Data Labels Setting Not Visible in Scatter Plot Visual

[Magellan57]

Hello,

I'm leveraging a scatter plot visual to create a bubble chart with the X-axis showing Customer Name and the Y-axis showng a percentage based off a measure. The bubble size is based off a Forecast Quantity measure. Everything looks fine except I want to enable and show the data labels of the Y-axis measure for each bubble but there is no setting available for this. Is there something I'm missing here?

       

[v-kpoloju-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Magellan57, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to @Royel, for his inputs on this thread.

Thank you for the clarification. Now I fully understand what you are aiming for. You would like to display the Y-axis percentage values (KPI measure) as data labels directly on the bubbles, not just the category names.

Currently, this is a limitation of the built-in Scatter/Bubble chart in Power BI. The native visual only supports Category Labels (e.g., Customer or Product names), so it does not allow showing numeric Y-axis values (like percentages) directly as labels. That said, here are some approaches you can take.

Use Tooltips: Hovering over a bubble will already show your KPI % in the tooltip. For a better user experience, you can create a dedicated Tooltip page that highlights the % more clearly when hovering over each bubble.

Use a Custom Visual: Several marketplace visuals such as xViz Scatter/Bubble Chart or Akvelon Bubble Chart support showing measure values directly as labels. In Power BI Desktop → Visualizations pane → Get more visuals (…). Search for xViz Scatter or Akvelon Bubble Chart. Add it to your report, map your fields, and enable Data Labels → choose your KPI % measure.

Advanced Workaround with Native Visuals: You can simulate labels using a Line and clustered column chart. Place your KPI % as a line series, enable Data Labels, and adjust formatting to overlay these values near your bubbles.

Hope this clears it up. Let us know if you have any doubts regarding this. We will be happy to help.

Thank you for using the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

[Magellan57]

Hi @v-kpoloju-msft , @Royel ,

I'm currently overlaying a clustered column chart to achieve the results. I think this approach will work as I haven't come across any limitations so far. There could be one lurking but I haven't seen it yet. I'll have to look at the Custom Visuals you mentioned again for the ones you pointed out.

[Royel]

Hi @Magellan57 in this Category Lebel is is not showing because you do not keep any items under Values. 

So, what we can? 

Step 1: 

Set

Values = Customer Name

Y Axis = Percentage Column 

Size = Same column 

Then go to Visualizations -> Enable Category Lebel 

Your visual will be look like this 

Don't worry lets follow the rest 

Step 2: Move Customer name Values to X Axis 

Set

Values = 

X Axis = Customer Name

Y Axis = Percentage Column 

Size = Same column 

Now, you will have the bubble labels.

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[Magellan57]

I probably wasn't clear enough in my problem statement but I want to show the percentages that are in the Y-axis as my data labels. Here is my current configuration of the fields and measures used. I can't place a measure in the Values section as it won't allow me.

[Royel]

If you noticed, in step 2 i did same as you have. But, in this stage you are not allow to enable Category Label. So, at on step 1 we trick with power bi and enable Category Label then move to step 2 as expected. 

[Magellan57]

I want to show the measure value of the Y-axis as the data label. Not a categorical value. I can replicate your steps but I don't want to show the customer name for the data labels. I want to show the percentage value of the measure that's in the Y-axis section.

[Royel]

Good point, seems like its a limitation. Lets see if someone can come with different idea or not.