Innovative Tableau: 100 More Tips, Tutorials, and Strategies

637 Pages·2020·73.836 MB·English

by  Ryan Sleeper

Innovative
Tableau
100 More Tips, Tutorials, and Strategies
Ryan Sleeper

Innovative Tableau
100 More Tips, Tutorials, and Strategies
Ryan Sleeper
BBeeiijjiinngg BBoossttoonn FFaarrnnhhaamm SSeebbaassttooppooll TTookkyyoo
Innovative Tableau
by Ryan Sleeper
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2020-04-24: First Release
2021-05-14: Second Release
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978-1-492-07565-3
[MBP]
Table of Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Part I. Introduction/What’s New
1. How to Learn Tableau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Read 1
Introducing Playfair Data TV 1
Jump into the Community 2
Attend a Live Training 3
Practice with Tableau Public 3
2. Parameter Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
How to Use Tableau Parameter Actions 4
3. Set Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How to Use Tableau Set Actions 9
4. Button Dashboard Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
How to Use the Button Dashboard Object in Tableau 19
5. Transparent Sheets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
How to Make Worksheet Backgrounds Transparent 25
How to Make Map Backgrounds Transparent 29
6. Show/Hide Button on Layout Containers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
How to Toggle Layout Containers On and Off 31
7. New Mapping Capabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8. Explain Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
iii
9. Viz in Tooltip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
How to Add a Visualization to a Tooltip 48
10. Tableau Extensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Part II. More Chart Types
11. Chart Types Introduction: Going Beyond Show Me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Going Beyond Show Me with the Authoring Interface Canvas and Chart
Type Categories 55
12. The Data-Ink Ratio and How to Apply It in Tableau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ideas for Improving the Data-Ink Ratio of Tableau Visualizations 57
Step 1: Erase Non-Data Ink 58
Step 2: Erase Redundant Data Ink 61
Step 3: Revise and Edit 62
13. 3 Ways to Make Charming Crosstabs: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
How to Make Flexible Text Tables with Limitless Columns 63
14. 3 Ways to Make Charming Crosstabs: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
How to Make Custom Tableau Table Headers 66
15. 3 Ways to Make Charming Crosstabs: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
How to Align Text with Precision 70
16. 3 Ways to Make Handsome Highlight Tables: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
How to Make a Highlight Table in Tableau 72
How to Format Marks for a Highlight Table 74
17. 3 Ways to Make Handsome Highlight Tables: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Use Colors in Moderation 75
18. 3 Ways to Make Handsome Highlight Tables: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Color Cells Based on a Discrete Segmentation 77
19. 3 Ways to Use Dual-Axis Combination Charts: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Two Ways to Make Dual-Axis Combo Charts 82
20. 3 Ways to Use Dual-Axis Combination Charts: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Use a Dual-Axis Combination Chart to Make Your User Part of the Story 87
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21. 3 Ways to Use Dual-Axis Combination Charts: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Improving the Design of a Line Graph 90
22. 3 Ways to Make Stunning Scatter Plots: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
How to Make a Scatter Plot in Tableau 92
A Formatting Trick for Better Mark Borders 94
23. 3 Ways to Make Stunning Scatter Plots: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
How to Automate Scatter Plot Segmentation 97
24. 3 Ways to Make Stunning Scatter Plots: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
How to Make Connected Scatter Plots 103
25. 3 Ways to Make Splendid Slope Graphs: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
How to Make Slope Graphs in Tableau 111
How to Make Slope Graphs Dynamic Based on a Date Range Filter 114
26. 3 Ways to Make Splendid Slope Graphs: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
How to Add a Slope Graph/Line Graph Toggle 116
27. 3 Ways to Make Splendid Slope Graphs: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
How to Add Vertical Lines to Connect Slope Graphs 119
28. 3 Ways to Make Magnificent Maps: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
How to Make Hub-and-Spoke Maps in Tableau 125
29. 3 Ways to Make Magnificent Maps: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
How to Make Maps with Custom Territories 132
30. 3 Ways to Make Magnificent Maps: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Combine Generated and Custom Lat-Long Coordinates 137
31. How to Make a Custom Geographic Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
How to Map a Background Image to Create a Custom Geographic Map in
Tableau 142
32. How to Make Trellis/Tile/Small Multiple Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
How to Make Trellis Maps with Automated Grids 150
How to Make Trellis Maps with Manual Grids 155
33. How to Make a Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
How to Create a Timeline of Key Events in Tableau 161
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How to Display a Reference Line for the Current Date 165
34. How to Make a Diverging Bar Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
How to Make Positive Values Diverge Left 168
Making a Diverging Bar Chart on a Single Sheet 171
35. How to Make Marginal Histograms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
How to Add Histograms to the Margins of Scatter Plots 177
How to Make Marginal Bar Charts in Tableau 183
36. How to Make Unit Histograms/Wilkinson Dot Plots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
How to Stack Marks to Create Unit Histograms in Tableau 185
37. How to Make a Dual-Axis Waterfall Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
How to Use Running Total to Create a Waterfall Chart in Tableau 193
38. How to Make Performance Indicator Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
How to Directly Communicate Performance in Chart Titles 203
39. How to Create Performance Indicator Titles with Comparison Score. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
How to Create a Current Versus Comparison Index Callout in Tableau 207
An Alternative Current Versus Comparison Index Callout in Tableau 211
40. How to Highlight a Dimension Member on a Minimalist Dot Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
How to Make a Minimalist Dot Plot in Tableau 214
How to Highlight a Dimension Member Throughout Dot Plots 217
41. 3 Ways to Make Gorgeous Gauges: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
How to Make Rounded Gauges 220
42. 3 Ways to Make Gorgeous Gauges: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
How to Make Gauges with a Custom Background Image 230
43. 3 Ways to Make Gorgeous Gauges: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
How to Make a Stock Ticker Gauge 238
44. How to Make Ranged Dot Plots in Tableau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
How to Make a Dot Plot with a Performance Range for Each Dimension
Member 245
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45. Introducing Leapfrog Charts in Tableau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
How to Combine Dot Plots, Gantt Marks, and Table Calculations to Create
Leapfrog Charts 253
46. How to Let Users Choose Between Chart Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
How to Change Charts Using a Parameter Control 268
How to Change Chart Selections with Layout Containers 275
Part III. Author Experience
47. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Text: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
How to Install Custom Fonts 283
48. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Text: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
How to Conditionally Format Text 285
49. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Text: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Format Text Tables Like Finance Reports 288
50. How to Deduplicate Joined Rows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
The Challenge of Working with Joined Data Sources in Tableau 291
How to Deduplicate Joined Rows Using Tableau’s LOD Expressions 293
How to Deduplicate Using a Row ID Field 294
How to Deduplicate Using LODs with More Than One Dimension 297
51. How to Pass Parameters and Filters Between Workbooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
How to Pass Fields Between Workbooks Using Query Strings 301
52. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Dates: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
How to Equalize Dates Using the MAKEDATE Function 306
The Challenge of Not Having a Month + Day Date Part in Tableau 306
Equalizing Year-Over-Year Dates on the Same Axis Using the
MAKEDATE Function 307
53. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Dates: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
How to Normalize Current Dates and Prior Dates on One Axis 309
How to Equalize a Selected Date Range with a Prior Date Range on One
Axis in Tableau 309
54. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Dates: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
How to Make Better Relative Date Filters 317
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How to Create Flexible and User-Friendly Relative Date Filters in Tableau 317
How to Allow Users to Select the Relative Date Range 320
Combine This Relative Date Filtering with Parameter Actions for a Better
User Experience 323
More Ways to Use These Better Relative Date Filters 326
55. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Tooltips: Tip 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
How to Add an Image to a Tooltip 329
56. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Tooltips: Tip 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
How to Add a Tooltip to a Dimension 336
57. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Tooltips: Tip 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
How to Make Dynamic Tooltips 344
58. How to Use INDEX() for Easier Top N Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
How to Create More Predictable, Flexible Top N Filters 348
59. How to Dynamically Display the Top N Versus Other. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
How to Group the Top N and Everything Else with Parameters and Sets 353
60. 3 Ways to Use the Describe Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Using Describe to Save Processing Time 358
A Method of Reverse-Engineering 359
Calculated Field Writing 361
61. 3 Ways to Use Tableau in the Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
How to Reverse-Engineer Table Calculations 363
How to Update Calculations on the Fly 366
How to Save Updated Calculations for Future Use 370
62. How to Make a Signature Line with Data Status Alert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
How to Automatically Detect Whether Data Is Up-to-Date 371
63. How to Improve Your Dashboard Design with White Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
What Is White Space in Data Visualization? 376
Sketch Out the Dashboard Dimensions in Advance 378
Take Advantage of the Padding Options on the Layout Pane 380
Use a Blank Dashboard Object 381
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