Import a Power BI, Tableau, PDF or screenshot report
Bring a report over rebuilds a report you already have as a Mammoth dashboard. Click Dashboards in the left sidebar, then Create, then Bring a report over, and drop your file on Drop the report you already have (or click Choose a file). Anyone who can create a dashboard in the project can use it, and reading the file creates nothing until you continue.
Which report files you can bring over
Mammoth treats two kinds of file differently.
| File | Accepted types | What comes across |
|---|---|---|
| Power BI · Tableau (workbooks) | .pbix, .twb, .twbx | The workbook's charts come over, with sample rows fitted to the workbook's own fields. You can swap in your own data at the next step. |
| PDF · Screenshot · Markdown · Plain text (examples) | .pdf, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .webp, .gif, .md, .txt | Mammoth reads the shape (the sections, the cover, the colours) and builds it on data you pick. The example's own figures are ignored. |
A PDF with selectable text is read exactly. A screenshot or scan is read from the picture, which is less certain. You see "This was read from a picture, not from text…", so check section titles and metric names before you build. Example files can be up to 20 MB.
The step rail at the top shows where you are:
- Workbook: File → What survives → Data → Build.
- Example: File → Data → The shape → Build.
See which Power BI or Tableau charts survive the import
Before you commit, Mammoth tells you what will come across. For example: "12 of 15 charts come across as-is; 2 need a metric restated; 1 have no equivalent yet." Charts are grouped as:
- Comes across as-is
- Chart lands, metric needs restating
- No equivalent yet
Won't come across names each custom formula Mammoth can't recreate, so you can restate it once. The columns those formulas read are all there. Charts that were built in the workbook but never placed on a page come across too.
If the workbook has no charts, you see "This file has no charts…". You can still continue, but you pick one of your own datasets to build on.
Pick the data the imported report is built on
The Data step asks "What should it be built on?"
- Workbook: The default is the fitted sample, for example "Sales — fitted sample", marked Recommended. These are sample rows fitted to the workbook's fields. You can pick one of your datasets instead, or keep the sample and swap in your own data later.
- Example file: Pick one of your datasets. Your file gave the shape; this is where the numbers come from.
- No data yet: If the project has no datasets, you see "You have no datasets in this project yet…" with Add data to this project.
Review the shape read from a PDF, screenshot or text file
For an example file, The shape step shows what Mammoth read: "Here's the shape we read. Everything is editable — this is a starting point, not a copy of your file."
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Format | Build a Dashboard, Document or Presentation. |
| Sections | The sections in order. Each is a Summary, Trend, Breakdown, Composition, Period comparison, Takeaways or Appendix section. Reorder with Move section up and Move section down, use Remove section, or Add a section. |
| Cover | No cover, Masthead, Metric hero, Bold colour, Gradient, Minimal or Compact. |
| Density | Comfortable or Compact. Compact drops the cover, because a compact report is a digest. Switch back to Comfortable to keep it. |
| Numbers | How figures print, for example Abbreviated (671k), and the currency. |
| Headline metrics | The figures your example leads with, each an Amount, Count or Rate. A rate needs the numerator and denominator columns it divides. A count needs Count one per… (the identifying column), and can be limited with Counting only a column's value. |
| Colours | The colours read from your example. Remove any you don't want. Shows None found if there were none. |
| Not carried over | Things seen in your example that a report can't build. Nothing is dropped silently. |
The look is saved as a style named after your file, for example "From Q3 report.pdf". You can edit it later in Design. See Themes.
Build the imported dashboard
- Click Build the dashboard (or Build the report).
- When it's done, you see, for example, "Built on “Sales”, which is now in your data library."
- Click Open the dashboard, or Bring another report over.
Troubleshooting a refused report file
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| "That isn't a file we can read. Expected a Power BI .pbix, a Tableau .twb or .twbx, or a PDF, .md or .txt." | The file type isn't supported. |
| "That .pbix has a data model but no report pages…" | There's nothing to convert. |
| "That workbook has no views in it…" | The Tableau file is a saved data source with nothing built on it. |
| "That file is empty." | The file has no content. |
| "Q3 report.pdf is over 20 MB." (with your file's name) | Example files are limited to 20 MB. |
| "That workbook is larger than we can accept right now…" | The workbook is over the size limit. Let us know so we can raise it. |
Limits for imported reports
- Example files (PDF, screenshot, Markdown, text): up to 20 MB.
- Workbooks have a size limit too. A workbook over it shows the message above.
Related
- Create a dashboard: every other way to start a dashboard.
- Start from a template: a finished design on sample data.
- Themes: edit the style saved from your file.
- Edit with AI in the dashboard editor: attach a PDF or picture to the chat to restyle an existing board.
- See the data behind a dashboard: swap the sample for your own data later.
Something wrong? support@mammoth.io