Visualizations
Once you have added a data source and a destination, you are now all set 🥂
You are ready to connect your visualization and automatically sync your data 🥳
Add visualizations
You can connect your visualizations to your documents by following these steps:
Select your destination in the Destinations tab
Select your data source
Select your dashboard
Edit your Filters
We will automatically detect your visualisations which should be individually highlighted
=> You can now select visualization
Click on Save Visualization
In the case of Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint, you can add multiple visualizations at once to the same slide and still move them around your presentation after your first update.
Edit visualizations
When editing your visualizations, the following operations are allowed on Rollstack and/or your Destination
Operation | Rollstack | Google Slides | Google Docs | Powerpoint |
✅ | ➖ | ➖ | ➖ | |
Resize Image | ➖ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
➖ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
Crop Image | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Group Images | ➖ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
If you can't find a specific operation operation, you can safely assume that it is not supported for now. Please reach out to us if you want more extensive support on a specific operation.
Change Selection
When changing the visualization, you have to re-open the dashboard inside Rollstack.
Switching selection will likely result in an image that has a different size and aspect ratio than the previous selection
=> Running a new update could result in a distorted & damaged image given that all destination platforms apply additional transformations to preserve the aspect ratio
=> We suggest deleting the existing image in your destination beforehand to prevent any unwarranted distortion
Resize Image
If you resize the image in your Destination, Rollstack will always respect the size and position that you put in place. Every time we update your destination, we will update the visualizations according to the same size and position that you have put in place.
Crop Image
We don't allow for image cropping outside of Rollstack => If you use the Destination's cropping feature, this can lead to unwarranted results due to technical limitations.
Explanation: Once you crop the image inside your destination, the destination provider (e.g. Google and/or Microsoft) will drop the existing image and generate a new one. The cropping configuration is non-persistent and we cannot apply it accordingly on the following destination updates.
To crop visualization and save cropping settings for future destination updates:
- Select your visualization on Rollstack
- Go to Crop Settings
- Select one of the three options: Automatic Manual or No Crop
Crop Option | Pros | Cons |
Automatic | ✅ generate borders automatically | ❌ May cause image distortions with varying text or numerical data. |
Manual | ✅ Ensures consistent image size and aspect ratio ✅ Ideal for numerical tiles lacking distinct borders. | ❌ Requires manual configuration |
No Crop | ✅ Same as Manual | ❌ Not ideal for visualizations lacking borders and with lots of white spaces |
Once you have selected your crop option and clicked on Save Visualisation, Rollstack will automatically update your image in your Destination with the new crop options. So you don't have to click on the button Update
Group Images
You can use the grouping feature in your destination without risking breaking the destination updates.
Note: In the case of Google Docs and Google Slides, it will hide the link attached to your visualizations
Switch Slides
You can also switch the slide selection or overall position of the visualization inside your Destination within either Rollstack or your destination
Option 1:
This is only available for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.
For Google Docs, we don't support page detection due to technical limitations on Google Docs API. But you can still use option 2 below to achieve the same goal
- Select your vizualisation on Rollstack
- Select new slide index
- Click on Save Visualisation
Option 2:
You can cut & paste your visualization inside your destination. We will automatically detect the new position and update the new slide ID or index.
- Cut & Paste the selected visualizations in your Destination
- Go to your destination page on Rollstack
- Click on Synchronize
- You can now verify that your visualization has been attached to the new slide
Duplicate Image
You can duplicate your sync/visualization directly inside Rollstack.
If you copy & paste the visualization inside your destination, that won't have any effect on Rollstack at the moment.
We also strongly discourage using copy & paste as that will lead to multiple images with the same rollstack link. That won't break Rollstack itself but it can lead to some confusion and prevent you from correctly identifying the correct image controlled by Rollstack.