Hello Reader,

Hope you are having a wonderful day. Here are the data tidbits for this week.

Tableau Tip - Print to PDF

Ever needed to print your dashboards in PDF, only to find out they’re weirdly split into different pages?

Many of our dashboards don’t fit the usual “print” layout, but this shouldn’t stop us from printing them in PDF. This allows us to share with others who don’t necessarily have access to the workbooks.

Here’s the trick.

Go to File > Print to PDF. In this screen, choose “Unspecified” under Paper Size.

Be warned, though, that the size will still be off - it simply follows your view/dashboard dimensions. This trick simply gets you a single PDF. You may need to zoom in or out when you view in PDF.

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Viz Tip - What is the purpose of your dashboard?

Explore, explain, educate - which of these is your dashboard's purpose?

The purpose of your dashboard dictates its design and functionality, much like how a museum is curated to serve different educational goals.

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Explore: Like an interactive exhibit.

Visitors can engage with the displays in various ways—turning knobs, opening drawers, or pressing buttons—to discover more about the subject matter on their own terms.

In a dashboard, you can add more knobs (filters, actions, dynamic components) to allow your audience to explore different combinations, until they find the information or insight they’re looking for.

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Explain: Like a guided tour.

Visitors are led through a curated path, highlighting key exhibits and providing detailed explanations to convey a specific narrative or insight.

In a dashboard, we can consider asking questions and directing our audience to certain parts, or other dashboards, depending on their answers. In Tableau, we can also consider Story points.

Using more text or image legends for explanations can go a long way.

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Educate: Like a workshop.

Participants can learn through predefined readings or engage in hands-on activities under the guidance of an expert, designed to teach new skills or concepts.

In dashboards, it will be helpful to add a clear starting point, where we set the context, language, terminology, tone, and goal so everyone starts off on the same page.

We can use instructional text or imagery and complementary resources, such as external videos or articles, to complement the exercises or provide stretch goals.

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It's a wrap.

That's it for now.

Remember, your journey in data is unique. Don’t compare yourself to others.

Embrace learning, be open to opportunities, and never stop exploring the opportunities that are uniquely yours.

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Until next time,

Donabel