Customise — Tableau Workbook & Data Source

When you open a Tableau workbook (.twb, .twbx) or a Tableau data source (.tds, .tdsx) in the RapidDox desktop app, you can generate documentation straight away — or choose to customise it depending on your needs through a six-step flow. This page documents every option in each step, in the order you encounter them.

See What Gets Extracted for what each section contains, and Sample Output Coverage for examples of the final document.

Step 1 — Background information

Provide the metadata that prints on the cover page and inside headers/footers.

Step 2 — Select Dashboards, Worksheets & Storyboards

Choose which workbook objects to include in the documentation. Each list supports include/exclude via checkbox and drag-to-reorder; an "Excluded" chip area below shows everything you've turned off.

• Dashboards — toggle each dashboard; "Select All" / "Unselect All" shortcut.
• Worksheets — toggle each worksheet; "Select All" / "Unselect All" shortcut.
• Storyboards — toggle each Tableau Story; "Select All" / "Unselect All" shortcut.

Step 3 — Dashboard / Worksheet images

RapidDox auto-picks the thumbnail images embedded in the workbook. If those are too low-res for your output, you can replace them.

• Import a PDF file with HQ images — pick a PDF (typically an export of the same workbook from Tableau) and RapidDox extracts the page-by-page images at full resolution.
• Export to PPT — exports the current image set to PowerPoint for manual editing.
• Assign images — pick the target (Dashboard, Worksheet, or Storyboard) and map imported images to specific objects.

Step 4 — Sorting

Apply multi-level sorting to specific metadata tables in the output. Sorting is auto-saved as you configure it.

• Sorting switch — master ON/OFF for the whole step. When OFF, the document uses Tableau's native order.
• Select table to configure — currently Tables & Fields and Calculated Fields.
• Sorting Levels (up to 3) — Level 1 is the primary sort, Levels 2 and 3 are tie-breakers. For each level:
  • Sort by — pick the column to sort.
  • Direction — A–Z or Z–A.
  • Custom order — drag a list of values into a specific order instead of alphabetical.
  • Move up / Move down / Remove — re-prioritise or delete the level.

Step 5 — Section ordering & column selection

The heart of customisation. Every section in the output is listed in groups, each with a drag handle to reorder and a checkbox to include/exclude. Sections that produce tables also expose a nested list of columns — those, too, can be reordered and turned off individually.

Background Information

• Include/Exclude — show or hide the entire Background page (description, requested-by, dates, audience).

General Information (15 sections)

Each row is a section you can reorder or turn off. Applies to tells you which file types the section is available for — Workbook, Data Source means all four (.twb, .twbx, .tds, .tdsx); Workbook only means just .twb and .twbx. Sections that produce a table also expose nested column toggles, listed in the last column; the callout at the top of this page lists which column toggles are themselves workbook-only.

Unused Objects in Workbook

1. Unused Fields
2. Unused Datasources
3. Unused Worksheets
4. Unused Parameters
5. Unused Calculations
6. Unused Hierarchies
7. Unused Sets
8. Unused Groups
9. Unused Bins

Dashboards

Per-dashboard sub-sections that appear under each dashboard in the document:

1. Summary Stats
2. List of Worksheets using this Dashboard
3. Parameters
4. Quick Filter(s)
5. Action(s)
6. Dashboard Map

Worksheets

Per-worksheet sub-sections:

1. List of Dashboards using this worksheet
2. Data Sources
3. Blends
4. Filters
5. Hidden Elements
6. Actions
7. Marks
8. Calculated Fields
9. Columns & Rows
10. Applied Sortings

Storyboards

1. Individual Storyboard Summary
2. Filters

Layout Options (still on Step 5)

• Include Header — when on, the header text field is used on every page.
• Include Footer — bottom-of-page footer text.
• Include Center Footer — additional centred footer line.

Step 6 — Export

Pick one of five output formats:

Looking for the Tableau Prep flow? See Customise — Tableau Prep. Working with Power BI files? See Customise — Power BI.