> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cubed3-claude-gallant-ramanujan-qhvf0u.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Small multiples > Split a chart into a grid of panels, one per value of a dimension, for side-by-side comparison across segments. **Small multiples** repeat one chart once per value of a dimension, laying the copies out in a grid. Instead of a single plot with a dozen overlapping series, you get a dozen small panels that can be read and compared at a glance. It is a setting on an existing chart, not a chart type of its own: a bar, line, area, or scatter chart stays that chart and simply gets drawn per panel. ## Splitting a chart into panels The **Small multiples** section appears in the Fields tab for bar, line, area, and scatter charts. Pick a dimension in **First dimension** and the chart is replaced by one panel per value of that dimension. Clearing the picker returns the chart to a single plot. Optionally pick a second dimension in **Second dimension** to lay panels out in a grid with the first dimension across columns and the second down rows, instead of a single wrapped sequence of panels. Clearing the second picker collapses the grid back to the one-dimensional layout. Only dimensions are offered in either picker. Splitting by a measure is not supported — a measure has no discrete values to make panels from. ## Options These options appear once a **First dimension** is chosen. | Option | What it does | | ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Columns** | Caps the number of panels drawn across the first dimension's values, up to 5. Preselected from the number of distinct values, so a four-value dimension opens at 4 columns. When a second dimension is set, this caps the column axis independently of the row axis. | | **Rows** | Only shown once a **Second dimension** is chosen. Caps the number of panels drawn across the second dimension's values, up to 5, independently of **Columns**. | | **Axis scales** | Whether every panel is drawn against the same scale (**Shared**) or each scales to its own data (**Independent**). | | **Sort panels by** | Orders the panels by the dimension's own values (**Value**) or by a measure (**Measure**). | | **Sort order** | **Ascending** or **Descending**. | ### Shared vs. independent axis scales Every panel is labeled with its own X and Y axes either way. What the setting changes is the scale those axes are drawn against. **Shared** is the default, and it is usually what makes small multiples worth using: every panel is drawn against the same scale, so the panels are directly comparable and a taller bar really does mean a bigger number. Switch to **Independent** when the question is about the *shape* of each series rather than its magnitude — "what does each warehouse's weekly pattern look like", where one high-volume warehouse would otherwise flatten every other panel to a straight line. ### How many panels are drawn Each axis is capped independently: **Columns** bounds the first dimension's values and, when a second dimension is set, **Rows** separately bounds the second dimension's values — so a 3-column × 2-row grid draws at most six panels. Since each axis clamps on its own, the largest grid is 5 × 5, or twenty-five panels, regardless of how many distinct values either dimension has. When a dimension has more values than its axis has room for, the chart draws the first ones in the current sort order on that axis. The underlying query is unaffected, so no data is lost — a bigger grid simply shows more of it. A combination of the two dimensions' values that has no matching data renders as an empty panel labeled **No data**. Sorting interacts with this: with **Sort panels by** set to a measure and a descending order, the grid keeps the top panels by that measure, which is usually more useful than the first ones alphabetically. ## Interaction with other settings Chart settings apply to all panels at once — axis titles and formats, colors and palettes, data labels, reference lines, and tooltips are configured once and take effect in every panel. A reference line is drawn once inside each panel, against that panel's own scale when the scales are independent. Data labels and reference lines have to be switched on *after* the split, not before — see the limitations below. A legend is shared across the grid rather than repeated per panel. Clicking a legend entry hides that series in every panel. ## Limitations * **Up to two split dimensions.** A grid can facet by a first dimension (columns) and, optionally, a second (rows) — not more. * **Cartesian charts only.** Bar, line, area, and scatter. Pie, table, KPI, heatmap, boxplot, map, and HTML charts cannot be split. * **Panel labels are not configurable.** Each panel is labeled with its dimension value; the font, size, and color are fixed. * **The split is enabled on a single-view chart.** A chart that already carries data labels, a reference line, or a second Y axis series cannot be split — turn the split on first. The order is the only constraint: once a chart is split, data labels and reference lines can be added freely and are drawn in every panel.