Tips and Tricks

[Pilsner]

Hello all! We decided to kickstart our User Group with a Tips and Tricks topic. In here, we encourage anyone to share Databricks Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts so that we can all learn from each other. Whether it's a hidden feature you think more people should know about or simply something you've recently learnt or discovered, we'd love to hear your thoughts. 

If you're interested in this post or want to hear about other Databricks stories, feel free to join our User Group - all members welcome!

[TheOC]

Hey @Pilsner 
Thanks for kicking off this thread - I'm excited to see what other tips and tricks others have!

Maybe a basic one, but I personally find getting the hang of markdown to be a gamechanger. There's a really useful Databricks resource here.
Being skilled in markdown means:

1. Clear structure to your notebooks, with headings, lists, styling, tables... It makes content much easier to scan and digest which is great for new team members or non-technical members of staff.
2. You can actually embed visuals, links and tables, which can make it really easy to document and break down the steps in a workflow. 
3. An aligned approach. Having a standard or guide around how to document your notebooks within your organisation means that completely new processes can seem familiar to the team. 
   
   As a small bonus trick, you can use the 'magic command' (%md) to toggle markdown on within a cell.
   

   

Looking forward to see what other tricks people have!

[Pilsner]

@TheOC 
I do like this trick a lot. We've all been handed some work originally completed by someone else (or even yourself in the past), and struggled to decipher what any of it means. Effective use of markdown can be invaluable.

I particularly enjoy the fact that we can include images. They can even be sourced directly from the web, and act as a link through to a set page.