Graphs in gas show how a tracked metric developed over time. What the graph draws is decided by the profile and the period selected in the page header. How the graph looks is up to you. You can switch between a line, columns, an area and bars, have the values written out next to individual points, zoom into a part of the period, expand the graph to fullscreen, download it as an image or as a table of numbers, and set how graphs should look every time you log in. This article describes every graph control and every setting you can save for it.
Where to find graphs
- Overview: the card of each network contains the main number for the selected period and a small graph below it.
- Pages of individual networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Meta Ads, Google Ads, Sklik, Google Analytics): when you open a specific metric, you see a large graph and above it the summary cards Total (for metrics that are averaged, On average), Short-term trend and Long-term trend.
- Tourism: graphs that can draw several series at once.
- Goals: a graph of goal progress together with a forecast.
- Custom measurement: a graph over the values you enter into gas yourself.
- Post, video or ad detail: a graph of how the individual metrics of that content developed over time. This graph is not shown on a phone.
Graph types and when each one helps
gas offers four types of view. The data stays the same, only the way it is drawn changes.
| Type | What it looks like | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Line | a smooth curve running through the points | development over time and looking for a trend, especially when the graph covers many days; it also reads best when comparing with the previous period |
| Columns | vertical columns side by side | comparing individual days, weeks or months with each other, when what matters is which one is higher |
| Area | a curve with the area under it filled in | when you want to emphasise volume, that is "how much there was in total" |
| Bars | horizontal bars one under another | a smaller number of values with longer labels that do not fit vertically |
You switch the type of view right on the page, you do not have to go into settings for it.
- Open the page with the graph.
- In the page header, to the right of the page name, find the button with the graph icon. On a computer the icon is accompanied by the name of the current type (Line, Columns, Area, Bars), on a phone the button has only the icon and sits in the strip of controls.
- Click the button. On a computer a menu opens below it, on a phone a panel slides in from the bottom edge of the screen.
- Choose the type you want. The menu closes and the graph is redrawn immediately.
The chosen type applies to all timeline graphs across the whole application and gas remembers it for next time. Graphs that do not draw development over time do not take the type over: the breakdown of interactions on an Instagram post stays a pie and the overview of followers online stays a coloured grid, because as a line or columns they would make no sense.
How to display the values of individual points
The vertical axis of the graph shows only a rough scale, and always in shortened form (for example 1.2M). There are two ways to find the exact value.
By hovering over a point in the graph. On a computer, when you hover the mouse over a point on the curve or over a column, a bubble appears with the label of that section (day, week, month) and with the value written out in full. If the graph draws several series, the bubble shows the values of all series at the same point at once. On a phone and tablet the bubble appears after you tap the graph.
By writing the values out permanently. In the graph settings you can turn on the Show data values option. The numbers are then written directly into the graph next to every point and stay there. Once the option is on, a toggle appears in the strip of buttons above the graph that quickly shortens the values or writes them out in full: Show shortened values writes 1.2M, Show full values writes 1,234,567.
The graph would rather not show values that would overlap each other, so that it stays readable. If numbers are missing at some points, it helps to switch to shortened values, expand the graph to fullscreen, choose a longer section over which the data is added up in the page header (for example Month instead of Day), or shorten the tracked period.
Zooming into a part of the graph
When you are only interested in a small part of a longer period, you can zoom into it in the graph. This works on a computer and on a tablet, for the large graphs on metric pages, for goals, in tourism and on content details.
- Hover the mouse over the graph at the point where the section should start.
- Press the left mouse button and drag horizontally to where the section should end. A grey rectangle is drawn over the graph while you drag.
- Release the button. The graph is redrawn over the selected part of the period only.
- You get back to the whole period with the button that appears in the top right corner of the graph. It is labelled Reset zoom.
On a phone zooming is switched off so that the graph does not zoom while you scroll the page with your finger. The small graphs on the Overview cards cannot be zoomed.
Expanding the graph to fullscreen
Above the graph there is a button with an icon of four arrows pointing into the corners; when you hover over it, the label Enter fullscreen appears. Clicking it stretches the graph across the whole screen and the rest of the page disappears. This helps when the value labels do not fit into the graph or when you are showing it to someone.
You get back with the same button, which has meanwhile changed to Exit fullscreen, or with the Esc key. On a phone this button is not shown.
The legend and hiding series
Most graphs in gas draw a single metric, which is why they have no legend. A legend appears where the graph shows several series at once:
- on the post, video or ad detail, where one graph combines several metrics of that content,
- for some graphs in Tourism that compare several series at once,
- for the breakdown of interactions of a post, where the legend names the individual parts of the pie.
You work with the legend like this:
- Clicking the name of a series removes it from the graph. Its label in the legend turns grey and is struck through. Clicking again brings the series back.
- Hovering over the name of a series fades the other series in the graph, so you immediately see which curve belongs to the label.
- On content details, some series are hidden already when the page opens. This is intentional, a graph with all the metrics at once would be unreadable. Click their grey label in the legend to show them.
- Hiding and showing a series only lasts until you leave or reload the page. It is not saved anywhere.
The default graph view in your profile
Besides the type switch on the page, gas has a page where you set how graphs should look every time. Changes are saved immediately, there is no save button there.
- In the left menu click Settings. A dashboard with three cards opens.
- On the User profile card click I want to set up.
- In the menu on the left choose Graph view.
- Set the individual options. Every change is saved as soon as you make it.
You can reach the same options straight from the graph: above the large graphs on metric pages there is a button with a cog icon that opens the Graph view settings window with the same content.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Graph type | Sets the default type of view (Line, Columns, Area, Bars). It is the same option as the switch in the page header. |
| Show data values | Writes the values directly next to the points of the graph, so you do not have to hover over them. |
| Compact display of data values (e.g. 1M) | Shortens the written values to a rounded form so that they fit into the graph. |
| Show previous period data | Adds a second series to the graph with the same metric for the previous period. |
| Split comparison axis | Appears only when comparison is turned on. Gives the previous period its own vertical axis on the right. Use it when the two periods differ by an order of magnitude and the lower one gets lost on a shared axis. |
| Previous period range | Determines which period is taken as the previous one. You can choose Default, Year-on-year comparison and Month-on-month comparison. |
The previous period ranges mean the following:
- Default: a section of the same length immediately before the selected period. For the last 7 days it compares with the 7 days before them.
- Year-on-year comparison: the same period a year earlier. It only works when the selected period is not longer than a year.
- Month-on-month comparison: the same period a month earlier. It only works when the selected period is not longer than 31 days.
When the selected period exceeds these limits, the comparison series is not drawn and only the current period stays in the graph.
The graph view is your personal choice. It is saved to your user account, not to the customer account. Colleagues who work on the same customer account will see graphs according to their own settings and your change will have no effect on them. On the other hand, your settings stay with you even after you switch to a different customer account and after you log in on a different computer.
Downloading the graph to a file
Above the large graphs there is an Export button with a downward arrow icon. Clicking it opens a menu of formats:
| Format | What it is for |
|---|---|
| PNG image | a common image for a presentation, a document or an email |
| JPG image | a common image, usually a smaller file than PNG |
| PDF file | the graph as a standalone document for printing or sending |
| SVG vectors | a vector image that can be enlarged freely without losing sharpness, for designers |
| CSV file | the numbers the graph is put together from, to open in a spreadsheet editor |
| XLS file | the same numbers in a format for Excel |
The file is saved where your browser saves downloaded files and is named after the graph.
The Export button is only shown on a large screen. On a phone and on a tablet it is not in the menu. For some graphs export is not available at all, for example for the goal progress graph, where only fullscreen remains. When you need the whole page including the tables, print the page instead of exporting.
What happens next
Changing the graph type, turning values on and turning comparison on take effect immediately on all graphs you have open, and gas applies them on other pages too. None of these options changes the data, only the way it is drawn, so nothing is downloaded again from Facebook, Google Ads or anywhere else because of them.
Turning on the Show previous period data option is the only change that requires additional computation: gas looks up one more series for the previous period alongside the current one, which takes a short while. On the large graphs on metric pages the dates of the previous period also appear along the top edge, so that you can tell which days are being compared with what.
Common problems
The graph is empty
Most often the selected period is one in which the profile had no data yet, or one for which the platform no longer provides it. Proceed like this:
- Check the period in the page header and try a shorter and more recent section, for example the last 28 days.
- Click the Refresh button in the page header, which rules out that you are looking at a page loaded a long time ago.
- In Settings → Customer account → Linked accounts, verify that the profile whose numbers you are expecting really is connected and has no alert about a paused connection.
- If everything is in order and the graph stays empty even after several hours, write to us through the contact form.
Instead of the graph you see the message "No profile selected"
The page does not know whose numbers it should draw. There is a profile switch in the page header, choose a specific profile in it. If the menu is empty, no profile for that network is connected to the customer account.
The comparison series for the previous period is missing from the graph
There are three most common causes. The Show previous period data option is not turned on. Or it is turned on, but the selected range does not fit the given period: year-on-year comparison only works up to one year and month-on-month only up to 31 days. Or you are looking at a phone, where the comparison series is not drawn so that the graph stays readable.
The comparison series ends earlier than the main one
The previous period sometimes has a different number of days, weeks or months than the current one, for example January against February. gas aligns both series to the same length, so an empty space may remain at the end of the comparison series. The other possibility is that there simply is no data for part of the previous period, because the profile was not connected back then.
No value is written out at some points
The graph hides written values that would overlap so that it stays readable. Use the button above the graph to switch to shortened values, expand the graph to fullscreen, choose a longer section over which the data is added up in the page header, or shorten the period.
The values in the graph do not match the numbers in the table
Usually one of three things is to blame. Shortened values are rounded (1.2M can be anything between 1,150,000 and 1,249,999), so switch to full values. The choice of section in the page header merges days into longer units, so one point of the graph corresponds to a whole week or month, whereas the table may show individual days or individual items. And finally the Total card above the graph summarises the whole selected period, while the graph breaks it down into individual points.
The graph is hard to read on a phone
On a phone gas deliberately simplifies the graph so that it fits a narrow screen: it leaves out some labels on the horizontal axis, does not write values next to the points, does not draw the comparison series and offers neither zooming nor export. A note below the graph points this out as well. Turning the phone to landscape helps, but you will see the full form of the graph only on a computer or tablet.
I cannot see any graph on a post or video detail
The graph of how a specific piece of content's metrics developed is not shown on a phone at all, because it does not fit the width of the display readably. Open the detail on a computer or tablet. If the graph is missing there too, gas has no development over time for that content yet and says so in place of the graph.
The graph stayed zoomed in and will not go back
Zooming is cleared with the Reset zoom button in the top right corner of the graph (the label is always in English). If you cannot see the button, reloading the page helps, zooming is not saved anywhere.
I cannot see the Export button anywhere
Export is only offered on a large screen, on a tablet and phone the button is missing. Also try stretching the browser window across the full width of the monitor. For some graphs, for example the goal progress graph, export is not available at all.
The downloaded image of the graph has a dark background
The image is downloaded in exactly the colours in which you see the graph in the application, including dark mode. When you need the graph on a white background, switch to light mode in Settings → User profile → Appearance and download the graph again.
Switching the graph type had no effect on one of the graphs
The type of view applies to graphs that show development over time. The breakdown of interactions of a post stays a pie and the overview of followers online stays a coloured grid, because another type would make no sense for them.
A colleague has graphs set up differently from me
That is how it should be. The graph view is a personal choice saved to the user account, not to the customer account. Every team member sets it up for themselves and it does not change for anyone else.
There is no legend by the graph
Only graphs that draw several series at once have a legend. A graph of a single metric does not need a legend, because the name of the series is the heading above the graph. Comparison with the previous period does not add a legend either, you recognise the previous period by its lighter colour and by the dates along the top edge of the graph.