Configure additional options for exports

When you export workbook data from Sigma, you can configure additional options to control the appearance and content that gets exported.

User requirements

To configure export options, you must be assigned an account type with relevant export permissions.

Set up a custom delivery schedule

When you configure a scheduled export, if the default delivery options do not work for your needs, you can set up a custom cron schedule to define the delivery time.

  • On the Schedule Exports dialog, for the Frequency, choose Custom and enter a cron expression.

Use cron syntax to specify the minute, hour, day (month), month and day (week). For assistance writing cron expressions, see crontab guru.

For example, to send a report at 1:05 AM on the first Monday of the quarter, enter:

5 1 * 1/3 Mon

For example, to send a report at 1:30 AM on the first of every month, enter:

30 1 1 * *

Filter by control values

If your workbook uses controls to filter the data on a page or for a given element, you can also choose to filter the exported data by the values of one or more controls.

You can only set this option for scheduled exports.

  1. On the Schedule Exports dialog, in the More Options section, select the checkbox for Customize control values.
  2. In the Controls section that appears, search for and select a control name in the search box.
    More options section with the checkbox for Customize control values checked and a new box section called Controls visible, with placeholder text Search to add control.
  3. Select the control value for the control and set it to the value that you want to use for the export.
    The same more options section with a date control called "New Control 1" selected and 1 quarter selected as the value for the control.
  4. Search to add another control, or click Create to save the scheduled export.

Merge PDF or Excel files

If you export multiple PDF or Excel files, you can combine the attachments into one file:

  • Multiple workbook pages or data elements as PDF attachments into one PDF file.
  • Multiple data elements as Excel attachments into one Excel file.

To combine attachments into one file, do the following:

  • On the Export or Schedule Exports dialog, in the More Options section, select the checkbox for Combine attachments.

    If you don't see the checkbox, make sure that you selected a file type of Excel or PDF for at least 2 attachments.

Compress attachments to a .zip file

If you export one or more attachments that result in a large file size, you can choose to compress the attachments into a ZIP file.

  • On the Export or Schedule Exports dialog, in the More Options section, select the checkbox for Send as .zip file.

    Your attachments appear in one zip file named merged-report.zip.

Repeat header labels

If you export a pivot table to Excel or CSV, you can repeat the header labels so that each pivot table row and column header appears in its own cell:

  • On the Export or Schedule Exports dialog, in the More Options section, select the checkbox to Repeat header labels.

    If you don't see the checkbox, make sure that the file format is Excel or CSV and that you are exporting a pivot table element or a page or workbook with a pivot table element.

For example, for a pivot table like the following:

Pivot table with product type and product family rows and store region columns with total cost and total quantity, with nothing repeated

When you export the pivot table element, the headers show up for each pivot table row and column:

Pivot table exported to excel with product family values duplicated in the row, and store region header name and values repeated across column headers.

If you don't configure this setting, the pivot table row and column headers only show up once:

Same pivot table with product type values listed once for each category in the pivot rows, store region listed once in the export, and values for store region listed once for each set of columns.

To configure this setting in the pivot table itself, see Repeat row labels.

Download Excel files with metadata

If you want to include additional metadata with Excel files, such as the date and time of the export and the name of the user downloading the Excel file, do the following:

  1. For a workbook or workbook page, select the (caret icon) to open the menu, then select Export.... For a workbook element, select More more menu > Export, then under Send, select Export.
  2. On the Export dialog, leave the default Direct Download option selected.
  3. For the file type, select Excel.
  4. In the More Options section, select the checkbox for Include metadata.
  5. Select Export.

Format PDF export page layout

When exporting PDF files from Sigma, you can configure several different options to improve the format of the exported report:

  • Set a custom page width to match your desired PDF page width. Use 1050 pixels for portrait PDF exports, or 1380 pixels for landscape PDF exports. See Layout style settings.
  • Show up to 1000 rows of data in a table in your PDF. See Show additional rows.
  • Add a page break element to control where elements are pushed to the next page of the PDF export. See Add a page break.

If your workbook uses legacy layouts, see Format PDF exports (legacy layouts).

Show additional rows

If you want to export up to 1,000 rows of a table, do the following:

📘

If you want to export an entire workbook or a page of the workbook, the table must be on its own row. There cannot be other elements in the same row.

  1. Open the workbook in Edit mode.
  2. Select Page overview, then locate the element that you want to show up to 1,000 rows of data for.
  3. For the element, select more menu More > Export formatting, then click Expand table to first 1k rows. If this option has already been set, a checkmark is visible.
    Screenshot showing the path to the menu as described.
  4. Publish the workbook.
  5. Export the workbook to PDF to make sure the output looks as desired.
  6. Make any necessary changes, then set up a scheduled export to your preferred destination.

Add a page break

If you want to specify where to break a PDF export of the workbook into separate pages, or if workbook elements get cut off or don't display as expected in a PDF export, add one or more page break elements to your workbook pages:

  1. Open the workbook in Edit mode.
  2. Select Add element to open the workbook's Add New Element panel.
  3. In the PDF export elements section, select a Page break element and drag it onto the workbook canvas.
  4. Publish the workbook.
  5. Export the workbook to PDF to make sure the output looks as desired.
  6. Make any necessary changes, then set up a scheduled export to your preferred destination.

Example PDF layout configurations

In this example, no configuration changes have been made and a PDF export in portrait orientation exports a table with the same number as rows that are visible in the workbook:

PDF export with the standard amount of rows.

In this example, the option to show up to 1,000 rows of data for a table has been selected, but no page break element is used on the workbook page. Choosing a PDF export in portrait orientation exports a table of up to 1000 rows, and at the end of the 1000 row table, a text element is visible on the same page. On the next page, another data element is visible:

PDF export with up to 1000 rows displayed

In this example, the option to show up to 1,000 rows of data for a table has been selected and a page break element is used on the workbook page before a text element and a second data element. Choosing a PDF export in portrait orientation exports a table of up to 1000 rows, and at the end of the 1000 row table, there is a page break. On the next page, a text element is visible, followed by another data element:

PDF export with up to 1000 rows displayed and a page break element used