After writing Embedding Powerpoint in a Dashboard, I figure that we can embed Excel in Tableau too.

The technique presented here gives the widely used Excel a new twist within Tableau framework. So, you can imagine that your Tableau charts and Excel charts cohabit side by side.

The key is to use Google Docs/Sheets as a proxy. Namely,
- upload your Excel file to Google Docs
- extract the file widget URL (for publishing or for collaboration)
- add the URL to a web object in dashboard

Note that, depending on your purpose, the URL is different for publishing or for collaboration. Publishing is for the whole world to see. In collaboration mode, you can set up permissions to allow only a few of your trusted parties to view or even edit.

Extracting the URL for publishing

This is the only tricky part of the process. Let's see how it works.
1.On the Excel file as Google sheet, select menu File>Publish to the Web
2.Select Embed
3.Extract the link URL

Extract the URL for collaboration

This option will allow you to set permissions for accessing the Excel report: view, comment or edit. It will show menu and login.

Here are the steps:
1.Click the share button at the top right corner.
2.View the sharing interface and copy the sharing link URL.

You are done here. But you have the option to set more permissions.
- Set permission options for sharing
- Set advanced options

Does VBA Macro work here?

Unfortunately it doesn't. So the interactivity of the Excel reports thus embedded is limited. You can always port the VBA code to Google Apps Script that works with Google sheet. But you might just spend the effort to redesign the interactivity in Tableau.

Sync with the original Excel file

By installing Google Drive on your desktop, and putting the original Excel file in it, you will be able to sync the file with the one embedded in Tableau. That is, you can edit the file on your desktop, save it and sync it. The newly edited result will show up in the Tableau viz. Sure, you need to refresh the viz before viewing it.

PS.
Embedding Excel may be useful if we want to publish existing Excel charts, tables or dashboards as they are, especially when dealing with legacy reports. Old habits die hard. As a recent example, see Zen Master Joshua Mulligan's new post: Let Them have Their Text Tables

Excel reports are still preferred by many. We have to learn to live with that. Between Tableau and Excel, it's not a zero-sum game. Rather, they are complementary in many ways.

Workbook can downloaded here.



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(Refresh the page if you want to view the gif image multiple times. Or go to Tableau Public and click the button at the top-right corner.)

Jake and I collaborated on a dashboard. He told me that he learnt a way to create an in-place help page in Tableau. He first saw it at a conference somewhere and couldn't recall who the speaker was. So I am blogging here about it but the credit goes to somebody else. If anyone knows who the original creator is, leave a comment below.

The key idea is to float a semi transparent worksheet on top of the dashboard, where a help text box is strategically placed on top of each chart. This way, we can explain how to view each chart and what data points are important, etc. This worksheet is collapsible by a show/hide button. 

Below I would like to show how this worksheet can be constructed.

1. Sheet with a single data mark.

  • Double click the empty space in Marks panel and add two single quotes. Make the null pill a text label. This creates a single null mark.
  • Set the view as "Entire View"

2. Create an show/hide button

  • Go to the target dashboard
  • Drag a floating vertical container to the dashboard, making it cover all the area of interest.
  • Drag the Single Null Mark sheet and drop it into the above container. Hide the sheet title.
  • Create an open/close button for the container and place the button at the top-right corner.

3. Add annotations

  • Format the sheet background opacity as 70% in the layout manager             
  • Select area annotations and place them anywhere of interest. 
  • Write help text and format it to highlight important messages.  
  • The text can serve as functional guide and/or insight guide.

Here is an example. Feel free to download the workbook and explore. Click the "i" button at the top-right corner to view the in-place help. 

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