Workbook Basics

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT: 

This document introduces you to workbook basics and points you to helpful resources to get started with workbooks.

Workbooks offer data exploration and a visualization canvas designed to enable spreadsheet-savvy users to apply formulas and charting options typically accessible to BI developers. 

Workbooks enable both ad hoc data exploration and complex long-term reporting. The collaborative interface and visual approach to data interaction makes live data accessible to everyone in your organization, and teams can draw insights from practically unlimited amounts of data.

The Basics

Workbooks for Data Exploration

We often find ourselves conducting ad hoc analysis that is only needed in the current moment. So why clutter folders with one-off documents never to be used again?

A workbooks is considered purely exploratory until you, as its creator, actively save the first version. This provides a central location to start both your ad hoc analysis and reporting. Once you begin exploring data, you can close the unsaved workbook or save it for continued analysis and reporting. 

Unsaved workbooks are referred to as explorations and are available in the Recents page for 30 days.

Report Building in a Single Location

If you previously used worksheets or dashboards, you may be familiar with the process of creating multiple worksheets to source visualizations for a single dashboard. 

Workbooks alleviate this workflow by allowing you to build your analysis exactly where it is displayed to your report consumers.

Sourcing your Data

Workbooks support data from multiple sources, including tables in your Cloud Data Warehouse (CDW) and your organization's datasets. Your data is always live, accessible at scale, and cannot be deleted or corrupted.

Lookups are currently the only join type supported by workbooks, so most data modeling should be conducted in datasets.

Anatomy of a Workbook

This section introduces you to the basic components of workbooks.

Note: The screenshots below show a workbook in Edit mode.

Pages and Page Tabs

Each workbook is made up of one or more pages. Each page has its own canvas on which you can build elements (e.g., visualizations, tables, pivot tables, controls, etc.).

Page tabs, located at the bottom of your screen, enable you to view different pages in the workbook.

The Page Canvas

Each workbook page has its own canvas. Each canvas supports one or more visual elements (e.g., charts, tables, controls, images, etc.). 

The Workbook Editor Panel

The workbook editor panel, located on the left side of the screen, allows you to interact with and manipulate elements in your workbook. 

The editor panel content varies depending on how you are currently interacting with the workbook. For example, it displays one view when adding a new element and alternative views when configuring different element types.

When you select a new or existing element, the editor panel automatically displays that specific element’s configuration.

Note: Access to the editor panel depends on your workbook view mode.

Elements

Elements live on the page canvas and can be added as individual elements or in preset layouts. 

Available element types: data elements (tables, visualizations, and pivot tables), UI elements (text, images, buttons, embeds, spacers, and dividers), and control elements (filters and parameters).

Note: In workbooks, tables and pivot tables are not considered types of visualizations. Visualizations, tables, and pivot tables are separate options in the data elements category.

The Toolbar

The toolbar, located directly under the workbook header, gives you quick access to select actions, formatting options, and the formula bar.

The toolbar content varies depending on the element you have selected, but undo, redo, and page theming functions are always displayed.

Note: When you select a column in a data element, you can view and edit the column's formula in the toolbar only if you have Can Edit or Can Explore access to the workbook.