---
title: Power BI Custom Visuals - Force-Directed Graph
description: Learn about the Power BI Custom Visual Force-Directed Graph which allows you to display relationships between your data in a fun, interactive way.
---

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# [Power BI Custom Visuals - Force-Directed Graph](https://pragmaticworks.com/blog/power-bi-custom-visuals-force-directed-graph)

 Written by [Devin Knight](https://pragmaticworks.com/blog/author/devin-knight) | Oct 31, 2016

In this module, you will learn how to use the Force-Directed Graph Power BI Custom Visual.  The Force-Directed Graph allows you to display relationships between your data in a fun, interactive way.

### Module 22 – Force-Directed Graph

### Downloads

- Power BI Custom Visual – [Force-Directed Graph](https://pragmaticworksonline.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/FileShare/Ejn3BZIKy-NHk0DHsQUqT5QBx8WaO5HCyu0Qo7pWOzaWmw?e=20YqOs)
- Dataset – [Blog Visits.xlsx](https://pragmaticworksonline.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/FileShare/Ek1ToECI3n1NhXLVCPpXKKoBSzgZiv2hF4h7FD22SaOwbg?e=uEzNOi)
- Completed Example – [Module 22 – Force-Directed Graph.pbix](https://pragmaticworksonline.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/FileShare/Ek1ToECI3n1NhXLVCPpXKKoBSzgZiv2hF4h7FD22SaOwbg?e=uEzNOi)
- Image – [PersonIcon.png](https://pragmaticworksonline.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/FileShare/Ek1ToECI3n1NhXLVCPpXKKoBSzgZiv2hF4h7FD22SaOwbg?e=uEzNOi)

### Key Takeaways

- Shows relationships between different entities in your data.
- The width of the line that seperates each entity represents the strength of the relationship.

<https://devinknightsql.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/image13.png>

*This Force-Directed Graph shows visitors to my blog and their next likely step after visiting my home page.*

- Under the **Format** paintbrush there are several settings that allow you to customize the way data is presented in the Force-Directed Graph.
- Under the **Data labels** section you can you can choose to increase the text size, or change the color of the text, by using the **Fill** and **Text Size** properties.

<https://devinknightsql.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/image14.png>

- The **Links** property defines how the relationship lines will appear between each entity. 
    - Turning on the **Arrow** property allows you to see the direction of the relationship.
    - Changing the **Label** property to On adds data labels on each arrow so you know the number that’s represented by the line.
    - The **Color** property allows you to define the color of the lines dynamically based on the data.
    - Turning off the **Thickness** property will make it so that each line is the exact same size, regardless of the strength of the relationship.
    - Using **Display Units** and **Decimal Places** allows you to adjust the formatting of the numbers that are shown when the Label property is turned on.

<https://devinknightsql.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/image15.png>

- Under the **Nodes** section you can adjust the way each end point of the relationship is visualized. 
    - By turning on the **Image** property it will allow you to use an image instead of the default representation of an entity.
    - In this example, we used the following **Image URL** to modify what an entity is represented as: [https://file.ac/j9ja34EeWjQ/PersonIcon.png](https://file.ac/j9ja34EeWjQ/PersonIcon.png)

<https://devinknightsql.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/image16.png>

- Adjusting the **Charge **property under the Size section allows you to adjust the amount of space that the visual takes up on the design surface.

<https://devinknightsql.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/image17.png>

- In addition to these properties, you have a set of settings that appears on every visual to adjust the background color, add a border around the visual and lock the aspect ratio.

### Find Out More

You will always be able to find this video module and advanced viewing of future modules on the Pragmatic Works On-Demand Training platform or [view my previous blog posts](https://blog.pragmaticworks.com/topic/power-bi-custom-visuals).

[View full post](https://pragmaticworks.com/blog/power-bi-custom-visuals-force-directed-graph)

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