How to Create a Notion Chart from Database - 6 Simple Steps

Notion is the go-to tool for storing, organizing, accessing, and interpreting data for many teams. While it offers many cool features that make data management a breeze, Notion lacked the capability to create dynamic charts for a long time.

In fact, creating charts was one of the most requested features. It was so important that users integrated Notion databases with external chart creation tools.

But that has changed now.

On August 13, 2024, Notion announced Notion Charts. This new product module supports the creation of beautiful charts that source data from databases.

This guide explores the new Notion Charts functionality. It demonstrates the process of creating functional, dynamic, and visually appealing Notion Charts that help interpret data and generating insights.

Let’s get started.

Here’s how to create a Notion chart from a database:

1. Create a new Notion page

You can add Notion Charts to existing pages that you can edit, including database task items and dashboard subpages.

However, we will create a new Notion page for demonstration purposes.

2. Add a chart to Notion

Start by typing ‘/chart’ inside the page to access all available chart types.

Choose the type of chart to insert into Notion

1. Choose your favorite chart type

Notion supports four types of charts, each suited for different kinds of data and visualization needs:

1. Vertical bar chart

A vertical bar chart uses rectangular bars of varying heights to represent different values from your Notion database. Each bar's height corresponds to its value, with taller bars indicating larger amounts.

Choose vertical bar charts to compare values across categories or show changes over time in your Notion data. Vertical bar charts work well for visualizing numerical properties such as -

1. Task completion rates across projects

2. Monthly revenue by product category

3. Survey results.

2. Horizontal bar chart

A horizontal bar chart displays rectangular bars extending horizontally, with bar length representing value.

Opt for horizontal bar charts when dealing with long category names or numerous entries in your Notion database.

This chart type is ideal for presenting survey results. It also helps enhance readability with 10+ categories or lengthy labels, such as:

1. Employee performance rankings

2. Customer feedback scores sorted by department.

3. Line chart

A line chart displays data points connected by straight lines.

It helps with visualizing trends, changes, or fluctuations in your Notion data, over a continuous period. It is ideal for tracking time-based properties such as:

1. Project progress over weeks

2. Monthly recurring revenue trends

3. Website traffic.

4. Donut chart

A donut chart is a circular graph with a hollow center, where each slice represents a proportion of the whole. The hollow center can display additional information or key metrics.

Donut charts are ideal for illustrating parts of a whole or show percentage distributions of Notion data. It works well for simple part-to-whole relationships with up to 5 categories. They find their use in composition analysis like:

1. Task status distribution

2. Budget allocation across different teams or projects, or market share.

Click on one of these four charts to insert it into the page.

2. Link a database to Notion chart

Notion will display a demo chart and prompt you to link it to a database to supply data. This means you need to have the target database ready before creating a chart.

It’s nice to have columns with the ‘Number’ property type, as it supports multiple mathematical functions. It's fine to have other property types but you can use only the ‘Count’ function on them.

choose a database to source data for charts

Click on ‘New chart’ to create a database from scratch. This will help you create a customized database that has the right data for the chart.

This guide, however, uses an existing database for demonstration purposes. We will use a sample Notion budget tracker and interpret it using Notion Charts. We will find the tracker using the Notion search bar and click on it to connect it to the chart.

Here’s what the budget tracker looks like.

Our goal is to create a horizontal bar chart detailing spend per category - rent, 401(k), and groceries, for example.

3. Notion chart is available for modifications

By function, Notion Charts pick the first column of its source database as the default for Y-axis. In our example, the first column is the ‘Instrument’ of spending.

Since it is a non-numeric value, 'Count' is the only numeric function that Charts can perform. X-axis displays how many times the instrument in Y-axis appears in the database.

For example, there are two instances of 401(k) in the database. So the value on the X-axis for the instrument 401(k) on the Y-axis is '2'. And thus the horizontal bar appears at the top with the data label ‘2’.

However, that’s not what we want.

We want the ‘Instrument’ name to appear on the Y-axis and the amount spent per instrument on the X-axis.

Let’s set that up.

3. Change the X and Y-axes of the chart

The Y-axis already has the instrument name so we won’t edit that. We will change the X-axis value instead.

To do that:

1. Expand the ‘What to show’ menu - it would be set to ‘Count’ as default.

2. Click on ‘Amount’ because that’s the new property that we want Notion to display on the X-axis.

3. We want to add all amounts associated with instruments on the Y-axis, so click on 'Sum'. Other mathematical functions that Charts support are - median, average, maximum, and minimum.

The Notion chart now displays the updated X-axis.

The process of changing the column associated with X and Y-axes is the same. However, we won't edit the Y-axis as it is already set to what we want.

4. Style and design Notion chart

Charts is the most dynamic and design-friendly Notion module. It supports bright and vibrant colors, providing more customization options than other blocks.

It also supports finer adjustments that help users display information that truly matters. This helps in cutting out noise and simplifying data interpretation.

Let’s discuss how Notion Charts’ styling and design work using the chart from the previous step.

1. Change the color of the chart

Notion Charts are multi-color by default — Different database columns have different colors. Make the chart appear more professional by choosing a more homogeneous color scheme. To do that, click on the ‘Color’ option from the ‘View options’ section and pick a color scheme.

We picked the ‘Yellow’ color, so all rectangles in the bar chart are now yellow.

2. Alter the height of the chart

The height of the Notion chart determines the distance between the category items. In our example, the chart height is the space between the expense instruments on the Y-axis. It is set to ‘Medium’ by default.

To increase or decrease the height, first expand the ‘More style options’ dropdown. Next, expand the ‘Height’ option and choose the gap that aligns the best with your requirements.

We chose ‘Extra large’ to exaggerate the gap for demonstration purposes.

3. Display grid lines

Grid lines map the chart coordinates better, making charts more readable. They take guessing and squinting eyes out of the picture by giving a more accurate approximation.

They allow users to look at the chart and immediately tell the corresponding value of a data point.

However, grid lines are a visual element that appear in the chart’s background. Enable them if their functionality is more important than design.

To do that expand the ‘More style options’ dropdown and click on the ‘Grid line’ option. Finally, select horizontal or vertical grid lines, or both.

Here’s what the chart looks like with both horizontal and vertical grid lines.

4. Show the names of X and Y-axes

The guide already mentioned what the X and Y-axis represent so it’s easy to get context. But someone looking at the chart for the first time would find it a bit hard to make sense of it.

We want the charts to be intuitive. We want them to highlight key information without worrying about less-important details.

Adding names of X and Y axes partly addresses this need. It clearly spells what the axes stand for and immediately gives adequate context.

To change the axes names, click on ‘More style options’. Next, click on the ‘Axis name’ dropdown and select either or both axes for displaying the names.

We opted to display the names of both the axes and this is what the chart looks like now.

5. Set up color coding in Notion Charts

Notion supports color coding. This enables color grading data based on their value. Bigger numbers are darker.

This feature helps create a visual differentiation between values beyond coordinates.

Turn color coding on or off using the ‘Color by value’ toggle under the ‘More style actions’ option.

6. Toggle ‘Data labels’

Data labels are the visible numeric values in the charts. In our example, data labels are the dollar-amounts imprinted next to the horizontal rectangles.

Data labels do a better job than grid lines in spelling out numeric values. You can show/hide them by turning on or off the ‘Data labels’ toggle.

7. Group and sort items

Sorting data items helps structure them better.

Grouping items enables you to automatically package data in relevant buckets. This helps when data must be grouped together, instead of being presented as individual units.

5. Change chart type

We have discussed all potential styling and design aspects of Notion Charts. But what if we want to change the chart type at the last moment?

Well, that’s not a problem. Simply change the chart type by selecting an alternative from the ‘View options’ menu.

6. Save Notion chart

Save Notion Charts by clicking the ‘Save chart as’ option under the ‘View options’ segment. In the new screen, select the background color for the Notion chart and download it in PNG or SVG format.

FAQs

Can you make charts in Notion?

Yes, you can make charts in Notion by using the ‘Chart’ block type. Simply type, ‘Chart’ inside a Notion page and click a chart type to insert it into the page. Finally, populate the new blank chart with data by connecting it to a database.

How much does Notion Charts cost?

Notion Charts is available to free users but they get to create only one chart per account. Users on Notion’s paid plans can create as many charts as they want.

Is there a limit on Notion Charts?

Users on the Notion free plan can create only one chart per account. They need to delete an existing chart before adding a new one.

Can you add multiple lines to the Notion line chart?

The Notion line chart supports only a single line. There’s no provision to add extra lines.

Does Notion support a pie chart?

Notion does not support pie charts. It supports donut charts that have similar functionality and design, making for a good alternative.

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