Preset Glossary

Ad Hoc Metrics

Custom metrics created on the fly in Explore. Great for quick, one-off calculations without saving to the dataset.

Alert

Notifies you when a chart meets specific conditions. Useful for monitoring KPIs like dips in signups or spikes in traffic.

Annotation

Notes added to charts to highlight events like product launches or holidays. Adds visual context to your data.

Area Chart

Area charts are similar to line charts in that they represent variables with the same scale, but area charts stack the metrics on top of each other.

Bar Chart

Used to show metrics as a series of bars. Excels at showcasing change over a dimension (e.g., time).

Big Number Chart

Showcases a single metric front-and-center. Big number is best used to call attention to a KPI or the one thing you want your audience to focus on.

Big Number with Time Period Comparison

Showcases a metric along with a comparison of value, change, and percent change for a selected time period.

Big Number with Trendline

Showcases a single number accompanied by a simple line chart, to call attention to an important metric along with its change over time or other dimension.

Box Plot

Also known as a box and whisker plot, this visualization compares the distributions of a related metric across multiple groups. The box in the middle emphasizes the mean, median, and inner 2 quartiles. The whiskers around each box visualize the min, max, range, and outer 2 quartiles.

Breakdowns

Provides a more granular view of the data in a waterfall chart, allowing you to understand not just the overall change, but also which specific categories or segments are contributing to that change.

Bubble Chart

Visualizes a metric across three dimensions of data in a single chart (X axis, Y axis, and bubble size). Bubbles from the same group can be showcased using bubble color.

Calculated Column

A custom column created using SQL. Lets you define new values (like “profit = revenue - cost”) within the dataset.

Calendar Heatmap

Visualizes how a metric has changed over a time using a color scale and a calendar view. Gray values are used to indicate missing values and the linear color scheme is used to encode the magnitude of each day's value.

Chart

A visual representation of your data, built in Explore. Can be saved and added to dashboards.

Chord Diagram

Showcases the flow or link between categories using thickness of chords. The value and corresponding thickness can be different for each side.

Country Map

Visualizes how a single metric varies across a country's principal subdivisions (states, provinces, etc) on a choropleth map. Each subdivision's value is elevated when you hover over the corresponding geographic boundary.

Embedded Dashboard

A dashboard you can display in another app or site. Useful for external reporting or client views.

Explore

The visual, no-code chart builder in Preset. Drag-and-drop dimensions and metrics to explore your data.

Filter

A condition that narrows down what data is shown. Commonly used for date ranges, categories, or users.

Force Refresh

Reloads the chart with fresh data, bypassing cached results. Helpful if you need real-time updates.

Funnel Chart

Showcases how a metric changes as the funnel progresses. This classic chart is useful for visualizing drop-off between stages in a pipeline or lifecycle.

Gauge Chart

Uses a gauge to showcase progress of a metric towards a target. The position of the dial represents the progress and the terminal value in the gauge represents the target value.

Generic Chart

Swiss army knife for visualizing data. Choose between step, line, scatter, and bar charts. This viz type has many customization options as well.

Graph Chart

Displays connections between entities in a graph structure. Useful for mapping relationships and showing which nodes are important in a network. Graph charts can be configured to be force-directed or circulate. If your data has a geospatial component, try the deck.gl Arc chart.

Handlebars

Write a handlebars template to render the data

Heatmap / Cohort Chart

Visualize a related metric across pairs of groups. Heatmaps excel at showcasing the correlation or strength between two groups. Color is used to emphasize the strength of the link between each pair of groups.

Histogram

The histogram chart displays the distribution of a dataset by representing the frequency or count of values within different ranges or bins. It helps visualize patterns, clusters, and outliers in the data and provides insights into its shape, central tendency, and spread.

Interactive Pivot Table

Used to summarize a set of data by grouping together multiple statistics along two axes. Examples: Sales numbers by region and month, tasks by status and assignee, active users by age and location. The chart allows for interactions such as column resizing, reordering, filtering, setting pivot columns, grouping rows and more within the pivot table itself.

Interactive Table

A raw records or aggregate table view of a dataset. The table allows for interactions such as column resizing, reordering, filtering, and more within the table itself.

Jinja

A templating language that allows dynamic SQL — like injecting variables, conditions, or filters.

Line Chart

Line chart is used to visualize measurements taken over a given category. Line chart is a type of chart which displays information as a series of data points connected by straight line segments. It is a basic type of chart common in many fields.

Metric

A numeric field or aggregation (like SUM or AVG) used to represent performance measures in charts.

Mixed Chart

Visualize two different series using the same x-axis. Note that both series can be visualized with a different chart type (e.g. 1 using bars and 1 using a line).

Nightingale Rose Chart

A polar coordinate chart where the circle is broken into wedges of equal angle, and the value represented by any wedge is illustrated by its area, rather than its radius or sweep angle.

Partition Chart

Compare the same summarized metric across multiple groups.

Physical Dataset

A table in a connected database.

Pie Chart

The classic. Great for showing how much of a company each investor gets, what demographics follow your blog, or what portion of the budget goes to the military industrial complex. Pie charts can be difficult to interpret precisely. If clarity of relative proportion is important, consider using a bar or other chart type instead.

Pivot Table

Used to summarize a set of data by grouping together multiple statistics along two axes. Examples: Sales numbers by region and month, tasks by status and assignee, active users by age and location. Not the most visually stunning visualization, but highly informative and versatile.

Query

A request for data, either generated visually in Explore or written manually in SQL Lab.

Radar Chart

Visualize a parallel set of metrics across multiple groups. Each group is visualized using its own line of points and each metric is represented as an edge in the chart.

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

Manages user permissions based on roles (e.g. Admin, Viewer). Keeps access secure and structured.

Report

A scheduled chart or dashboard sent via email or Slack. Useful for recurring updates and visibility.

Row-Level Security (RLS)

Filters applied to datasets that restrict which rows users can see, based on roles or attributes.

Sankey Chart

The Sankey chart visually tracks the movement and transformation of values across system stages. Nodes represent stages, connected by links depicting value flow. Node height corresponds to the visualized metric, providing a clear representation of value distribution and transformation.

Saved Query

A SQL query saved from SQL Lab. Can be reused or turned into a dataset.

Scatter Plot

Scatter Plot has the horizontal axis in linear units, and the points are connected in order. It shows a statistical relationship between two variables.

Schema

A logical grouping of tables in a database — like a folder or namespace.

Semantic Layer

Where field names, metrics, and descriptions are defined for datasets. Simplifies and standardizes analysis.

Smooth Line Chart

Smooth-line is a variation of the line chart. Without angles and hard edges, Smooth-line sometimes looks smarter and more professional.

SQL Editor

The workspace in SQL Lab where users write and run SQL queries directly against databases.

SQL Expression

A snippet of SQL logic used inside filters, metrics, or calculated columns.

SQL Lab

Preset’s SQL editor — write queries, test logic, and explore your data manually.

Stepped Line Chart

Stepped-line graph (also called step chart) is a variation of line chart but with the line forming a series of steps between data points. A step chart can be useful when you want to show the changes that occur at irregular intervals.

Sunburst Chart

Uses circles to visualize the flow of data through different stages of a system. Hover over individual paths in the visualization to understand the stages a value took. Useful for multi-stage, multi-group visualizing funnels and pipelines.

Table Chart

Classic row-by-column spreadsheet like view of a dataset. Use tables to showcase a view into the underlying data or to show aggregated metrics.

Tag

A label applied to charts or dashboards to organize and find content quickly.

Template Parameters

Dynamic variables used in SQL queries, like {{ current_user_id() }} or custom date ranges.

Thresholds

Visual reference lines on charts to indicate targets or warning levels.

Time Column

A column with date or timestamp values, used for time-series analysis.

Time Filter

Lets you limit data to a specific period — like “last 30 days” or “this quarter.”

Time Grain

Sets the interval for grouping time data — daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

Time-series Table

Compare multiple time series charts (as sparklines) and related metrics quickly.

Timezone

Preset defaults to UTC. You can adjust time zones in queries or charts to reflect local time.

Tooltip

A pop-up that appears when hovering over chart elements. Shows extra detail like exact values.

Tree Chart

Visualize multiple levels of hierarchy using a familiar tree-like structure.

Tree Map

Show hierarchical relationships of data, with the value represented by area, showing proportion and contribution to the whole.

User Attributes

Metadata tied to users (like region or role), used for personalizing access or filters.

Virtual Dataset

A dataset created from a SQL query instead of a raw table. Useful for joins or custom logic.

Visualization Type

The chart style you choose — bar, pie, line, scatter, etc. Each one highlights data differently.

Waterfall Chart

A map of the world, that can indicate values in different countries.

Word Cloud

Visualizes the words in a column that appear the most often. Bigger font corresponds to higher frequency.

Workspace

An isolated environment in Preset with its own data sources, users, dashboards, and permissions.

World Map

A waterfall chart is a form of data visualization that helps in understanding the cumulative effect of sequentially introduced positive or negative values. These intermediate values can either be time based or category based.