Hi everyone!
Last week, dashboards came back on the menu, and so did the old problems: no designer, no governance, no easy update.
When I tested Tableau Studio, it took 3 prompts to get a dashboard I still wasn't happy with. The same dashboard, designed in Figma, exported to Tableau in one click.
So, as promised, here's how we want to fix it.
And at the end, a big update for your Viz Extension colors, thanks to Reddit!
Design dashboards the right way
Building a dashboard straight in Tableau works for one dashboard. It gets messy with ten, and even more with agents in the mix:
Every ask, a different render: the same prompt gives a slightly different layout, spacing and fonts each time.
No consistency across teams: each author, each team, its own style.
Updates get tedious: a new brand color or a filter that moves, and you're back to editing dashboards one by one, container by container.
That's why you should design in Figma first, even if you've never used it.
Figma is built for design: shared components, styles, one design system, one place to update. You design once, and every dashboard follows.
Figma to Tableau, meet your AI
In 2023, before mainstream AI, we built Figma to Tableau: design in Figma, export in one click, and the dashboard opens in Tableau, already built. No containers to fight with.
Your AI, meet Figma
Claude, Codex, Cursor, and others can now edit Figma files, and Figma has its own AI agent built in. So instead of asking an agent to build yet another dashboard from scratch, ask it to edit your Figma design: "add a Customers page", "move the filters to the left", "use our new brand color on every page".
The design stays in one place, owned by your team. And it still exports to Tableau.
Even better, your data stays out of it.
Figma only holds the design: the layout, the text, and placeholders for your charts and filters. The plugin never connects to Tableau, to your Server or Cloud, or to your data sources. The AI works on the design, never on your data.
What’s New
No design yet? Not sure how to use Figma? The Generate tab builds the dashboard for you, right in Figma. And last week, we worked on some nice improvements!
Layout: draw your layout block by block, and pick a chart type for each sheet. Never struggle with containers again.
Navigation: add up to 6 pages, linked by navigation buttons (top bar or left sidebar).
Design: choose a starting theme, dashboard size, filter position, and logo color. Save the configuration and export with the confidence that it’ll always match your design!
Figma to Tableau works with the free version of Figma, and with Tableau Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Public.
We also completely revamped the Plugin Guide, check it out!
What’s next
Tableau to Figma
This is the part I'm most excited about: the plugin, the other way around.
Select a Tableau workbook, and its dashboards come into Figma as editable frames: containers become auto-layout frames, text keeps its formatting, and more.
Everything that only exists in Tableau (filters, parameters, legends, sets, buttons, extensions) comes in as a locked placeholder that keeps its Tableau settings. Change the design, export it back, and they're still there.
It's not ready yet, but we'll share it as soon as it is!
Figma to Power BI
Same idea, other tool. We're building Figma to Power BI: design in Figma, export, and the report opens in Power BI, already built. Every element becomes a native Power BI visual, and the theme comes from your design.
Want to be among the first to test it? Let us know, just reply to this email!
Your custom color palettes in every extension
A few weeks ago, on Reddit, someone asked why Viz Extensions can't access their custom color palettes.
The main reason was technical: the extension can’t access your Preferences.tps file, and the Extensions API does not list the custom color palettes.
But you know us, technical challenges have never stopped us!
So we fixed it and created a new page to set your custom color palettes across all extensions, linked to your license key.
Your palettes: create categorical, sequential and diverging palettes on the new palettes page. Paste hex codes, or import your Preferences.tps in one go.
Everywhere: your palettes show first in the Color settings of every extension using your license key.
A default per type: every new sheet starts with your colors. Sheets you already set up keep theirs.
Color picker: it now shows your palette's colors, so one click picks one.
Thanks to everyone on that thread. Keep the ideas coming!
Speak to you next week!
If you have any suggestions or feedback, we appreciate them.
