Salesforce Lightning Dashboards offer a wide chart palette: Bar, Column, Line, Donut, Funnel, Scatter, Gauge, Metric, Table, Lightning Table, plus stacked variants and Combo charts.
The full palette
| Chart | Best for |
|---|
| Vertical Bar (Column) | Compare categories side by side |
| Horizontal Bar | Long category labels, top-N rankings |
| Stacked Bar / Column | Composition within each category |
| 100% Stacked Bar / Column | Percentage composition |
| Line | Trend over time |
| Cumulative Line | Running totals |
| Area | Composition over time |
| Donut | Composition (one ring) |
| Funnel | Sequential stages (sales pipeline, conversion) |
| Scatter | Two-variable relationship + size bubble |
| Gauge | Single metric vs target / range |
| Metric | One big number with optional comparison |
| Table | Top-N rows |
| Lightning Table | Multi-column table with sorting, formatting |
| Combo | Bar + line on the same axes |
When to pick which
- Time on the x-axis → Line, Cumulative Line, Combo
- Compare categories → Bar (long labels) or Column (short labels)
- Show composition → Stacked, Donut
- Show conversion stages → Funnel
- One critical KPI → Metric or Gauge
- Bunch of rows → Lightning Table
Composition: which to use?
| Chart | Pros | Cons |
|---|
| Donut | Quick read for 3-7 slices | Hard to compare slices over 10 |
| Pie | Classic, familiar | Same downsides — limited to small N |
| Stacked column | Compare composition across time | Harder to read individual segments |
| 100% Stacked | Pure share comparison | Loses absolute values |
Trend: which to use?
| Chart | Best fit |
|---|
| Line | Continuous values over time |
| Area | Continuous + composition |
| Cumulative Line | Running total (pipeline build-up) |
| Combo | Two metrics on one chart (revenue + target) |
Special components
- Funnel — typically Opportunity Pipeline by Stage, with the stages ordered correctly
- Gauge — single metric versus thresholds (red/yellow/green)
- Metric — KPIs like “Total Cases Closed”, “Pipeline This Quarter”
- Lightning Table — rich tables with column-level formatting, sorting, conditional highlighting
Chart-source compatibility
| Source format | Charts available |
|---|
| Summary | All chart types |
| Matrix | All chart types (stacked variants shine here) |
| Joined | Limited — one block at a time |
| Tabular with Row Limit | Bar, Column, Donut, Funnel, Metric, Table |
Picking colours
Lightning Dashboards let you assign colours per category (e.g. Won = green, Lost = red) for consistent meaning across components. Set this in the chart-attributes panel.
Common follow-ups
- Maximum components on a dashboard? — 20 in Lightning Experience.
- Can I have a combo of three metrics? — Combo supports one bar + one line; for more, use Lightning Table.
- Heat maps? — Use Matrix report → Lightning Table → conditional highlighting per cell.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Dashboard Component Types. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.