal axis follows your data, and the rule depends on the column's type:

Time column typeOrder used
Date / date-timeChronological (ascending)
NumberAscending
TextYour model's order — set it with Sort by column

Text is the case to watch. A Quarter column holding 2026 Q1, 2026 Q2… happens to sort correctly by accident; a Month column holding January, February… does not. Sort it by a numeric key column in the model and the axis follows. Full detail in How your periods are ordered.

6. Focus and finish​

Three quick wins for a first chart:

  • Format → Ranking → Show only Top N items — with more than a dozen series the chart turns into spaghetti. Turn this on and set Top N to 10.
  • Format → Data Labels — series names at the start and end of each line. With a legend on top you may want only the right-hand labels; turning off the left side gives the plot area its width back.
  • Format → Data Colors — give your headline series a strong colour and leave the rest on the theme palette.

You're set​

From here:

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