---
title: "Lollipop"
description: "Bars with circle endpoints. What the lollipop is for, the data it needs and every option it has."
section: "Widgets"
canonical: "https://banksync.io/docs/widgets/chart-lollipop"
specs: ["dashboards"]
operationBindings: [{"capability":"dashboards","operation":"dashboards.author"}]
---

Bars with circle endpoints. It sits in the **Comparison** group of the widget library.

![Example lollipop on a BankSync dashboard](https://cdn.banksync.io/screenshots/docs/charts/lollipop.c6b35e24f347ca4f.png)

## When to use it

Use a lollipop to compare one total across categories when a solid bar feels heavy, such as spending by merchant this month or the balance of each account. The thin stems keep a long list readable.

## When to pick something else

- Comparing only a handful of totals? Use a **Column chart** or **Bar chart**.
- Showing a trend over time? Use a **Line chart**.
- Comparing a value against a target? Use a **Bullet chart**.

## The data it needs

Pick these in the **Data** tab of the inspector. BankSync suggests a column for each when your source has an obvious match.

| Field      | Needed   | Pick                 | Notes |
| ---------- | -------- | -------------------- | ----- |
| **X axis** | Yes      | a category or a date |       |
| **Y axis** | Yes      | a number             |       |
| **Series** | Optional | a category           |       |
| **Color**  | Optional | a category           |       |

Rows that share a category are combined before drawing: choose **Sum**, **Average**, **Count**, **Min** or **Max** on the value field. See [Binding data](/docs/widgets/binding-data).

## Lollipop options

This chart has no options of its own; everything on its **Style** tab is the shared chart styling below.

## Shared chart styling

Every chart also has the shared styling options. These apply to this one:

- [Legend](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#legend): position, layout and which series show.
- [Axes](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#axes): titles, tick labels and number format.
- [Grid](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#grid), [title](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#title), [padding](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#padding) and [background](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#background).
- [Value labels](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#value-labels) on the marks.
- [Categories and labels](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#categories-and-labels): top N with "Other", sort order, readable labels, the handwritten callout.
- [Style](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#style): corner radius, line width, opacity and animation.
- [Tooltip](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#tooltip) on hover.
- Click to filter: clicking a mark can filter the rest of the dashboard. See [Filters and cross-filtering](/docs/dashboards/filters-and-cross-filtering).
- [Colours](/docs/widgets/chart-styling#palette): follow the dashboard palette or pick one for this chart.

## Messy data

- Rows for the same category are added together, so one merchant with many transactions becomes one lollipop.
- When more categories arrive than fit, the smallest fold into one grey "Other (n)" lollipop. Dates are never folded.
- Negative values draw below (or left of) zero, and the axis always includes zero.
- Categories with no number are skipped; if nothing is numeric you see "No numbers to show".
- Long names switch the chart to horizontal lollipops, sorted largest first, when the rows fit.

## On a phone

On the full-width phone card, long category names usually turn the chart horizontal so labels read left to right. With many categories, more of them fold into "Other".

## Related charts

- [Bar chart](/docs/widgets/chart-bar): Horizontal categorical bars
- [Column chart](/docs/widgets/chart-column): Vertical categorical bars
- [Grouped bar](/docs/widgets/chart-grouped-bar): Side-by-side bars per series
- [Stacked bar](/docs/widgets/chart-stacked-bar): Composition per category
- [100% stacked bar](/docs/widgets/chart-normalized-stacked-bar): Composition as percentage
- [Dot plot](/docs/widgets/chart-dot): Discrete category dots
- [Bullet chart](/docs/widgets/chart-bullet): Single value with target bands