Setting Graph Size - Plotly Py

Adjusting Height, Width, & Margins with Plotly Express

Plotly Express is the easy-to-use, high-level interface to Plotly, which operates on a variety of types of data and produces easy-to-style figures.

python

import plotly.express as px

df = px.data.tips()
fig = px.scatter(df, x="total_bill", y="tip", facet_col="sex",
                 width=800, height=400)

fig.update_layout(
    margin=dict(l=20, r=20, t=20, b=20),
    paper_bgcolor="LightSteelBlue",
)

fig.show()

Adjusting graph size with Dash

Dash is the best way to build analytical apps in Python using Plotly figures. To run the app below, run pip install dash, click "Download" to get the code and run python app.py.

Get started with the official Dash docs and learn how to effortlessly style & publish apps like this with <a class="plotly-red" href="https://plotly.com/dash/">Dash Enterprise</a> or <a class="plotly-red" href="https://plotly.com/cloud/">Plotly Cloud</a>.

python

from IPython.display import IFrame
snippet_url = 'https://python-docs-dash-snippets.herokuapp.com/python-docs-dash-snippets/'
IFrame(snippet_url + 'setting-graph-size', width='100%', height=1200)

<div style="font-size: 0.9em;"><div style="width: calc(100% - 30px); box-shadow: none; border: thin solid rgb(229, 229, 229);"><div style="padding: 5px;"><div><p><strong>Sign up for Dash Club</strong> → Free cheat sheets plus updates from Chris Parmer and Adam Schroeder delivered to your inbox every two months. Includes tips and tricks, community apps, and deep dives into the Dash architecture. <u><a href="https://go.plotly.com/dash-club?utm_source=Dash+Club+2022&utm_medium=graphing_libraries&utm_content=inline">Join now</a></u>.</p></div></div></div></div>

Adjusting Height, Width, & Margins With Graph Objects

Graph objects are the low-level building blocks of figures which you can use instead of Plotly Express for greater control.

python

import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = go.Figure()

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8],
    y=[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
))

fig.update_layout(
    autosize=False,
    width=500,
    height=500,
    margin=dict(
        l=50,
        r=50,
        b=100,
        t=100,
        pad=4
    ),
    paper_bgcolor="LightSteelBlue",
)

fig.show()

Automatically Adjust Margins

Set automargin to True and Plotly will automatically increase the margin size to prevent ticklabels from being cut off or overlapping with axis titles.

python

import plotly.graph_objects as go


fig = go.Figure()

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(
    x=["Apples", "Oranges", "Watermelon", "Pears"],
    y=[3, 2, 1, 4]
))

fig.update_layout(
    autosize=False,
    width=500,
    height=500,
    yaxis=dict(
        title=dict(
            text="Y-axis Title",
            font=dict(
                size=30
            )
        ),
        ticktext=["Very long label", "long label", "3", "label"],
        tickvals=[1, 2, 3, 4],
        tickmode="array",
    )
)

fig.update_yaxes(automargin=True)

fig.show()

Automatically Adjust Specific Margins

New in 5.10

You can also set automargin for specific sides of the figure. Here, we set automargin on the left and top of the figure.

python

import plotly.graph_objects as go


fig = go.Figure()

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(
    x=["Apples", "Oranges", "Watermelon", "Pears"],
    y=[3, 2, 1, 4]
))

fig.update_layout(
    autosize=False,
    width=500,
    height=500,
    yaxis=dict(
        title=dict(
            text="Y-axis Title",
            font=dict(
                size=30
            )
        ),
        ticktext=["Very long label", "long label", "3", "label"],
        tickvals=[1, 2, 3, 4],
        tickmode="array",
    )
)

fig.update_yaxes(automargin='left+top')

fig.show()

Setting a Minimum Plot Size with Automargins

New in 5.11

To set a minimum width and height for a plot to be after automargin is applied, use minreducedwidth and minreducedheight. Here we set both to 250.

python

import plotly.graph_objects as go


fig = go.Figure()

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(
    x=["Apples", "Oranges", "Watermelon", "Pears"],
    y=[3, 2, 1, 4]
))

fig.update_layout(
    autosize=False,
    minreducedwidth=250,
    minreducedheight=250,
    width=450,
    height=450,
    yaxis=dict(
        title=dict(
            text="Y-axis Title",
            font=dict(
                size=30
            )
        ),
        ticktext=["Label", "Very long label", "Other label", "Very very long label"],
        tickvals=[1, 2, 3, 4],
        tickmode="array",
    )
)


fig.show()

Reference

See https://plotly.com/python/reference/layout/ for more information and chart attribute options!