AutoGraph
Drop fields into a visual with the type set to AutoGraph and QuickSight chooses a chart based on what you added. It is a reasonable starting point, and you can change the type afterwards.
The field wells at the top of a selected visual are where the configuration lives — X axis, value, group/colour, small multiples. They change depending on the visual type.
The mapping
| Question | Visual |
|---|---|
| Change over time | Line chart |
| Category comparison | Bar chart |
| Single KPI | KPI visual |
| Composition over time | Stacked area |
| Relationship | Scatter plot |
| Two dimensions, one measure | Heat map |
| Detail rows | Table |
| Cross-tab | Pivot table |
| Geography | Points or filled map |
| Sequence | Funnel |
KPI visuals
The KPI visual shows a value with a comparison against a chosen period, including a trend arrow and a sparkline.
As with any single number, the comparison is what makes it meaningful — a figure with no context tells the reader nothing about whether to act.
Insights
QuickSight can add insights — narrative statements generated from the data, such as top movers, anomalies or forecast summaries.
They are genuinely useful as a headline above a chart. Read them before publishing, since an automatically generated sentence can be technically true and badly misleading.
Small multiples
Many visuals accept a field in the small multiples well, producing one small chart per category on a shared scale.
Usually clearer than five overlapping series in one chart, and it costs one field drag.