Workbooks: An Overview
Sigma workbooks offer data exploration tools, including a visualization canvas, designed to enable spreadsheet-savvy users to apply formulas and charting options that are typically accessible only to Business Intelligence (BI) developers.
Workbooks enable both ad hoc data exploration and complex long-term reporting. The collaborative interface and visual approach to data interaction in Sigma makes live data accessible to everyone in your organization, and teams can draw insights from practically unlimited amounts of data.
This document introduces you to workbook basics and points you to helpful resources to get started with workbooks.
Contents
Workbooks and their Lifecycle States
Sigma Basics
Workbooks and their Lifecycle States
Workbooks have three states: explore, draft, and publish.
When you create a workbook it is considered to be in an exploratory state until you actively save the first version. You can keep a workbook as an exploration and never save it. For example, you may need conduct ad hoc data exploration and analysis that is only needed in the current moment, and you don't want to clutter folders with one-off documents. Unsaved workbooks are called explorations and are available in the Recents page for 30 days.
You can save a workbook for continued analysis and reporting. If you decide to share your exploration with your colleagues, you can publish the workbook.
For more information see Workbook Lifecycle: Explore, Draft, and Publish and Workbook Modes: View, Explore, and Edit.
Data Sources and Datasets
Workbooks use data from multiple sources, including tables in a Cloud Data Warehouse (CDW) and your organization's Sigma datasets. Your data is always live, accessible at scale, and cannot be deleted or corrupted.
For more information about data modeling, see: Data Modeling in Sigma and Data Modeling Hands On Lab.
What's in a Workbook
This section introduces you to the basic components of workbooks. The screenshots show a workbook in Edit mode.
Pages and Page Tabs
A workbook contains one or more pages. Page tabs, located at the bottom of the screen, show different pages in the workbook.
Page Canvas
Each workbook page has a canvas on which you can place elements such as tables, pivot tables, text, controls, images, and visualizations.
Editor Panel
The workbook editor panel, located on the left side of the screen, allows you to interact with and update elements in your workbook.
When you select a new or existing element, the editor panel automatically displays that specific element’s configuration.
The editor panel content changes depending on how you are currently interacting with the workbook. For example, it displays one view when adding a new element and alternative views when configuring different element types.
Access to the editor panel depends on your workbook view mode.
Elements
You arrange elements on the page canvas. Element types include:
- Data elements (tables, visualizations, and pivot tables)
- UI elements (text, images, buttons, embeds, spacers, and dividers)
- Control elements (filters and parameters)
In workbooks, tables and pivot tables are not considered types of visualizations. Visualizations, tables, and pivot tables are separate elements in the data elements category.
For more information about elements see Intro to Element Types.
Toolbar and Formula Bar
The toolbar, located directly under the workbook header, gives you quick access to select actions, formatting options, and the formula bar.
The toolbar content changes depending on the element you have selected, and undo, redo, and page theming functions are always displayed.
When you select a column in a data element, you can view and edit the column's formula in the toolbar only if you have Can Edit or Can Explore access to the workbook. For more information see Folder and Document Permission.
Information for Worksheet Users
If you previously used Sigma worksheets or dashboards, you may be familiar with the process of creating multiple worksheets to source visualizations for a single dashboard. Workbooks alleviate this workflow by allowing you to build your analysis exactly where it is displayed to your report consumers.
Related Resources
Workbook Modes: View, Explore, and Edit
Create a Workbook or Exploration
Intro to Element Types
Intro to Data Elements
The Workbook Lifecycle: Explore, Draft, and Publish
Workbook Examples
Fundamentals (QuickStart)
What's Possible with Sigma Workbooks (Webinar)
Questions and Answers on Workbooks and Visualizations (Community)