Sunburst Plume: 10 use cases

These recipes start from a Sunburst Plume already in place. If that is not the case, begin with the getting started guide: the examples reuse its data (Region, City, Category, Revenue measure). Features marked ★ are premium: they work without a license, with a watermark.

How do I open a sector and filter the page with the same click?

You want the other visuals to follow the region the reader opens.

1. Format › Interactions › Click on a sector (explore mode) = Open and filter the other visuals.
2. Click a region: it opens and the page is filtered on it.
3. Go back to All (breadcrumb or click the center): the filter is cleared.

Result: the sunburst is both a chart and a hierarchical slicer. With Select only, a click filters and never opens.

How do I show every level at once?

Your hierarchy has three or four levels and you want to see everything without clicking.

1. Format › Layout › Mode = All levels always shown.
2. If the outer rings are too thin, lower the Center hole; ★ or Layout › Ring thickness = First ring thicker ★.

Result: every ring is shown, a click filters the page. To keep exploring while showing more levels, stay in Explore and increase Levels shown at once.

How do I show each sector's share of its parent?

"What share of London is Westminster?" without writing DAX.

1. Format › Data labels › Content = Name and percentage.
2. Percentage of = The parent (default), The total or The opened sector (center).

Result: "Westminster 52%". The tooltip always gives all three: share of parent, share of total and, when a sector is open, share of the opened sector.

How do I group small sectors in "Others"?

A category has 40 products and the last ring becomes unreadable.

1. Format › Sectors and levels › Sectors per parent at most (0 = all) = 6.
2. ★ In addition, Group below (% of parent) ★ = 5: sectors under 5% of their parent also join "Others".
3. Rename the group: Grouping label = Other products.

Result: the smallest products of each category form one gray sector in the branch color; its tooltip lists their names, a click selects them all.

How do I choose the colors?

1. Format › Data colors › Coloring = By branch: each first-level sector has its color, its children are lighter shades of it. One color per region is picked just below.
2. Single color: one color, lighter at each level; Lighten at each level (%) sets the step.
3. ★ One color per level ★: each ring has its color (handy for a channel then a region).

Result: consistent colors from one level to the next; they stay the same when a sector is opened.

How do I watch the shares change year by year ★?

You want to show how the sales split changed from 2021 to 2025, without making five charts.

1. Drag the Year column (or a Date column by month) into Play axis ★. A play bar appears under the chart, and the year in large type in a corner.
2. Click ▶: the visual moves from one year to the next. The slider, the start and end buttons, and the arrow keys (with the focus on the bar) let you step by hand.
3. Adjust Format › Playback ★: Frame shown on opening (The first one to tell the story from the start), Duration of a frame (ms), Loop.

Result: the arcs grow and shrink from one year to the next, the total in the center follows; branch colors stay the same and an opened sector stays open. ★ feature: playback works without a key, with the "Premium preview" watermark. Transitions are off when Style › Animations is off or the system asks to reduce motion.

How do I compare with last year ★?

You have a Revenue LY measure and want to see where things grow.

1. Create the measure if needed: Revenue LY = CALCULATE ( [Revenue], SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR ( Calendar[Date] ) ).
2. Drag it into Comparison ★.
3. Adjust Format › Comparison and target: Band width, Neutral zone (± %), Change for the strongest color (%), A decrease is favorable for costs.

Result: a thin band on the edge of each sector, green when it grows, red when it falls, darker when the change is large; "▲ 6%" in the labels and in the center; the tooltip gives the comparison value and the change as an amount.

How do I track spending against budget ★?

A spending table by department, item and supplier, with a budget column.

1. Measures: Actual spend = SUM ( Expenses[Actual] ) and Planned budget = SUM ( Expenses[Budget] ).
2. Department, Item, Supplier in Groups, Actual spend in Size, Planned budget in Target ★.
3. Format › Comparison and target › A decrease is favorable = on.

Result: with the Automatic coloring, each sector takes the color of its variance to budget (green below, red above, gray in the neutral zone); the gradient legend shows at the bottom.

How do I color sectors by another measure ★?

Size tells revenue, color should tell profitability.

1. Margin rate = DIVIDE ( [Margin], [Revenue] ).
2. Drag it into Color (measure) ★.

Result: sectors follow the style's gradient palette, from the lowest rate to the highest, with a legend. For a parent, the rate is the size-weighted average of its rows.

How do I switch to an icicle or a half circle ★?

Long names, or a wide page.

1. Format › Layout › Shape = Rectangular partition (icicle): levels become columns from left to right and names are written horizontally.
2. Or Half circle: the sunburst fits in half the height, total at the bottom center.

Result: the same hierarchy, the same colors and the same click-to-open (the left column of the icicle goes back to the level above).

Learn more

• Getting started and Fields and settings.
• Dynamic formatting (DAX): drive any setting with a measure.
• The visual's page: Sunburst Plume. A question? Support.