Advanced Techniques: Import Formatting from Another Analysis

You can quickly format new or existing analyses by importing the format of a saved analysis and its views. Most people don’t need to perform this task.

For example, suppose you applied different colors to the Store, City, and Product columns of the Last Year's Brand Revenue analysis. You can apply the same colors to the This Year's Brand Revenue analysis by importing the column color format.

• To import formatting to all views in an analysis, click Import formatting from another analysis in the Compound Layout toolbar.

• To import formatting just to the view you're editing, click Edit View, then click Import formatting from another analysis.

Formatting is applied slightly differently depending on whether you import formatting applied to columns, views, or view containers in the Compound Layout.

About Applying Formatting from Columns

Applying formatting from columns works best for views when the saved analysis has the same number of columns as the target analysis.

For a single column, formatting is applied to all columns in the tables, pivot tables, and trellises of the target analysis.

For multiple columns, formatting is applied from left to right for column headings and values. If there are fewer columns in the saved analysis than in the target analysis, the format of the last column in the saved analysis is repeated in the subsequent columns of the target.

For example, suppose the saved analysis contains four columns in the following color order: red, green, blue, yellow. When applied to the six columns in the target analysis, the color order would be: red, green, blue, yellow, yellow, yellow.

About Applying Formatting from Views

When you import the format of one type of view, that format gets applied to all the views of the same type in the target analysis.

For example, suppose you import the custom formatting of a table to a target analysis containing three tables. The custom format gets applied to all three.

About Applying Formatting from Containers

In the Compound Layout, you can specify formatting properties for view containers, including background color, borders, and padding.

When you import container formatting, the views in the target analysis inherit the exact container formatting properties as the views in the saved analysis.

However, the layout of the views in the two analyses don’t have to be exactly the same. If the target analysis contains more views than the source analysis, the extra views also inherit the imported formatting.

For example, suppose that a saved analysis contains two tables that are stacked on top of each other in one layout column and that the target analysis contains four tables divided between two layout columns. When you import the formatting, the two tables in each of the first and second layout columns of the target analysis inherit the formatting.

Import Formatting from a Saved Analysis to a Target Analysis

You can import formatting from one analysis to another.

For example, suppose you have an analysis that contains one column to which you have applied formatting, such as font family, horizontal alignment, and background color. You can save the analysis and apply the same formatting to all the columns in another analysis.

1. Open the analysis for editing.
2. Display the target analysis in the Results tab, or edit the view.
3. Click Import formatting from another analysis on the toolbar.
4. In the Select Analysis dialog, navigate to the saved analysis.
5. Click OK.