Turn a dashboard into a doc, PDF report or slide deck
A dashboard can also be written up as a Doc (a narrative read top to bottom) or presented as Slides (one idea per slide). Both read the same data as the dashboard: charts stay live and numbers stay locked to your data, while the words are written for the format. Switch format in the editor under Design → Format, then save it; anyone who can edit the dashboard can do this.
For how to switch and save a format, see Switch a dashboard to slides, a doc or Q&A. You can also pick Doc or Slides when you create a dashboard.
Choose a doc type: Investigation, Trend or Recap
Switch the format to Doc. Under Design → Format, Page structure sets the doc type:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Investigation (default) | Starts from a surprising finding and works toward an explanation. |
| Trend | Follows a metric over time and what moved it. |
| Recap | A summary of what changed this period. |
Set the doc's shape, length and PDF paper size
These settings are also under Design → Format:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Shape | Page (default): a written narrative, read top to bottom. Poster: a single tall, banded canvas with big stats, like an infographic, built to share. |
| Length | Brief: a compact digest of what matters now. Standard (default): a focused article. Full: a long-form, multi-section document. |
| Surface | Web (default): a scrolling page. PDF: the same layout on paper pages, built to print. |
| Paper size | Shown for PDF only. A4 (210 × 297 mm) or US Letter (8.5 × 11 in). The default follows your browser's region: US Letter in the US, Canada and Mexico, A4 elsewhere. |
| Section nav | Shown for Web only. On (default) shows a left rail linking to each section, so readers can jump around a long document. Off hides it. |
Choosing Poster sets the surface to Web and hides Length, Surface and Paper size.
For example, to print a board report on A4, set Shape to Page, Surface to PDF and Paper size to A4.
Edit the text of a doc
Open the Content panel in any of these ways:
- Click Edit doc at the top of the page on the canvas.
- Click an empty part of the page, or click a section.
To change words in place, double-click the summary, a finding or a takeaway on the page. Numbers stay locked to your data.
Reorder, remove and restore doc sections
The Sections list in the panel shows every section.
- Use the up and down arrows on a section's row to move it.
- Use its remove button to take it out.
- A removed section shows as a chip, for example "+ Key drivers". Click it to bring the section back.
Rewrite a doc section from its brief
Select a section to open its card:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Section title | The section's heading. |
| Section brief | What the section should say. The brief steers the rewrite. |
| Rewrite section to match | Rewrites the section from the brief. Every number stays grounded in your data; charts may change to match. |
| Add lines | Add Text, Bullets, Chart or KPI strip (four KPI cards derived live from your data). |
| Swap / Remove | Swap a chart, or remove a line. |
The rewrite shows as a Proposed rewrite ("Every number verified against your data"). Click Apply to keep it, Try again for another version, or Discard.
A section built as a derived table can't be rewritten line by line: its rows re-derive from the data.
Choose a slide deck type
Switch the format to Slides, then pick a Page structure under Design → Format:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Executive review (default) | A few slides, big takeaways. |
| Pitch deck | A narrative arc: problem, data, ask. |
| Data walkthrough | A slide per chart with talking points. |
| Motion | A full-bleed chart that plays through time while grounded captions narrate. Needs a date. See Build a Motion story. |
Edit slides, slide types and speaker notes
- Click a slide on the canvas (Edit slide shows on hover). The Content panel opens with the list of slides.
- Click a slide in the list to jump to it.
- Double-click text on the slide to edit it.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drag to reorder handle, up and down arrows | Change the slide order. |
| Delete button | Removes the slide. A Slide removed notice offers Undo. |
| Slide type chips | Change the slide's layout: Stat, Chart, Bullets, Split, Summary, Section, Callout, Compare or KPIs. |
| Chart dropdown | Picks the chart the slide shows. Only on Chart and Split slides, when the deck has more than one chart. |
| Redraft with AI | Rewrites that slide's words, keeping the numbers grounded. |
| Speaker notes | Notes for the presenter. They never show on the slide. |
| Add slide | Adds a slide of any of the nine types. |
Charts and numbers stay grounded in your data whatever you change.
Rewrite a whole doc or deck with Redo with AI
Redo with AI sits at the top of the Content panel for both docs and slides.
- Click Redo with AI.
- Optionally describe what to change, for example "lead with churn risk, make it punchier". Leave it empty to regenerate as is.
- Click Redo. You see "Writing your story…" while it runs.
What it rewrites depends on the format:
| Format | What Redo with AI rewrites |
|---|---|
| Doc | The prose. |
| Slides, with a slide selected | That slide. |
| Slides, with no slide selected | The whole deck. It may reorder, retype, add, delete or redraft slides. |
Charts keep using your live data and numbers stay locked.
Build a Motion story that plays a chart through time
A Motion story is a deck where one chart plays through time, with captions that narrate what changes. It needs a date column: without one, the Motion card is disabled ("Needs a date field — this dataset doesn't have one.").
- Switch the format to Slides and pick Motion as the page structure.
- Under Design → Format, use the Motion chart picker to pick a chart type. A type that doesn't fit your data shows why, for example "Needs a location column".
- Click the narration on the canvas to open the Motion story panel ("Narration that paces the playhead").
Motion story panel options
| Group | Controls |
|---|---|
| Chart | Bar, Bars, Ranking, Line race, Bubble, Scatter, Map, Globe, Treemap, Surface. Unavailable types say what they need (a date, category, location or number column, or two category columns). |
| Data | Measure (or X axis, Y axis and Size for bubble and scatter), Breakdown and 2nd breakdown. |
| Timeline | Date column, Granularity, Each frame shows (Auto, Running total: everything up to that date, Each period, or Rolling: the last three periods together), and Plays From / To or Full range. It shows how many frames the story has. |
| Storytelling | Follow (one entity, or "Nobody — show everyone"), Start speed (0.5×, 1×, 2×, 4×), Pause on key moments, Same time last year (needs at least a year of data), Camera, Show trails and Show legend (bubble and scatter only), 3D depth, a size control (Small, Medium, Large), and Date label (Automatic, Centre watermark, With narration, Hidden). |
| Events | Add event with an Event date and a short Event text (up to 80 characters), for example "Price change". Delete event removes it. An event outside the story's dates won't show. |
| Narration | Beats. Each beat covers a stretch of time (from and to) and has a caption: what the viewer should watch. Use Add beat, Move beat up, Move beat down and Delete beat. |
The value chips in captions are locked to your data: edit the words, not the numbers.
To share a published Motion story as a video, use Share as video. See Publish and share a dashboard.
Add a cover to a doc or deck
In the Doc and Slides formats the cover is part of the document rather than a page. Click it to edit it. See Title band and cover page.
Limits
- Paper size is for the PDF surface only; Section nav is for Web only.
- Poster docs are Web only and have no Length setting.
- Motion stories need a date column. Same time last year needs at least a year of data.
- Motion events: up to 80 characters of text.
- A derived-table section can't be rewritten line by line.
Related
- Change a dashboard's theme: switch and save the format.
- Title band and cover page: cover types and backdrops for docs and slides.
- Edit with AI in the dashboard editor: the AI chat and History.
- Give the AI context: steer the words with your definitions and goals.
- Publish and share a dashboard: share a deck or a Motion video.
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