Sankey stage (column)
A stage is a column in a Sankey diagram: the nodes that sit at the same step of the flow. In a budget, the stages might be Income, Budget and Spending; in a funnel, Visit, Trial and Paid. Stages are what make a Sankey read like a sequence rather than a tangle.
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Create Your Sankey Diagram FreeWhere stages come from
Without any instruction, a Sankey places each node by its links: sources on the left, end points on the right, everything else in between. That is often enough. Naming the stages yourself is useful when the columns mean something the reader should see, such as months, departments or steps of a funnel, because each stage's name becomes the title over its column.
In SankeyCharts.app, the Stage column of the sheet puts a node in a stage. Flows then run from an earlier stage to a later one.
Stages and groups are different
A stage is a position (which column); a group is a family (which colour). "Rent" and "Groceries" share a stage because they are both spending; they might sit in different groups if one is fixed and one is variable. The editor keeps the two in separate columns of the sheet for exactly that reason.
How many stages
Two or three stages cover most diagrams. Each extra stage adds a column of nodes and a set of crossings, so add one only when the step it shows is a real step the reader cares about.
Frequently asked questions
What is a stage in a Sankey diagram?
A column of nodes at the same step of the flow, such as Income, Budget and Spending in a budget Sankey. Links run from earlier stages to later ones.
Do I have to define stages?
No. Without stages the diagram places nodes by their links. Define stages when the columns have names the reader should see.
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