Copying and Pasting Between Workbooks

You can copy and paste custom fields between workbooks that use the same data source. For example, the workbooks below contain products sold in Superstore. Book 4 has a group field that groups some related products: computer peripherals, copiers and faxes, and office machines. Instead of creating that group in every new workbook, copy and paste the grouped field from one workbook to another.

Step 1

In the Dimensions pane, right-click the field you want to copy, and select Copy.

Step 2

In the target workbook, right-click in the Dimensions pane, and select Paste.

The group field is now available in the second workbook.

You can copy and paste formatting between any two worksheets within the same workbook or across workbooks, even if they use different data sources. Formatting that applies to specific fields copies over only if those fields exist in the target workbook.

Step 1

Select the worksheet that has the formatting you want to copy.

Step 2

For Tableau Desktop 7.0 and later, select Format > Copy Formatting.
For Tableau Desktop 6.1 and earlier, select Edit > Copy Formatting.

Step 3

Select the worksheet to which you want to copy the formatting.

Step 4

For Tableau Desktop 7.0 and later, select Format > Paste Formatting.
For Tableau Desktop 6.1 and earlier, select Edit > Paste Formatting.

The formatting of worksheet elements that correspond to elements in the target workbook is applied.

You can also copy and paste formatting using the worksheet tabs along the bottom of the workbook.

Right-click the worksheet tab and select Copy. Then in the new workbook, you can select one or more worksheets to apply the formatting to. This is a really easy way to copy formatting to an entire workbook.

Copying formatting does not copy manual sizing, zoom settings, or default label orientation. Also, if you apply formatting to individual reference lines and annotations, it is not copied to the new worksheet.