The Data and Graphviz Ribbon Tabs

Now that you understand the basics of the data worksheet, let's explore the ribbon tabs used to generate, style, and publish your diagrams.

As of version 11.0, this used to be a single Graphviz tab, and is now split in two:

• The Data tab owns everything related to generating and publishing output — diagrams, raw DOT source, and the new Knowledge Graph JSON export.
• The Graphviz tab is scoped down to genuine Graphviz-only options: layout engine, splines, direction, and output order.

Upgrading from before v11.0?

If you can't find a control you used to know by heart, it most likely moved from the old Graphviz tab to the new Data tab. See the Version 11.0.0 changelog entry for the complete list of what moved where.

The Data Ribbon Tab

The Data ribbon tab activates automatically whenever any of the following worksheets is selected: data, graph, styles, settings, or about....

It contains the following groups, each explained below. You may jump directly to a group using the links in this table:

Group	Description
Visualize	Action and option buttons that cause the Excel data to be graphed by Graphviz and then displayed within the Excel workbook, or sent to the Knowledge Graph viewer.
Publish	Action buttons that write the graphed data to disk, as a rendered diagram, raw DOT source, and/or a Knowledge Graph JSON export.
File Output	Controls the output directory, filename, file format, and which Graphviz render engine is used.
Styling	Style-related switches: whether to apply styles and attributes, plus a handful of drawing options that used to live inside a dropdown menu.
Options	Menus that control which nodes, edges, and clusters are included in the Graphviz source, and how their labels and tooltips are represented.
'data' Worksheet	A set of menu items that control what columns and graphs are displayed on the data worksheet.
Debug	An option to display additional information such as the row number and Item identifiers in the labels of nodes, edges, and clusters.
Help	Provides a link to the Help content for the data worksheet (i.e. this web page).

Visualize

Label	Control Type	Description
Refresh Graph	Split Button	The action button that causes the Excel data to be graphed by Graphviz and then displayed within the Excel workbook. Opening its dropdown (the small v arrow) reveals Automatic, a toggle that keeps the graph refreshed as cell changes are detected (also requires that Worksheet is set to data).
Knowledge Graph	Split Button	Builds the current view as a Knowledge Graph JSON export and opens it in the built-in browser-based viewer. Opening its dropdown lets you choose whether the viewer refreshes a single shared browser tab each time you regenerate the graph, or opens a fresh tab every time; if you're using shared-tab mode and close the tab by accident, a "reopen" option there brings it back without regenerating anything.
Zoom Out / Zoom In (- / +)	Button	Decreases/magnifies the scale of the image displayed in Excel by 5%.
Current Zoom	Dropdown / Text	Shows the current magnification level, from 5% to 150% in 5% increments. New in v11.0: the list now runs high to low (150% → 5%) instead of low to high.
View	Dropdown list	The name of the column in the styles worksheet which controls which set of Yes/No values to use when creating the diagrams. See Creating Views for more detail.
Image Type	Dropdown list	Image format to use when displaying the graph on the data or graph worksheet. Choices: bmp - Microsoft Windows Bitmap format gif - Graphics Interchange Format jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group format png - Portable Network Graphics format svg - Scalable Vector Graphics Note: SVG images only display in Office 365; they do not display in older versions of Excel.
Worksheet	Dropdown list	The worksheet in the current workbook where the graph should be displayed. Choices: data - The graph is displayed in the data worksheet to the right of the data columns. graph - The graph is displayed in the graph worksheet, and the graph worksheet is activated. Useful for large graphs, since it allows you to use Excel's Zoom‑In/Zoom‑out feature, and to flip back and forth between the data and the graph to correct errors in the data.

Apply Styles and Apply Attributes used to live in this group as toggle buttons; in v11.0 they moved to the Styling group below, now as checkboxes.

Publish

A tutorial on how to use these ribbon options is contained in Publishing Graphs.

Label	Control Type	Description
Publish	Split Button	The action button that causes the Excel data to be graphed by Graphviz and then written to a file. Opening its dropdown (the small v arrow) reveals Open after publishing, which automatically opens the generated file(s) once they're written.
Publish all views	Button	The action button that causes the Excel data to be graphed by Graphviz and then written to a file repeatedly for every view defined on the styles worksheet.
Graph (.svg)	Checkbox	Include the rendered diagram, in the format chosen in File Output, in each publish.
DOT (.gv)	Checkbox	Include the raw Graphviz dot source alongside the rendered diagram in each publish.
Knowledge (.json)	Checkbox	Include a Knowledge Graph JSON export alongside the rendered diagram in each publish.

Check any combination of Graph/DOT/Knowledge to produce exactly the output files you need — for example, a diagram to eyeball and a Knowledge Graph to hand to an AI tool, from a single Publish click.

File Output

New in v11.0: this group gathers everything about where and how output files are written — the directory, filename, and format controls that used to live in the old Graphviz tab's Publish group, now joined by a render-engine picker.

Label	Control Type	Description
Get Directory	Button	Brings up the Directory Selection dialog and stores/displays the directory where files should be written. Once a directory is selected, the directory path replaces the "Get Directory" button label.
File Prefix	Edit box	Base portion of the file name. For example: Graph. You may also build a file name using the following character strings to insert run-time values into the file name. %D - Current date %T - Current time %E - Graphviz layout engine %S - Splines %V - View name %W - Worksheet name NOTE: You must check the appropriate options in the Filename options dropdown list for the substitutions to occur.
File Format	Dropdown List	File format of the output file. Choices: bmp - Microsoft Windows Bitmap format gif - Graphics Interchange Format jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group format pdf - Portable Document Format png - Portable Network Graphics format ps - Postscript format svg - Scalable Vector Graphics format tiff - Tagged Image File Format
Filename options	Dropdown List	A list of options which can be checked to cause run-time information (date/time, layout engine and splines) to be appended to, or omitted from, the file name.
Cairo / GD / GDI+ / Quartz	Checkbox	New in v11.0. Chooses which Graphviz renderer produces the output file. GDI+ is Windows only; Quartz is macOS only. If you notice differences in font rendering, image handling, or output quality between machines, try switching render engines here.

Styling

New in v11.0. This group collects style-related switches in one place — Apply Styles and Apply Attributes moved here from the old Visualize group (now checkboxes instead of toggle buttons), alongside Add Image Path, Transparent Background, and Rotate 90° CCW, which used to live inside the old Graph options dropdown menu.

Label	Control Type	Description
Apply Styles	Checkbox	Specifies if the style attributes associated with the Style Name assigned to a node, edge, or cluster should be applied when the graph is generated.
Apply Attributes	Checkbox	Specifies if the style attributes in the Attributes column on the data worksheet should be included when the graph is generated.
Add Image Path	Checkbox	If checked, adds the imagepath attribute to the graph.
Transparent Background	Checkbox	Toggles the background color between white and transparent. Useful if you intend to layer the graphs in an image editor or paste them into a Word document. Note: you can set the graph background to any valid color via the bgcolor= attribute on the settings worksheet.
Rotate 90° CCW	Checkbox	If checked, causes the final layout to be rotated counterclockwise by 90 degrees.

Options

Menus that control which nodes, edges, and clusters are included in the Graphviz source, and how their labels and tooltips are represented. The Node and Edge menus moved here from the old Graphviz tab; the old Graph menu has been removed entirely (its one working option, Force xlabel Placement, moved here as a standalone checkbox — its Center Drawing option was dropped, since it didn't do anything). Taking the old Graph menu's place is an entirely new Cluster menu.

Label	Control Type	Description
Node	Menu	Controls which nodes are included, and how node labels and tooltips are represented.
Edge	Menu	Controls how edges are represented, and how edge labels and tooltips are represented.
Cluster	Menu	Controls how clusters are represented, and how cluster labels and tooltips are represented.

New in v11.0

Node and Edge each gained tooltip-inclusion controls, plus options for what to show when the tooltip cell is blank. Their blank/default label choices were also flattened — they now appear directly in the menu instead of nested in a submenu.

Node

Choices which control which nodes are included in the Graphviz source, and how the labels should be represented.

Label	Control Type	Description
Filter
Include stand-alone nodes	Checkbox	Include or exclude nodes without relationships (i.e., island nodes). When using views to exclude relationship edges there may be nodes left in the diagram that are not connected to anything. This setting specifies if these island nodes should be included or excluded from the diagram. Choices: Checked - retain the island nodes Unchecked - drop the island nodes from the diagram
Label Columns
Include Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude Labels column data? Allows you to turn labels on/off in the graph. Choices: Checked - Include Label column data Unchecked - Drop the Label column data from the graph
Include External Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude External Labels column data? Allows you to turn outside (xlabel) labels on/off in the graph. Choices: Checked - Include External Label column data Unchecked - Drop the External Label column data from the graph
Include Tooltip	Checkbox	Include or exclude Tooltip column data? Allows you to turn node tooltips on/off in the graph. Choices: Checked - Include Tooltip column data Unchecked - Drop the Tooltip column data from the graph
Label Values
When the Label column is blank...	Menu	Include or exclude blank values in the Label column? When the Label column is blank on the data worksheet on a row which refers to a node it can mean two possible things. One interpretation is to remove the label from the node, as might be useful when using images to represent nodes. The other interpretation is to let the graph default to displaying the value in the Item column. Choices: ...use blank for the node label - use a blank label as the node's label text ...use the node identifier as the label - show the value in the Item column as the label text
Tooltip
When the Tooltip column is blank...	Menu	Controls what a node's tooltip should show when the Tooltip cell is blank. Either omit the tooltip entirely, or use a blank value.

Edge

Choices which control how edges should be specified in the Graphviz source, and how the edge labels should be represented.

Label	Control Type	Description
Consolidate
Apply "strict" rules	Checkbox	Specifies the strict attribute for the top-level graph. Describing the graph as strict forbids the creation of multi-edges, i.e., there can be at most one edge with a given tail node and head node in the directed case. For undirected graphs, there can be at most one edge connected to the same two nodes. Subsequent edge statements using the same two nodes will identify the edge with the previously defined one and apply any attributes given in the edge statement.
Concentrate edges	Checkbox	If checked, use edge concentrators. This merges multi-edges into a single edge and causes partially parallel edges to share part of their paths. Only available if the layout algorithm is dot.
Force xlabel Placement	Checkbox	If checked, all xlabel attributes are placed, even if there is some overlap with nodes or other labels.
Filter
Include edges which reference undefined nodes	Checkbox	Include/Exclude relationships which reference undefined nodes. When using views to exclude nodes there may be un-styled nodes included in the diagram due to edge references. This setting specifies if the edges should be included or excluded from the diagram.
Include Ports	Checkbox	Retain/Remove port values from the nodes in an edge relationship.
Label Columns
Include Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude Labels column data? Allows you to turn edge labels on/off in the graph.
Include External Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude External Labels column data? Allows you to turn outside (xlabel) edge labels on/off in the graph.
Include Head Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude Head Labels column data? Allows you to turn edge head labels on/off in the graph.
Include Tail Label	Checkbox	Include or exclude Tail Labels column data? Allows you to turn edge tail labels on/off in the graph.
Include Tooltip	Checkbox	Include or exclude Tooltip column data? Allows you to turn node tooltips on/off in the graph.
Label Values
When the Label column is blank...	Menu	Include or exclude blank values in the Label column? When blank, either leave the edge label blank, or let the graph default to displaying the value Graphviz assigns to the edge relationship.
Tooltip
When the Tooltip column is blank...	Menu	New in v11.0. Controls what an edge's tooltip should show when the Tooltip cell is blank — omit the tooltip entirely, or fall back to another value.

Cluster

New in v11.0. Offers the same label- and tooltip-inclusion controls available for Node and Edge above, applied to clusters instead.

'data' Worksheet

Label	Control Type	Description
Show Columns	Menu	Displays a list of all the columns used by the data worksheet, letting you show or hide columns by clicking their names. New in v11.0: the list is now organized into labeled sections (Comment, Item, Label, Style, Knowledge), with a new Show Properties toggle; the old Show Messages toggle was removed along with the Messages column it controlled. See Entering Data in the Data Worksheet for the current column layout.
Delete graph	Button	Deletes the graph from the worksheet. Useful when adding rows, since new rows stretch the image; you may also want to delete the image before saving the file to reduce its size.
Delete all data	Button	Resets the data worksheet to blank cells, and deletes any graphs if present. New in v11.0: this button's icon is now red, to better signal that it's destructive.

Debug

Label	Control Type	Description
Debugging labels	Checkbox	Turning this option on causes additional information such as the row number and Item identifiers to be included in the labels of nodes, edges, and clusters.
Keep dot source	Checkbox	Specifies what should be done with the text file sent to Graphviz after the graphing step is complete when Graph to File is used to create the graph. Choices: Checked - retain the file. It will be in the same directory as the graph file with the same file name except for the file extension (which will be .gv). Unchecked - delete the file
Clear errors	Button	Resets the row-level ! error indicators on the data worksheet. In versions prior to 11.0 this also cleared a dedicated Messages worksheet column; that column has been removed in v11.0 — see Entering Data in the Data Worksheet and the changelog for details.

Help

Provides the Help content for the data worksheet.

Label	Control Type	Description
Help	Button	Provides a link to this web page.

The Graphviz Ribbon Tab

The Graphviz ribbon tab is now scoped to genuine Graphviz-only options: layout engine, splines, direction, and output order. If you're focused purely on Knowledge Graphs and don't need it, a new toggle on the Launchpad tab lets you hide it entirely.

It contains the following groups, which are each explained in the content that follows:

Group	Description
Graph Layout	A set of toggle buttons that control which Graphviz layout engine is applied to your diagram.
Splines	A set of toggle buttons that control how edges are routed in your diagram.
Type	A set of toggle buttons that determine whether your diagram is treated as a directed or undirected graph.
Output Order	A set of toggle buttons that determine the sequence in which Graphviz draws nodes and edges during rendering.
Layout Options	Options specific to whichever layout algorithm is currently selected.
Help	Provides a link to the Help content for the Graphviz ribbon tab.

Graph Layout

The Graph Layout section provides a set of toggle buttons that control which Graphviz layout engine is applied to your diagram. These toggles function like radio buttons, ensuring that only one layout is active at a time. This approach gives you a quick, intuitive way to explore how different layout algorithms organize your graph.

Splines

The Splines section provides a set of toggle buttons that control how edges are routed in your diagram. These toggles function like radio buttons, ensuring that only one spline style is active at a time.

Button	Description
false	Edges are drawn as straight lines.
true	Edges are drawn using a combination of straight segments and free‑flowing curves.
curved	Edges are drawn as smooth, continuous curves between nodes.
ortho	Edges are routed using horizontal and vertical segments with 90‑degree bends.
polyline	Edges are drawn as straight segments with angular bends (not restricted to right angles).
none	Edges (and edge labels) are not drawn, but still influence node placement.

New in v11.0

The Compound, Line, and Spline edge-routing controls are back as live, selectable buttons in this group, after being disabled for some time due to ribbon space constraints. This group also no longer forces a default selection when the underlying splines setting is blank — an unset value now shows no button pressed, rather than defaulting to a choice you never made.

Graph Type

The Graph Type section provides a set of toggle buttons that determine whether your diagram is treated as a directed or undirected graph. These toggles function like radio buttons, ensuring that only one graph type is active at a time.

Button	Description
undirected	Creates an Undirected Graph. Edges have no direction and are drawn without arrowheads.
directed	Creates a Directed Graph (digraph). Edges have a defined direction and are drawn with arrowheads.

Output Order

The Output Order controls determine the sequence in which Graphviz draws nodes and edges during rendering. These options are presented as toggle buttons that behave like radio buttons, ensuring that only one drawing order is active at a time.

Output Order Values

Button	Description
breadth	Draws nodes before edges. Edges appear on top and below nodes.
depth	Draws nodes in a squence often depicting hierarchal depth, producing a more layered or stacked visual.
nodes	Nodes are drawn first; edges are drawn afterward. Edges appear on top of nodes.
edges	Edges are drawn first; nodes are drawn afterward, causing nodes to appear on top of edges.

New in v11.0

A new Depth option joins the existing Breadth option, with updated icons for both. This group also no longer forces a default selection when the underlying setting is blank.

Layout Options

The Algorithm group within the Graphviz tab changes dynamically based upon the layout algorithm chosen. The graph options shown are specific to that particular layout algorithm.

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layout=circo

There are no additional dynamic options for layout=circo.

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layout=dot

The buttons [tb], [bt], [lr], [rl] determine the Rank Direction flow of the graph—whether nodes are arranged top‑to‑bottom, bottom‑to‑top, left‑to‑right, or right‑to‑left. These options are presented as toggle buttons that behave like radio buttons, ensuring that only one direction is active at a time.

Button	Description
tb	Top‑to‑Bottom. Ranks flow downward (the default for most layouts).
bt	Bottom‑to‑Top. Ranks flow upward.
lr	Left‑to‑Right. Ranks flow horizontally from left to right.
rl	Right‑to‑Left. Ranks flow horizontally from right to left.

The [in], [out] Ordering buttons determine how edges are arranged around each node during layout.

Button	Description
in	Preserves the order of incoming edges around each node.
out	Preserves the order of outgoing edges around each node.

The New Rank button determines how Graphviz handles ranking when clusters are present in the graph. This option is presented as a toggle that behaves like a radio‑style switch, ensuring the feature is either fully enabled or disabled. Turning it on allows Graphviz to compute a single global ranking across all clusters, while turning it off preserves the traditional recursive ranking inside each cluster.

The Compound button determines whether edges are allowed to connect into and out of clusters when using layout engines that support this feature.

Value	Description
false	Disables compound edges. Edges cannot connect into or out of clusters using lhead or ltail.
true	Enables compound edges, allowing edges to enter or leave clusters and attach to cluster boundaries.

The Cluster Rank control determines how Graphviz ranks clusters relative to one another during layout.

Value	Description
local	Each cluster is ranked independently. This preserves the traditional recursive ranking behavior and often produces compact cluster layouts.
global	All clusters participate in a single, unified ranking. This can create more consistent alignment across clusters but may increase spacing.

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layout=fdp

The Overlap control is presented as a dropdown list that lets you choose how Graphviz handles node collisions during layout.

Value	Description
compress	Reduces whitespace by compressing the layout after overlap removal, producing a tighter diagram.
prism	Uses a stress‑based algorithm to separate overlapping nodes while preserving layout structure.
scale	Uniformly scales the entire layout until nodes no longer overlap.
scalexy	Scales the layout independently in the X and Y directions to eliminate overlaps.
Voronoi	Uses a Voronoi‑based algorithm to push nodes apart by expanding their regions until overlaps are resolved.

The Layout Dimensions control (dim= attribute) sets the number of dimensions Graphviz uses when computing node positions for certain layout engines (primarily neato, fdp, and sfdp).

The Rendering Dimensions control (dimen= attribute) specifies how many dimensions are used when interpreting node size attributes such as width, height, and size.

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layout=neato

The Overlap control is the same as described under layout=fdp above.

The Mode control selects the algorithm that Neato uses to compute node positions during layout.

Value	Description
major	Uses stress majorization to iteratively refine node positions; stable and widely used.
KK	Uses the Kamada–Kawai spring model, optimizing ideal edge lengths through gradient descent.
hier	Produces a top‑down, hierarchy‑influenced layout similar to dot but using Neato's solver.
ipsep	Applies iterative penalty separation to enforce minimum distances between nodes.
spring	Uses a classical spring‑embedder approach for force‑directed placement.
maxent	Uses a maximum‑entropy–inspired solver to spread nodes evenly while respecting constraints.

The Model control selects how Neato interprets edge relationships when computing ideal node distances.

The Layout Dimensions and Rendering Dimensions controls are the same as described under layout=fdp above.

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layout=osage

There are no additional dynamic options for layout=osage.

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layout=patchwork

There are no additional dynamic options for layout=patchwork.

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layout=sfdp

The Overlap and Mode controls are the same as described under layout=fdp and layout=neato above.

The Smoothing control is presented as a dropdown list that lets you choose how Graphviz refines the raw node positions produced by the layout engine.

Value	Description
none	No smoothing applied. Uses the raw layout positions exactly as computed.
avg_dist	Adjusts node positions based on average distances to neighbors, reducing local irregularities.
graph_dist	Smooths positions using graph‑theoretic distances, improving global consistency.
power_dist	Applies a power‑law weighting to distances, emphasizing stronger relationships.
rng	Uses a Relative Neighborhood Graph–based smoothing to reduce noise while preserving structure.
spring	Applies a light spring‑embedder pass to gently relax node positions.
triangle	Uses triangle‑based geometric smoothing to even out spacing in dense regions.

The Layout Dimensions and Rendering Dimensions controls are the same as described under layout=fdp above.

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Layout = twopi

There are no additional dynamic options for layout=twopi.

Help

Provides the Help content for the Graphviz ribbon tab.

Label	Control Type	Description
Help	Button	Provides a link to this web page.