---
schema_version: "1"
id: 5eb44fca775f226ba06793ce5c3d812ffd9ce6fb85cdb36f5208a4f238362eae
title: "Quick Start: Bullet Graphs"
collection: tableau
version: next
locale: en-gb
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/qs_bullet_graphs.md
canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/qs_bullet_graphs.htm
source_site: help.tableau.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: b2382d2f8d66f3641323bda3f9b5bf2ffb1bb4b727651187c2546ac9198706ca
description: "Quick start: build a bullet graph to compare a measure against reference lines."
---
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# Build a Bullet Graph

A bullet graph is a variation of a bar graph developed to replace dashboard gauges and meters. A bullet graph is useful for comparing the performance of a primary measure to one or more other measures. It consists of one measure forming the bars and a second measure represented as a reference line with distribution bands. For more information on how to construct or read a bullet graph, see [Bullet Graphs](https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/chart/what-is-bullet-graph) on Tableau's website. Below is a single bullet graph showing how inbound tourism compares to outbound tourism.

The basic building blocks for a bullet graph are as follows:

- **Mark type**: Bar (or automatic)
- **Columns shelf**: First measure
- **Rows shelf**: Dimension
- **Detail** and **reference line with distribution bands**: Second measure

Follow these steps to create a bullet graph:

1. Connect to the World Indicators data source.
2. Navigate to a new worksheet.
3. In the **Data** pane, in the **Development** folder, multi-select the fields Tourism Inbound and Tourism Outbound (hold down the Shift key to select multiple fields).
4. In the top right of the toolbar, select Show Me.
5. In Show Me, choose **Bullet Graph**.
6. Click Show Me again to close it.
7. From the **Data** pane, drag Region to the Rows shelf.
    
    The graph updates to look like the following:
    
    ![A viz with a bullet graph representing inbound tourism by region.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/bullet_graph2.png)

### Check your work! Watch steps 3 - 7 below:

![Create a bullet graph in Tableau.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/bullet_graph1.gif)

Note: In Tableau 2020.2 and later, the Data pane no longer shows Dimensions and Measures as labels. Fields are listed by table or folder.

### Swap reference line fields

Sometimes you might want to swap the reference lines fields. For example, the inbound tourism is shown as a reference distribution instead of a bar.

To swap the two measures, right-click (control-click on the Mac) the axis and select Swap Reference Line Fields.

![Bullet graph context menu with the Swap Reference Line Fields option highlighted](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/bulletgraph3_qs.png)

### Edit the distribution

Right-click (control-click on the Mac) the axis in the view and select Edit Reference Line, and then select one of the reference lines to modify.

![Edit Reference Line, Band or Box dialog with the computation value option selected to show that percentages of 60 and 80% of average budget sales is set.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/bulletgraph4_qs.png)