Saving and Exporting

Why Save Charts?

You need to save charts for:

Reports and presentations
Sharing with others
Website or blog posts
Print materials

Save as HTML

HTML keeps all interactivity:

code.py

import plotly.express as px
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Product': ['A', 'B', 'C'],
    'Sales': [100, 150, 80]
})

fig = px.bar(df, x='Product', y='Sales')

# Save as HTML
fig.write_html('my_chart.html')

Open HTML in browser to interact!

Save as PNG

Static image:

code.py

# Install kaleido first: pip install kaleido

fig.write_image('my_chart.png')

Save as PDF

code.py

fig.write_image('my_chart.pdf')

Save as SVG

Best for quality scaling:

code.py

fig.write_image('my_chart.svg')

Set Image Size

code.py

fig.write_image('my_chart.png', width=800, height=600)

Set Image Quality

code.py

fig.write_image('my_chart.png', scale=2)  # 2x resolution

scale=2 makes image twice as sharp!

Save Multiple Formats

code.py

# Save in all formats
fig.write_html('chart.html')
fig.write_image('chart.png')
fig.write_image('chart.pdf')
fig.write_image('chart.svg')

Get Image as Bytes

For web apps:

code.py

image_bytes = fig.to_image(format='png')

Get HTML as String

code.py

html_string = fig.to_html()

Include Plotly.js

For standalone HTML:

code.py

fig.write_html('chart.html', include_plotlyjs=True)

For smaller file (needs internet):

code.py

fig.write_html('chart.html', include_plotlyjs='cdn')

Complete Example

code.py

import plotly.express as px
import pandas as pd

# Create chart
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Month': ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May'],
    'Sales': [100, 120, 115, 140, 160]
})

fig = px.line(df, x='Month', y='Sales',
              title='Monthly Sales Report',
              markers=True)

fig.update_layout(
    xaxis_title='Month',
    yaxis_title='Sales ($)',
    template='plotly_white'
)

# Save for different uses
fig.write_html('sales_interactive.html')  # For web
fig.write_image('sales_report.png', width=800, height=500, scale=2)  # For presentation
fig.write_image('sales_print.pdf')  # For print

Format Comparison

Format	Interactive	File Size	Best For
HTML	Yes	Large	Web, sharing
PNG	No	Small	Reports, slides
PDF	No	Medium	Print, documents
SVG	No	Small	Web, scaling

Troubleshooting

Error: "kaleido" not found?

terminal

pip install kaleido

Image is blurry?

code.py

fig.write_image('chart.png', scale=2)  # Use higher scale

Key Points

write_html() keeps interactivity
write_image() for static images
Install kaleido for image export
Use scale for higher resolution
PNG for slides, PDF for print
SVG for scalable graphics
HTML for web sharing

Module Complete!

You've learned all about Plotly:

Basic charts with Plotly Express
Scatter, line, bar charts
3D visualizations
Geographic maps
Animations
Dashboards
Saving charts

Now you can create beautiful interactive visualizations!