Printing

Tableau enables printing for individual visualizations, dashboards, and stories. From the File menu, you can select Print to send the currently active sheet in the workbook to the printer or the Print to PDF option to export to a PDF. Either option allows you to export the active sheet, selected sheets, or the entire workbook to a PDF. To select multiple sheets, hold the Ctrl key and click individual tabs.

When printing, you also have the option to Show Selections. When this option is checked, marks that have been interactively selected or highlighted on a view or dashboard will be printed as selected. Otherwise, marks will print as though no selections have been made. The map in the following dashboard has marks for the western half of the United States selected:

Here are some considerations, tips, and suggestions for printing:

• If a dashboard is being designed for print, select a predefined paper size as the fixed size for the dashboard or use a custom size that matches the same aspect ratio.
• Use the Page Setup screen (available from the File menu) to define specific print options, such as what elements (legends, title, caption) will be included, the layout (including margins and centering), and how the view or dashboard should be scaled to match the paper size. The Page Setup options are specific to each view. Duplicating or copying a sheet will include any changes to the Page Setup settings:

If you are designing multiple sheets or dashboards for print, consider creating one as a template, setting up all the desired print settings, and then duplicating it for each new sheet.

• Fields used on the Pages shelf will define page breaks in printing (for individual sheets, but not dashboards or stories). The number of pages defined by the Pages shelf is not necessarily equivalent to the number of printed pages. This is because a single page defined by the Pages shelf might require more than one printed page.
• Each story point in a story will be printed on a new page.
• Printing the Entire Workbook can be an effective way to generate a single PDF document for distribution. Each visible sheet will be included in the PDF in the order of the tabs, from left to right. You may hide sheets to prevent inclusion in the PDF or reorder sheets to adjust the order of the resultant document. Consider also creating dashboards with images and text for title pages, table of contents, page numbers, and commentary.
• Avoid scrollbars in dashboards as they will print as scrollbars, and anything outside the visible window will not be printed.
• You can also select multiple sheets in the workbook (hold the Ctrl key while clicking each tab) and then print only selected sheets.

Sheets may be hidden if they are views that are used in one or more dashboards or tooltips or if they are dashboards used in one or more stories. To hide a view, right-click the tab or thumbnail on the bottom strip or in the left-hand pane of the dashboard or story workspace and select Hide Sheet. To show a sheet, locate it in the left-hand pane of the dashboard or story workspace, right-click it, and uncheck Hide Sheet. You can also right-click a dashboard or story tab and hide or show all sheets used.

If you don't see a Hide Sheet option, this means this sheet is not used in any dashboard and can then be deleted.