Overview
Text elements can be added to the canvas from the Insert menu. These elements allow you to provide introductory or explanatory content to your visualizations, as well links to downloadable datasets and images.
Text Setup
After selecting a text element, the Setup section under the Text tab will display the following options:
- Name: Used to reference the text element in the Layers tab and on the canvas.
- Margin: Adjust the margin around the text element using pixel values for top, right, bottom, and left sides.
- Background Color: Select a background color to apply to the entire text area.
Variable Text
You can add text that updates dynamically based on dataset values, as mediated by filter elements on the canvas. To set up variable text, open the Dataset tab and select a dataset. Next, in the Connections tab, choose which filter element(s) should control the text value. Finally, in the text element, type the # key and choose which column from the selected Dataset should be displayed.
The specified filter element(s) will usually need to ensure that only one dataset row is returned at a time. If multiple rows are returned, the displayed value is based on the column type:
- Text, Date, and Coordinate Columns: The first value found in the dataset is returned.
- Number, Percent, Currency, and Measurement Columns: The values are aggregated based on the aggregation method specified for that column in the dataset. By default, values are summed.
Formatting Text
When you select any text, a floating menu appears with a row of formatting options:
- Bold: Make the selected text bold.
- Italics: Italicize the selected text.
- Add Link: Insert a hyperlink to the selected text (see more details below).
- Remove Link: Remove an existing hyperlink from the selected text.
- Heading 1 (H1): Format the text as a main heading.
- Heading 2 (H2): Format the text as a subheading.
- Citation: Use a smaller text format for footnotes or references.
- Color: Change the color of the selected text.
Clicking the icon with dots at the end of the first row of menu items opens a second row of menu items, which includes:
- Bullets: Create a bulleted list.
- Numeric Lists: Create a numbered list.
- Subscript: Format text as subscript.
- Superscript: Format text as superscript.
- Image: Replace the selected text with an image.
- Divider: Replace the selected text with a horizontal divider.
- Alignment: Choose left, center, or right alignment.
When text is selected, a floating menu appears, offering various formatting options. Clicking the dots icon expands the toolbar to reveal additional features. In this screenshot, the Add Link icon has been opened, revealing webpage, image, and dataset link options.
Adding Links
When you select the Add Link option, three tabs appear, allowing you to insert different types of links:
- Webpage: Insert a link to an external webpage. This will always open in a new window.
- Image: Link to an image, allowing users to download a specific chart or map from the canvas. You can select the format for saving the image as jpeg or png (users on the Pro plan can also choose svg).
- Dataset: Create a link to any dataset. Select a dataset from the dropdown in order to let end users download a csv of that dataset. This feature is useful for sharing source datasets with your audience, enabling them to download the datasets used in your visualizations.
Note that image and dataset download links will only work once the visualization is published. Once a link is added and the visualization is published, publicly accessible links to the image or dataset will be created.
