How to chart a Notion rollup

Why you cannot pick a rollup as an axis

You add a chart to a database and you cannot pick the rollup as an axis. That is documented behaviour, not a bug in your workspace. From Notion’s chart help page:

“Your X and Y axes won't be able to show rollups, buttons, unique IDs, files and media, or formulas resulting in a list of outputs.”

So rollups, buttons, unique IDs, files and media, and formulas resulting in a list of outputs are all left out of the X and Y axes. Donut charts have their own, slightly different list:

“Your donut chart won't be able to show rollups, buttons, unique IDs, files and media, and certain formulas.”

The route inside Notion: a formula

The exclusion names the rollup property itself and formulas that return a list. It does not name a formula that returns one value per row. Notion’s next sentence only warns that such formulas are slower, which implies they are accepted:

“Certain formulas, like formulas based on relations and rollups and other complex formulas, may cause charts to take a little bit longer to load.”

In practice:

1. Add a formula property to the database that holds the rollup.
2. Make the formula return a single value, not a list, built from the rollup or its relation.
3. Pick the formula property, not the rollup, as the chart axis.

This follows Notion’s written rule. We have not tested it in a live workspace.

What to expect from this route, all from Notion’s own pages:

• The chart may take longer to load. Notion does not say how much.
• The formula must not return a list. A list formula is excluded just like the rollup.
• On a donut chart “certain formulas” are excluded, and the page does not name them. Check yours on a bar or line chart first.
• Stacking a second rollup on top is not an option: “Can I rollup a rollup? Unfortunately not, as this could create unintended loops.” (Relations and rollups).
• The chart still counts toward your plan. Notion’s Free plan includes 1 chart; paid plans have no cap.

If you are on a paid Notion plan and one extra property per rollup is fine with you, this is the shortest path.

The route through ChartOmodo: read the rollup directly

ChartOmodo is a Notion integration that reads the database through Notion’s API and draws the chart as an embed. A rollup arrives there as a value, so you pick it as an axis directly.

1. Connect the Notion database from the Connect screen.
2. In the builder, pick the rollup property as the X or Y axis, then pick an aggregation.
3. Copy the embed link and paste it into a Notion page.

How each kind of rollup is read

• Calculated rollup (sum, average, min, max): read as the number Notion computed.
• “Show original” over numbers: read as the total of those numbers.
• Rollup of text, tags or checkboxes: the values are kept, so you can group or filter by them.
• Date rollup (earliest or latest date): read as a date.

One thing to watch: the builder aggregates across the rows in each group, and Notion has already folded the related values once. Summing a sum rollup gives a real total. Summing or averaging an average, median or range rollup folds it a second time, which is a different number from the average of the underlying values. The column picker labels each rollup with its function, and the builder shows a note under Aggregation when that second fold applies.

The same steps work for a formula property, so a formula you already wrote for Notion’s chart can be charted too. The docs cover how rollups and numbers stored as text are read, under Data sources.

Which route to take

• Stay with the formula when you would rather not give an outside service access to the database. A ChartOmodo chart is also not live: it re-reads its database on a timer set by your plan, sooner when Notion reports an edit.
• Use ChartOmodo when you want to pick the rollup itself as an axis, when the chart is a donut and the formula is refused, or when Notion’s Free plan has already used its 1 chart. You get 5 charts here; plans are on the pricing page.