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Maximize Space when Presenting with Tableau

Tableau lets you publish your views to PDF, PowerPoint, and Tableau Server; however, sometimes you can't beat the convenience of flipping through several worksheets in Tableau Desktop itself. When you present straight from Tableau there are several things you can do to maximize the space dedicated to your view. These include rearranging cards, switching into Presentation Mode, and resizing the table.

Here's how it works.

Rearrange Cards

As you build views several cards are shown to support color, size, and shape legends as well as the Current Page and Summary cards. Each card displays in its default location, usually on the side of the view. While each card is very useful for interpreting the view, you may want to rearrange them to maximize the space dedicated to the view. Simply click and drag the card to a new position in the window. For example, you may want to create a single column of cards along the left or right of the view.
Rearrange cards by clcking and draggig them to a new location in the window.

Presentation Mode

In addition to cards, the window contains several shelves for the Rows and Columns, Marks, Filters, and so on. After arranging the cards how you like, you can quickly hide both the shelves and Data window by switching into Presentation Mode. You can turn on this mode by clicking the Presentation Mode button in the toolbar. Click the button again to return to normal.
Click the Presenation Mode button in the toolbar to quickly hide the Data window and shelves.

Resize the Table

Finally, sometimes a view will have many columns or rows making it really wide or really tall. You can use the cell size formatting commands to quickly make the table taller, shorter, wider, or narrower.

The cell size commands are available on the Format menu or with the keyboard shortcuts shown in the table below.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Ctrl + Down Arrow Makes the table shorter
Ctrl + Up Arrow Makes the table taller
Ctrl + Right Arrow Makes the table wider
Ctrl + Left Arrow Makes the table narrower
Use the cell size options to resize the table.
 

To Learn More

  • Learn more about Presenting with Tableau by searching for Presentation in the Tableau Online Help.
  • Contact Tableau Technical Support at: (206) 633 3400 x2
  • Learn this trick and many more at the Tips and Tricks index. Don't forget to bookmark it.