How to Export Tableau Map

You’ve created the perfect map in Tableau, and now you need to share it outside the platform. Getting that great visualization out of Tableau and into a presentation, report, or webpage is a common final step. This guide runs through the different ways to export your Tableau map, so you can choose the best method for your specific need.

Graphed

Build AI Agents for Marketing

Build virtual employees that run your go to market. Connect your data sources, deploy autonomous agents, and grow your company.

Build Your First Agent

First, Why Would You Need to Export a Map?

Before jumping into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Your Tableau maps hold valuable insights, but not everyone you need to share them with will have a Tableau license or know how to use the interactive version. Exporting solves this problem.

Common reasons to export a map include:

• Presentations: Dropping a high-quality map image into a PowerPoint or Google Slides deck.
• Reports: Including a map visualization in a PDF or Word document for stakeholders.
• Websites and Blogs: Embedding a static map image on a webpage.
• Collaboration: Sharing a specific view of the data with a colleague for quick feedback without sending a link to the dashboard.
• Further Analysis: Exporting the underlying data to use in other geographic information system (GIS) tools.

The method you choose depends entirely on what you plan to do with the map after it leaves Tableau.

Before You Export: Best Practices for Map Prep

A little prep work goes a long way. Before you export, take a few minutes to check your map for clarity. Since the exported version will be static, what you see is exactly what you’ll get — all interactive elements will be gone.

1. Set the Final View

Use your filters, selectors, and zoom functions to frame the exact data story you want to tell. The exported map is a snapshot in time, so make sure it's the right one. If you want to show California's sales data, filter for it before you export.

AI Agents for Marketing

Crash Course

Graphed

Free PDF · the crash course

AI Agents for Marketing Crash Course

Learn how to deploy AI marketing agents across your go-to-market — the best tools, prompts, and workflows to turn your data into autonomous execution without writing code.

Download the PDF

2. Tidy Up Your Tooltips and Labels

Make sure any visible data labels are clean, legible, and not overlapping. Cluttered labels make a static map incredibly difficult to read. Also, review your tooltips (the pop-up information when you hover over a data point). While the hover functionality won't work in an exported image, you might want to include a caption explaining what the viewer would see in the live version.

3. Check Your Legends

Is your color legend clear and easy to understand? Is the size legend logical? Position your legends in a spot that doesn't obstruct important parts of your map. This is your chance to make sure anyone can understand what the colors and shapes on your map represent without you there to explain it.

4. Adjust the Size and Layout

In your Tableau worksheet or dashboard, adjust the dimensions to match your target output. You can do this by going to the "Dashboard" tab and setting a fixed size. If you know your map is going into a 16:9 PowerPoint slide, setting those dimensions in Tableau first will prevent awkward stretching or cropping later.

With those checks done, your map is ready for its debut. Let's get it exported.

Method 1: Exporting Your Map as an Image File

The most common and straightforward way to export a map is as an image file (like a PNG, JPEG, or BMP). This is perfect for inserting into presentations, documents, or websites.

Here are the steps:

1. Navigate to the top menu bar in Tableau Desktop.
2. Click on Worksheet > Export > Image...
3. An "Export Image" dialog box will appear with several options.

Graphed

Build AI Agents for Marketing

Build virtual employees that run your go to market. Connect your data sources, deploy autonomous agents, and grow your company.

Build Your First Agent

Understanding the Image Export Options

In the dialog box, you'll see a few settings you can customize:

• Include: This option lets you choose which parts of your view to export.
• Image format:

Once you’ve made your selections, click "Save," choose a filename and location, and you're done! You now have a standalone image of your Tableau map.

Method 2: Exporting Directly to PowerPoint

If your ultimate destination is a PowerPoint presentation, Tableau has a built-in feature that saves you a few steps. Instead of exporting an image and then inserting it into a slide, you can create a PowerPoint file directly from Tableau.

The workflow is simple:

1. From your Tableau workbook, go to the top menu and select File > Export as PowerPoint...
2. A dialog box will appear, letting you configure what gets included.
3. You can select which specific sheets and dashboards from your workbook you want to include in the presentation. Each selected sheet will become its own slide.
4. Tableau will add a title slide with the workbook's name and then generate one slide per visualization.

It’s important to remember that the map on the slide will be a static, high-resolution image — not an interactive Tableau view. However, Tableau conveniently includes a link back to the original workbook on each slide, so if a stakeholder wants to explore the live dashboard, they can easily find it.

Method 3: Printing to PDF for Formal Reports

For official reports, white papers, or printable handouts, PDF is the standard. Generating a PDF from Tableau preserves the vector quality of your map, meaning it will look sharp even when zoomed in or printed on high-resolution printers.

This process is very similar to printing any other document:

1. Go to File > Print to PDF...
2. The "Print to PDF" dialog box gives you several configuration options.

PDF Export Settings to Know

• Include: You can choose to print the Entire Workbook, the Active Sheet, or select Specific sheets from your workbook.
• Paper Size and Orientation: Make sure to select the correct paper size (e.g., Letter, A4) and orientation. Maps often look best in Landscape mode.
• Page Scaling: You can choose to scale the view to fit the page or leave it at its actual size. "Fit to page" is usually the safest option.

For the best results, use the File > Page Setup... menu before you go to print. This lets you fine-tune margins, orientation, and layout to ensure your map and its legends don't get awkwardly cut off.

AI Agents for Marketing

Crash Course

Graphed

Free PDF · the crash course

AI Agents for Marketing Crash Course

Learn how to deploy AI marketing agents across your go-to-market — the best tools, prompts, and workflows to turn your data into autonomous execution without writing code.

Download the PDF

Method 4: Exporting the Data Itself (Crosstab)

Sometimes you don't need the picture of the map — you need the raw geographic data that created it. Maybe you need to analyze it further in Excel or import it into another GIS tool like ArcGIS or QGIS. In this case, you can export the data as a crosstab.

A crosstab is essentially a spreadsheet view of your data.

1. From your worksheet view, go to Worksheet > Export > Crosstab to Excel.
2. Tableau will immediately generate an Excel file containing the data that is currently visualized on your map, respecting any active filters.
3. This file will include columns for your geographic data (like latitude/longitude, state, or zip code) along with the associated measures (like sales, customers, or population).

This is a powerful way to bridge the gap between Tableau and other data tools, letting you leverage your visualized data for deeper, more specialized analysis outside of your dashboard.

Final Thoughts

Exporting maps from Tableau is a straightforward process when you know which option to choose. Whether you need a simple image for a PowerPoint, a high-quality PDF for a formal report, or the underlying data for another tool, there’s a built-in method ready to help you share your insights effectively.

While mastering specific features in tools like Tableau is valuable, we believe getting insights from your data should be much easier. At Graphed, we’re removing the technical hurdles by allowing you to connect your data sources and create dashboards simply by asking for what you want in plain English. This lets you move from question to insight in seconds, without wrestling with complex setups or export menus, so you can spend your time making decisions, not building reports.