The Pages shelf is a powerful part of Tableau that you can use to control the display of output as well as the printed result of that output. This article discusses a few common concepts related to the Pages shelf. Also review the
Pages Shelfsection in the Desktop Online Help.
Using the Pages shelf for filtering and display purposes
One use of the Pages shelf is to control and fix the axis range across a variety of dimension choices. In contrast to a single-value quick filter - which automatically changes the axis range depending on the value you choose - the Pages shelf fixes the axis range across all page elements. In the example view below, as you select a new page using the page icon 
, notice that the axis range does not update. This can be very useful for comparative analytics. If you want the axis range to automatically change, you can use a quick filter. Also note that Tableau can place the current page value in the title of the view.
Using the Pages shelf in for printing and output purposes
A common misperception about the Tableau Pages shelf is that it controls the number of pages to print, or the headers and footers of printed pages, or other similar aspects. These are not its intended uses. For printing purposes, placing a dimension on the Pages shelf can control the page breaks. The following screen shows the Page Setup dialog box for a worksheet in Tableau Desktop.
When you print to PDF in Tableau Desktop, there is a page break for each of the 17 product sub-categories - the dimensions placed on the Pages shelf. This is a very effective way to present this type of information. Further, when you publish the workbook to Tableau Server or Tableau Public, the page setup options are respected in the Server view. When you choose to output to PDF - as in the embedded example shown below - the resulting PDF includes all 17 pages, even though the embedded view itself shows only one page at a time.