How to Export Tableau Graph

​You've built the perfect visualization in Tableau, uncovering key insights that your team needs to see. Now, how do you get that beautiful graph out of Tableau and into a presentation, report, or email? This guide will walk you through the various ways to export your Tableau graphs, dashboards, and data, so you can share your work effectively and easily.

Why Export From Tableau?

While Tableau is fantastic for interactive analysis, you'll often need to share your findings with people who don't have Tableau or who need a static, snapshot-in-time view. Exporting your work is a fundamental skill for any Tableau user. Common reasons for exporting include:

• Presentations: Embedding graphs into PowerPoint or Google Slides to support your narrative during a meeting.

• Reports: Including key performance indicators (KPIs) and visualizations in weekly or monthly reports created in Word, Google Docs, or as a PDF.

• Sharing with Stakeholders: Emailing a simple image or PDF makes it easy for busy executives to see the results without logging into another tool.

• Further Analysis: Exporting the underlying data to a spreadsheet (like Excel or Google Sheets) allows you or a colleague to perform ad-hoc calculations or combine it with other datasets.

• Archiving: Keeping a static copy of a report from a specific date for compliance or historical tracking.

Understanding Your Export Options

Tableau offers several formats for exporting, and choosing the right one depends on your goal. Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "what."

1. Image (PNG, JPEG, BMP)

An image file is a static picture of your worksheet or dashboard. This is arguably the most common and versatile export type.

• Best for: PowerPoint slides, Word documents, emails, and website embeds.

• Use PNG when: You need a higher quality image or want a transparent background.

• Use JPEG when: You need a smaller file size and don't require transparency.

2. PDF

Exporting as a PDF creates a high-quality, professional document that maintains all formatting and is easy to share and print. It’s perfect for official reports or handouts.

• Best for: Creating multi-page reports, distributing a report that shouldn't be edited, and ensuring consistent viewing across different devices.

3. Crosstab to Excel (CSV)

Sometimes the visual is less important than the numbers that power it. The Crosstab to Excel option exports the summarized data from your view into a spreadsheet, maintaining the structure (rows and columns) of your visualization.

• Best for: Sharing the underlying data table with colleagues who want to perform their own calculations or prefer viewing raw numbers in a familiar spreadsheet format.

4. PowerPoint (.pptx)

Tableau has a built-in feature to export directly to PowerPoint. This is a huge time-saver for anyone building slide decks, as it exports your dashboard as a high-quality image centered on a new slide.

• Best for: Quickly adding a polished, up-to-date visual to a presentation without the extra steps of exporting an image first and then importing it into PowerPoint.

5. Tableau Packaged Workbook (.twbx)

This isn't an "export" in the traditional sense, but a way of saving and sharing your entire Tableau project. A .twbx file bundles the workbook (your sheets and dashboards) and a copy of the data source together. The recipient needs Tableau Reader or Tableau Desktop to open it.

• Best for: Collaborating with other Tableau users, allowing them to fully interact with your dashboard — applying filters, hovering for tooltips, and drilling down into the data.

Step-by-Step: How to Export a Single Worksheet

Exporting a single graph or view (a "worksheet" in Tableau-speak) is straightforward. Let's walk through the steps for each main format.

Exporting a Worksheet as an Image

1. Navigate to the worksheet you wish to export.

2. In the top menu, go to Worksheet > Export > Image...

3. An "Export Image" dialog box will appear. Here you can customize the output:

   • Image Options: Choose which parts of the view to include (e.g., Title, View, Caption, Legend). For a clean look, you might just want the "View."

   • Layout Options: If exporting a legend, you can choose its position.

   • Save As type: Select your desired image format (PNG, BMP, JPEG).

4. Click Save. Choose a file name and location, and you're done!

Exporting a Worksheet's Data to a Crosstab or CSV

1. With your worksheet open, go to the top menu and select Worksheet > Export > Crosstab to Excel.

2. Tableau will immediately prompt you to save the file. It will automatically convert the data’s structure into a spreadsheet format.

3. Alternatively, if you want just the raw, unaggregated underlying data, you can go to Worksheet > Export > Data.... This will open a new window showing your data source. From there, you can choose "Export All" to save it as a .csv file.

Pro Tip: You can also simply select the marks (e.g., the bars in a bar chart) you're interested in, hover until a little menu appears, and click the "View Data" icon (a small table). In the window that pops up, you can see summarized and underlying data and have an option to export it all as a CSV.

Step-by-Step: How to Export a Full Dashboard

Exporting a dashboard is very similar to exporting a worksheet, but the menu options are slightly different. Dashboards often contain multiple worksheets, filters, and text elements, so you need to be mindful of how they'll look once exported.

Exporting a Dashboard as an Image or PDF

1. Navigate to the dashboard you want to export.

2. In the top menu, select Dashboard > Export Image.... This works exactly like exporting a worksheet image.

3. To create a PDF, go to File > Print to PDF....

4. The "Print to PDF" dialog box gives you several critical options:

   • Include: You can select the entire workbook, the active dashboard, or specific sheets within the workbook.

   • Paper Size and Orientation: Make sure this matches your intended use. "Unspecified" often works best as Tableau will try to match the dashboard's dimensions.

   • Content: Choose what to print. "This Dashboard" is the most common selection.

5. Click OK and save your PDF.

Exporting a Dashboard to PowerPoint

1. Once your dashboard is finalized, go to File > Export as PowerPoint...

2. A dialog box will open, confirming the sheets you want to include (by default, the active dashboard). You can also add a title, descriptive text, and a link back to the workbook on Tableau Server/Cloud.

3. Click Export. Tableau will generate a new .pptx file with your dashboard beautifully placed as an image on a new slide.

Bonus Tips for Perfect Exports

To really elevate your exported graphs from good to great, keep these professional tips in mind.

• Set Your Dashboard Size: Before you do anything else, finalize your dashboard size. A common mistake is building a dashboard with an "Automatic" size, which looks fine on your screen but can become distorted when exported. If you know you're exporting for a presentation, use the "Size" dropdown in the Dashboard pane and select a fixed size like "PowerPoint (1600x900)." This ensures what you see is what you get.

• Clean Up Your View: Before exporting, hide any unnecessary elements. This could include disabling tooltips if they don't add value, hiding worksheet titles on a dashboard ("Hide Title"), or removing filters that aren't relevant to the final analysis. A clean view looks more professional and focuses the audience's attention on the data.

• Use High-Quality Legends and Labels: Ensure your legends are clear and your data labels are legible. If a bar chart has too many bars, labels can become cluttered. Consider removing them before export to keep the visual clean.

• Consider Your Fonts and Colors: Make sure the fonts and colors used will be readable in the final format. Light gray text might look fine on your monitor but disappear in a PDF or on a projector screen. Stick to high-contrast colors for better accessibility.

Final Thoughts

Exporting graphs, data, and dashboards from Tableau is a core skill that turns your private analysis into shared insights. By understanding the different export formats – Image, PDF, PowerPoint, and Crosstab – you can choose the perfect method for any situation, whether you're building a presentation, writing a report, or just sharing numbers with a colleague.

Of course, the manual cycle of building reports, exporting them, getting feedback, and then rebuilding them can take up a lot of time. At Graphed, we’ve found that many teams spend more hours wrestling with data tools than acting on insights. That’s why we built Graphed to connect directly to your data sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce and generate live dashboards automatically. Instead of exporting static images, you simply ask in plain English for the report you need, and you get a real-time, shareable dashboard in seconds, freeing you up to focus on strategy instead of manual reporting.