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DataWorks:Analyze data using online workbooks

Last Updated:Oct 27, 2025

Traditional SQL queries can be cumbersome for quick, ad-hoc analysis of small datasets, and professional business intelligence (BI) tools can be overly complex. DataWorks DataAnalysis offers an online workbook feature that provides an Excel-like experience, allowing you to organize, calculate, and visualize data. You can enter and edit data directly or easily import local files into a workbook.

Version limits

  • Visualization chart limits: The Basic Edition is limited to seven chart types. To access more chart types, you can upgrade to DataWorks Standard Edition or a higher edition.

  • Workbook sharing limits: The maximum number of editors and viewers that you can specify varies by edition.

    Feature/Edition

    Basic Edition

    Standard Edition

    Professional Edition

    Enterprise Edition

    Maximum number of editors

    0

    3

    5

    10

    Maximum number of viewers

    0

    10

    20

    30

Go to Workbooks

On the DataAnalysis page, click Go To DataAnalysis. In the menu bar on the left, click the 电子表格 or image icon to open the Workbooks page.

Create a Workbook

Before you analyze data, you must create a workbook to hold the target data.

New DataAnalysis

  1. On the Workbooks page, click the image icon in the upper-right corner of the directory tree on the left to open the workbook editing page.

  2. On the workbook editing page, after analyzing the data, click Save in the upper-right corner.

  3. In the Save File dialog box, enter a File Name and click OK.

Classic DataAnalysis

  1. On the Workbooks page, under New Workbook, click the Create icon icon to open the workbook editor.

  2. After you finish analyzing the data on the workbook editing page, click Save in the upper-right corner.

  3. In the Save File dialog box, enter a File Name and click OK.

Import data into a workbook

Workbooks support direct data entry and importing data from local files for data analysis.

On the workbook editing page, click the Import button in the upper-right corner. You can import Workbooks, Local CSV Files, or Local Excel Files.

Import a workbook

In the Import dialog box, click Workbook and configure the parameters.

Parameter

Description

Workbook

From the Workbook drop-down list, select the name of the workbook to import.

Sheet

From the Sheet drop-down list, select the sheet to import from the workbook.

Data Preview

Preview the data to be imported.

Start Import From Row

Import data starting from the specified row. The default value is 1.

Placement Location

Includes Current Worksheet and New Worksheet.

Placement Method

Includes Append, Overwrite, and Active Cell.

Import a local CSV file

In the Import dialog box, click Local CSV File and configure the parameters.

Parameter

Description

File

Click Select File, select the local CSV file to import, and click Open.

Original Character Set

Includes UTF-8 and GBK. If garbled text appears, switch the character set.

Separator

Includes rows and columns:

  • Row delimiters include \r\n, \n, and \r.

  • Column delimiters include ,, ;, and \t.

If the data is not correctly separated into cells, switch the separator.

Data Preview

Preview the data to be imported.

Start Import From Row

Import data starting from the specified row. The default value is 1.

Placement Location

Current Worksheet: The worksheet in the current view.

New Worksheet: A new worksheet.

Placement Method

Includes Append, Overwrite, and Active Cell.

Import a local Excel file

In the Import dialog box, click Local Excel File and configure the parameters.

Parameter

Description

File

Click Select File, select the local Excel file to import, and click Open.

Sheet

From the Sheet drop-down list, select the sheet to import.

Data Preview

Preview the data to be imported.

Start Import From Row

Import data starting from the specified row. The default value is 1.

Placement Location

Includes Current Worksheet and New Worksheet.

Placement Method

Includes Append, Overwrite, and Active Cell.

Analyze data

Workbooks provide a rich set of data analysis operations similar to those in Microsoft Office Excel. On the workbook editing page, you can set the font, alignment, number format, rows and columns, conditional formatting, and styles. You can also profile the data in the workbook.

Note

For more information about the operations of each button, see Appendix: Button details.

Formatting and styles

image

In the top toolbar, you can adjust the font, alignment, number format (such as currency or percentage), and conditional formatting of cells in the workbook to make the data easier to read.

Use formulas and functions

image

Similar to Excel, you can enter = in a cell to start writing a formula. Common functions such as SUM and AVERAGE are supported.

Create visualization charts

image

  1. Select the data range to analyze.

  2. In the top menu bar, select Chart, and then choose a chart type such as Column Chart, Line Chart, or Pie Chart.

  3. The system automatically detects the data type and generates a chart.

    Important

    If the chart does not appear as expected, right-click the target field and select Convert this column to numeric.

Use data profiling

The data profiling feature analyzes the quality, structure, distribution, and statistics information of the current data. This feature helps you preview, profile, process, analyze, and visualize your data.

  • Basic data exploration mode: Select data and click Data Exploration in the toolbar. The system automatically analyzes column metrics, such as Type, Distribution, Null Values, and Duplicate Values, providing a quick overview of the data quality.

  • Data Profiling Verbose Mode: In simple profiling mode, click Verbose Mode in the upper-right corner to view profiling details for each column, such as Field Name, Field Type, Chinese Field Name, Field Description, and Security Level.

概览

Data Type

Basic Mode Description

Verbose Mode Description

String / Date
String / Date

Displays as rich text:
• The percentage of the Top 2 values.
• The percentage of other values.
• If the number of distinct values is greater than 50% of the total number of values, the total count of unique values is displayed.







Displays detailed information across multiple dimensions:
Basic information: The number of fields, unique values, valid values, the percentage of null values, and more.
Top 5 duplicate values.




Numeric type
Integer / Float

A binned column chart displays the range and distribution of the data.

Displays detailed information across multiple dimensions:
Basic information: The number of fields, unique values, zero values, the percentage of null values, and more.
Top 5 duplicate values.
Statistics information: Such as the maximum value, minimum value, and average value.
Histogram.










Boolean
Boolean data type

A pie chart shows the percentage of true and false data.

Displays detailed information across multiple dimensions:
• Basic information: The number of fields, unique values, zero values, the percentage of null values, and more.
 Top 5 duplicate values.
• Pie chart distribution.







String values true and false, and numeric values 0 and 1 are recognized as the BOOLEAN type.

Mixed

A pie chart displays the percentage of each data type in the column and indicates the presence of dirty data. If the dirty data is cleansed, the value distribution is displayed based on the three preceding scenarios.

Not applicable. In Verbose mode, analysis is performed based on the predefined type of the field.

Null

The percentage of NULL values is highlighted in red.

Displayed as the percentage of null values metric in the basic information for each data type.

View and manage workbooks

  1. On the workbook editing page, click Workbooks in the upper-left corner or the 电子表格 icon in the left menu bar to navigate to the workbooks list page.

  2. On the Workbooks page, in the All Workbooks area, you can view the workbooks in the Created By Me and Shared With Me lists.

  3. On the list page, you can manage workbooks as follows:

    • Rename: Click the 重命名 icon next to the file. In the Rename dialog box, enter a new name in the File Name field and click OK.

    • Change Owner: Click the 转交 icon next to the file. In the Change Owner dialog box, enter and select the new owner, and then click OK.

    • Clone: Click the 克隆 icon next to the file. A new file with the _copy suffix is created.

    • Delete: Click the 删除 icon next to a file. In the Delete dialog box, click OK.

  4. Click a File Name to reopen the workbook's editing page.

Export, share, and download workbooks

After you process and analyze data in an online workbook, you can export, download, or share the data with specified users.

image

Export data to a MaxCompute table

Workbooks support the quick generation of MaxCompute table creation statements based on the processed data. After you copy the statements, you can go to Data Development to export the data to a MaxCompute table. A maximum of 100 rows of data can be exported.

  1. In the upper-right corner of the workbook editing page, choose Export > Generate MaxCompute Table Creation Statement.

  2. Configure the parameters in the Export To MaxCompute Table dialog box.

    image

    Insert Mode

    Parameter

    Description

    Insert Data Into A MaxCompute Table (insert Overwrite)

    Select Target Project

    Select the target workspace.

    Select Table

    Enter and select the name of the table into which you want to insert data.

    Create A New MaxCompute Table And Insert Data

    Select Target Project

    Select the target workspace.

    Enter Table Name

    Enter a name for the new table. The table name must be unique. Click Check For Duplicates to verify.

  3. Click Copy SQL Statement and then click Close.

    Important

    Only non-partitioned tables are supported. You can copy a maximum of 100 lines of code.

  4. In the upper-left corner of the page, click the ste icon, and then choose All Products > Data Development & O&M > DataStudio (Data Development).

  5. Use a MaxCompute SQL node to insert the data into an existing table or create a new MaxCompute table and insert the data.

  6. Click Submit To Development Environment or Submit To Production Environment.

    If you use a workspace in basic mode, click Submit To Production Environment.

Share a workbook

The following are common scenarios for sharing a workbook:

  • Multi-user collaboration: Share the workbook and grant edit permissions to other users. For example, you can use this feature to collect personal information from team members or manage event registrations.

  • Sharing for viewing: Share the workbook and grant read permissions to other users.

Important

If a permission issue occurs, contact a tenant administrator to go to Security Center > Data Query and Analysis Control > Query Result Control and enable Allow Sharing and Allow Download for Workbooks. For more information, see Data Query and Analysis Control.

On the workbook editing page, click Share in the upper-right corner to configure the sharing method.

  • Share By Link: Specify which members can edit or view the workbook, or make it visible to everyone. Then, click Copy Link and send the link to the intended recipients.

    If you enable Extraction Code, a link protected by an extraction code is generated.

  • Specify Editors: To grant edit permissions to specific users, select Specify Editors > Add. In the dialog box, enter and select the members to add, and then click Confirm.

  • Visible To Everyone: Turn on the Visible To Everyone switch to make the current workbook accessible to everyone.

  • The Following People Can View: To grant read permissions to specific users, turn off Visible To Everyone and select The Following People Can View > Add. In the dialog box that appears, select the members to add, and then click Confirm.

    image

After the workbook is shared, you can send the link to the intended users. They can then access the workbook using the link.

  • The View History section in the upper-right corner of the workbook editing page shows which users have viewed the shared workbook.

  • In the Workbooks list, you can view the workbooks under Shared With Me.

Download a workbook

On the workbook editing page, click the Download button in the upper-right corner to download the workbook locally.

Appendix: Button details

On the workbook editing page, you can configure the following items:

  • Font 字体

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Font

    Select the font type.

    Font Size

    Select the font size.

    Bold

    Make the text bold.

    Italic

    Italicize the text.

    Underline

    Add an underline to the text.

    Strikethrough

    Add a strikethrough to the text.

    Border

    Add a border to the text.

    Background Fill

    Fill the background color of the text.

    Text Fill

    Change the color of the text.

  • AlignmentAlignment

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Align Top

    Align text to the top.

    Middle Align

    Align text to be centered between the top and bottom of the cell.

    Align Bottom

    Align text to the bottom.

    Auto Wrap

    Display long text on multiple lines to make it all visible.

    Align Left

    Align text to the left.

    Center

    Center text horizontally.

    Align Right

    Align text to the right.

    Merge & Center

    Combine the selected cells into one larger cell and center the content in the new cell.

  • Number 数字

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Data Type

    Select the cell format, such as Number, Currency, Short Date, Long Date, Time, Percentage, Fraction, Scientific, and Text.

    Percentage

    Set the data type of the cell to percentage.

    Two Decimal Places

    Format the data in the cell to two decimal places.

    Thousand Separator

    Separate thousands in the cell's data with a comma, for example, 1,005.

    Currency

    Set the data type of the cell to currency, such as CNY, USD, GBP, EUR, and CHF.

  • Rows and Columns行列

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Insert Row

    Add a new row of cells to the workbook.

    Insert Column

    Add a new column of cells to the workbook.

    Delete Row

    Delete the selected row of cells from the workbook.

    Delete Column

    Delete the selected column of cells from the workbook.

    Freeze Row

    Freeze all rows above the selected row in the workbook.

    Freeze Column

    Freeze all columns to the left of the selected column in the workbook.

    Hide Row

    Hide the selected row in the workbook.

    Hide Column

    Hide the selected column in the workbook.

  • Conditional Formatting 条件格式

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Filter-based Conditional Formatting

    Includes rules in Highlight Cells Rules and Top/Bottom Rules.

    Color Fill Conditional Formatting

    Includes styles in Gradient Fill, Solid Fill, and Color Scales.

    Icon Fill Conditional Formatting

    Includes Directional, Shapes, Indicators, and Ratings icons.

    Clear Conditional Formatting Effects

    Includes Clear Rules From Selected Cells and Clear Rules From Entire Sheet.

  • Style Style

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Apply Table Style

    Select and apply a table style.

    Delete

    Remove the applied table style.

    Cell Style

    Set the style of the cell.

    Clear

    Includes Clear All, Clear Contents, and Clear Formats.

  • Edit 编辑

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    AutoSum

    Supports five types: Sum, Average, Count Numbers, Max, and Min.

    Find

    Click Find directly, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F to open the input box.

    Filter And Sort

    Filter data and sort it in ascending or descending order.

    Clear

    Directly delete the selected content.

  • ChartsCharts

    Ordinal Number

    Feature

    Description

    Column Chart

    For more information, see Column chart.

    Line Chart

    For more information, see Line chart.

    Pie Chart

    For more information, see Pie chart.

    More

    Click More to select charts such as:

  • Plugins: This section provides the Type Conversion feature. Click the 类型转换 icon to apply Convert To Numeric or Convert To String to the selected data.

  • Keyboard Shortcut List: Click the 快捷键 icon to view the shortcuts for each feature.