Data Slice
Slicing turns a click into a filter. Click a bar in a chart and the rest of the dashboard re-draws around that bar; pick a value in a dropdown and every widget linked to it follows.
It is the difference between a picture of data and a dashboard you can actually explore.
How it works
When you enable slicing on a widget, it reserves an area in the Dataspace for its selection. Each time you select something, the widget writes the matching rows into that area. Formulas and other widgets that reference that area recalculate, and the dashboard updates.
The reserved area belongs to the widget. It is an output, not a place to type: the widget overwrites it on every selection change, so write your formulas elsewhere and point them at the slice.
Enable slicing
- Select the widget on the canvas.
- In the Properties panel, open the slice section.
- Turn slicing on.
- Choose how it selects — see below.
- Bind it to an area in the Dataspace. You pick a starting cell and the app sizes the area from the widget's data.
The app checks the target before it commits: it confirms the widget has a dataset to slice, that no other slice already owns that area, and that nothing else lives there. If the target is too small or collides with something, it says so clearly rather than quietly clearing the binding.
A bound slice shows up in the Datasets panel with its own marker, so you can always see what is producing what.
Selection behaviour by widget type
How a widget selects depends on what it is, and the property panel only offers what the widget can actually do:
| Widget | Selection |
|---|---|
| Charts (bar, line, pie, scatter, map, …) | Click a data point. Which selection modes are available is a property of the chart type — the panel only shows the ones that make sense for it. |
| Select, Radio, Checkbox | Single or multiple selection, set under General Settings → Controls → Mode, not in the slice section. |
| Number Input, Date Picker, Slider | No enumerable choices to select; the widget writes whatever value you entered or the range you dragged. |
Charts and input widgets differ in another way: an input widget can carry a value from the moment the dashboard opens, so anything linked to it is filtered immediately. A chart has nothing selected until someone clicks, so linked widgets start unfiltered. Both states are correct — see below.
What a dashboard opens with
What you see on first open is decided by three things, in this order:
- What the file already holds. The slice area is a range in the Dataspace, and the Dataspace is saved with your document. Whatever the slice held when you saved is still there when you reopen, and linked widgets start filtered exactly as they were then.
- The starting value you configured. Set Selected Value on a Select, Radio or Checkbox under Properties → General → Controls. When the document opens, that value is written into the slice — but only if the slice is empty. A value that came back with the file is never overwritten, and if you change the value in the panel, the new one is emitted immediately.
- Nothing at all. A chart that nobody has clicked opens with an empty slice area.
The value has to match the bound data exactly, and multi-select widgets accept several starting values. A date range restores as the range you saved.
An empty selection is not a broken slice
A chart with nothing clicked is the normal starting state, not a fault: the area is reserved and empty, and downstream widgets show everything. The dashboard is waiting for a user, not failing.
If you want a dashboard that opens already filtered, set a Selected Value on an input widget — it reaches the slice as the document opens — or drive the filter from a slice the user engages deliberately.
Using a slice elsewhere
Other widgets do not bind to a slice area directly. The supported patterns are:
- Reference it from formulas — write a formula outside the slice area that filters your source data using the selected values.
- Create a dataset from the result — turn that formula's output into a dataset, then bind widgets to it. This is the usual way to fan one selection out to several widgets.
This indirection is what keeps a slice from becoming a spiderweb of hard-wired references: the slice produces values, formulas decide what to do with them.
Sizing and limits
A slice mirrors rows from its source dataset, and datasets are capped at 2,000 records × 15 fields. Aggregating a large source before enabling slicing is not only a size question — a slice of 2,000 raw rows is not a usable filter for anyone. Slice an aggregated result and the interaction stays sharp.
Common problems
| What you see | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Linked widgets never change when you click | The slice is not bound, or the links point at the wrong area | Re-open the slice section and confirm the bound range; check what the formula references |
| Nothing is filtered on first open | The chart has no selection yet — normal | Click a data point, or set a Selected Value on an input widget |
| Binding a slice fails | The target area is occupied, overlaps another dataset, or is too small | Pick a clear starting cell; the message names the conflicting range |
| A starting value did not take effect | It does not match the bound data character for character, or a selection came back with the file and the slice was not empty | Compare the value against the column's values exactly; clear the slice's content and reopen |
Where to go next
- Dataspace — where slice output lives
- Datasets — turning results into bindable data
- Data Binding — how widgets consume data