Removing Extra Rows/Columns from a Web Intelligence Export

I am often asked by Web Intelligence users how to ensure clean and manageable Excel documents when they export their reports. Most importantly, how do I get rid of the empty space at the top and on the sides of my Excel file when exporting from Web Intelligence? In this article, I will offer a simple trick to fix this.

It starts like this: Create a new Web Intelligence report, like the one below.

Then, exporting the data to an Excel file reveals some awkward formatting, along with empty rows and columns near the top of the spreadsheet.

All of the extra rows and unwanted white-space can be removed manually, but we always want to avoid manual work. In an ideal scenario, we want a Web Intelligence report that can produce a “camera-ready” document, which can be exported to Excel or PDF without any manual manipulation whatsoever.

So, how do you get a clean Excel export where the data table begins in cell A1 of the spreadsheet? It’s a 3-step process.

First, drag and drop the report title into the Header portion of the report.

Then, hover your cursor over the edge of the table, right-click, and select Align > Relative Position.

A menu will appear.

Next, type zero into box boxes, as highlighted in red below, and then click OK.

Your table will get tucked into the upper-left corner of the report body. This ensures a very clean Excel export, in which the data table begins in cell A1.