Picta Sections

Sections are expandable sub-panels that contain additional settings. Click a section header to open it and reveal its controls. Sections that don't apply to the current picta type are hidden.

Data Binding

The most important section — this is where you map your data fields to the picta's visual properties. All four inputs are dropdown menus that list the column names from your data.

All four dropdowns support selecting multiple columns. This is most useful for Tooltip (showing extra details) and Value (feeding multiple columns into visual properties). For Horizontal and Vertical, multi-select is available but rarely needed in practice.

Open this section if the auto-mapping didn't pick the right fields, or if you want fine-grained control over which columns map to which visual dimension.

Radius

Applicable to Pie, Chord, Gauge, and Sunburst pictas. Controls the inner and outer radius of circular chart elements. See Radius in the Shared Settings reference for detailed settings.

Position

Applicable to Pie, Map, Tree, Treemap, Funnel, Sankey, and Streamgraph pictas. Controls the positioning of the chart element within its container. See Position in the Shared Settings reference for detailed settings.

Size

Applicable to Pie, Map, Tree, Treemap, Funnel, Sankey, and Streamgraph pictas. Controls the width and height of the chart element. See Size in the Shared Settings reference for detailed settings.

Shape

Applicable to Line, Scatter, Radar, Tree, and EffectScatter pictas. Customizes the marker symbol used for data points. See Shape in the Shared Settings reference for detailed settings.

Highlight

Controls how chart elements appear when hovered or highlighted. A dropdown lets you choose how other elements react when one is highlighted.

Tick Marks

Only applicable to the gauge picta. Contains three number inputs for minor tick marks:

Use this to fine-tune the tick marks around your gauge dial — for example, adding more minor ticks for a more detailed scale.

Dial Arc

Only applicable to the gauge picta. Customizes the appearance of the gauge's curved arc line with three settings:

Use this to match the dial arc to your chart's overall design — for example, a thicker, colored arc for better visibility.

Progress Bar

Only applicable to the gauge picta. Displays a progress indication drawn on top of the dial arc. Contains two settings and a sub-section:

Line Style

Controls the appearance of lines in line charts and chart borders. Contains three settings and a sub-section:

Use dashed lines for projections or forecasts, solid lines for actual data.

Item Style

Controls the appearance of individual chart elements: bars, pie slices, data points, and more. Contains two settings and two sub-sections:

Use different item styles to emphasize certain data points or match brand colors.

Background Style

Only applicable to the bar picta. Customizes the background behind the bars with one setting and two sub-sections:

Use this to make bars stand out against the background area — for example, adding a subtle background behind bars to create contrast.

Label

Applicable to all pictas except sunburst. Customizes the text labels on chart elements. Contains a button and seven sub-sections:

Good labels make the difference between a chart your audience can read at a glance and one they have to study.

Label Line

Applicable to pie, funnel, and sunburst pictas. When labels are placed outside chart elements, this line connects each label to its corresponding item so readers can see which label belongs to which slice or segment. Contains three settings and a sub-section:

Use this when your chart has many items and you need clean, readable connections between labels and their elements.

Upper Label

Only applicable to the treemap picta. Identical in structure to the Label section — it has a Compose Text button and the same seven sub-sections (Location, Alignment, Font, Text Border, Text Shadow, Border, Shadow). See the Label section above for details.

Use this to style labels that appear above or outside the main item labels in a treemap, helping distinguish parent categories from their children.

End Label

Only applicable to the line picta. Shows a label at the end of each line. Contains:

Use this to display final values or totals at the tip of each line without cluttering the main chart area.

Leaves

Only applicable to the tree picta. Controls the labels for the end nodes (leaves) of a tree diagram. Identical in structure to the Label section — it has a Compose Text button and the same seven sub-sections (Location, Alignment, Font, Text Border, Text Shadow, Border, Shadow). See the Label section above for details.

Use this to customize how the final-level nodes in your tree diagram are labeled, helping readers distinguish the leaf nodes from higher-level branches.

Area Style

Only applicable to the line and radar pictas. Transforms a line chart into an area chart by filling the space beneath the line. Contains three settings and a sub-section:

Use area fills to emphasize magnitude or volume beneath a trend line — for example, filling the area under a stock price line to highlight the overall trend.

Point Annotation

Highlights specific data points on the chart — for example, marking a record high, a target value, or an outlier.

The section contains a Points array where you add and remove individual annotations. Click Add Point to create a new point, or click Remove this point to remove one. The sub-sections below appear in two places:

• At the top level (global settings) — any value you set here applies as the default for all points in the array.
• Inside each individual point — override the global defaults for that specific point. Changes here only affect that single point.

Sub-sections:

This dual-level structure lets you set a consistent style for all annotations at once, while still having the flexibility to tweak individual points when needed.

Line Annotation

Draws lines across the chart to indicate thresholds, targets, or reference values. For example, draw a horizontal line at "1 million" to show a revenue target, or at "90%" to show a performance benchmark.

The section contains a Lines array where you add and remove individual annotations. Click + Add to create a new line, or click Remove this line to remove one. The sub-sections below appear in two places:

• At the top level (global settings) — any value you set here applies as the default for all lines in the array.
• Inside each individual line — override the global defaults for that specific line. Changes here only affect that single line.

Each line has a start point and an end point, shown as two tabs inside the line's panel. Both tabs contain the same sub-sections:

This dual-level structure lets you define a default style for all reference lines, while still being able to draw attention to specific lines with custom styling.

Area Annotation

Shades rectangular regions on the chart to highlight specific ranges. For example, shade the area between "Q1 and Q2" to highlight a promotional period, or shade the "danger zone" on a performance chart in red.

The section contains an Areas array where you add and remove individual annotations. Click Add Area to create a new region, or click Remove this area to remove one. The sub-sections below appear in two places:

• At the top level (global settings) — any value you set here applies as the default for all regions in the array.
• Inside each individual region — override the global defaults for that specific region. Changes here only affect that single region.

Sub-sections:

This dual-level structure lets you keep a consistent look for all shaded regions while customizing individual ones for emphasis.

Levels

For hierarchical charts like Treemap, Sunburst and Sankey, this section lets you define different visual styling for each depth level. The section contains a Levels array where you add and customize individual levels. Click Add Level to create a new one, or click Remove this level to remove one.

Each level has the following controls:

For Sunburst charts, each level also has:

Use this to make the hierarchy easier to follow at a glance — for example, first-level categories in bold colors, second-level in lighter shades.