BI provider Qlik has released the new version for Qlik Sense on Windows. Qlik Sense May 2025 once again focuses on improving visualization capabilities.
The May release is the first client-managed version this year and contains, among other things, several new features and optimizations in the area of visualizations and the general user interface.
New features in various visualizations
The line chart now has options for adding points and lines to expand the perspective when analyzing data (e.g. to highlight certain values or show trends by connecting points with lines).
In addition to “Grouped” and “Stacked”, the new “Butterfly” display option has also been added to the bar chart. The butterfly chart, also known as tornado chart, is an ideal way to compare two measured variables across one dimension.
Scatter plots now also have options for bubble outline color and support for reference lines with slope.
To expand styling options, Qlik has also added the ability to change the outline color of selections in the map chart. A custom color can now be selected instead of the default color to enhance the design of geographic apps and maps.
Optimization of the straight table
The straight table now also supports mini charts. For example, you can add a second dimension and display the measure with sparklines, bars or dots. This is ideal for displaying trends and providing more context for more comprehensible measures.
New indicators have also been added to the straight table. Icons and colors can be quickly and easily added for any measure based on thresholds.
In addition, Qlik Sense now offers more support for cyclical dimensions in the straight table and in the new pivot table. The column for this now contains a drop-down menu for quick access to the fields of the cyclic group.
The straight table chart also has settings for how null values should be displayed and a setting to hide the header if desired.
Chart exploration in the straight table is now supported in the layout container and in the new tab container. In addition, the table chart now contains a word wrap for headers and content.
Update of the pivot table
The following improvements are now available for the pivot table in the visualization package:
• The new pivot table gets a range selection as well as another presentation mode where the dimensions of indent rows can be selected for a more compact view. As indent rows are intended for text, images and links are not supported.
• New functions for expanding and collapsing are now also available in the pivot table. In future, the user will be able to expand and collapse the entire table directly in view mode. By right-clicking with the mouse, it is now also possible to click on an individual dimension to expand a specific dimension.
Removal of deprecated objects
To modernize the platform, deprecated charts will also soon be removed from the bundles. The following charts will be removed from the Qlik Analytics distribution in May 2026 and should be replaced with newer features before then if used:
• Bar & Area
• Bullet chart (old chart)
• Heatmap chart
• Button for navigation
• Share button
• Show/hide container
• Tab container
The old multi-KPI object is also being discontinued. It is recommended to replace the object with other diagrams. If you have not already done so, you should familiarize yourself with the new settings for the design of apps, worksheets and diagrams. The layout container and the navigation menu can also be used to replace the functionality.
Improvements to the layout container
The layout container has also been updated. For example, the charts do not change position or size when holding the Shift key while resizing the layout container. In addition, the layout container is now supported in user-defined tooltips.
New functionalities for the text object
The following functionalities have been added to the text object in the dashboard bundle:
• Multiple rows of lines can be converted into bullets.
• Measures are highlighted when properties are edited.
• Hover and Details are not disabled by default.
• The maximum number of measures in the text object has been increased from 10 key measures to 100.
New tab container
The new tab container is an improvement of the old container object with a new name and styling settings for labels, tabs and icons. The most important features are:
• Font styling for labels: Family, size, color, alignment
• Size, color and alignment of the label icon
• Settings for the background, selection and hover color of tabs. Color by fixed colors or by expression.
• Styling for labels, tabs and icons, both for the entire container and per tab
• Support for label width in pixels or percentage
• Support for longer labels
• Settings for vertical or horizontal tabs
• Improved menu navigation
Optimized navigation menu
In Qlik Sense May 2025, the custom navigation menu has also been updated again. In this frame, the hover menu is now disabled by default and the worksheet title expression (if available) is now used. There is also an option to place the drawer panel to the right. The separate items mode has been equipped with more options for designing the space, border, shadow and divider. In addition to new padding and margin adjustments, icon and group symbols now also use label colors.
New settings for customizing the toolbar
Sheets and bookmarks have been reinstated as elements in the standard configuration of the app toolbar.
In addition, shortcut buttons can now be added to sheets and bookmarks in the toolbars of analysis apps. These buttons open the assets panel for either sheets or bookmarks.
Both settings can be configured by opening the app settings and selecting the UI settings.