By: Eric Parker
Eric Parker lives in Seattle and has been teaching Tableau and Alteryx since 2014. He's helped thousands of students solve their most pressing problems. If you have a question, feel free to reach out to him directly via email. You can follow him on LinkedIn or sign up for a Tableau Office Hour to work with him directly!
Did you know you can reference Tableau Sets in calculations? Most Tableau users don’t.
Referencing a set in a calculation provides you the ability to filter a calculation, rather than an entire worksheet, based on end-user selection.
Why is that valuable?
It provides the flexibility to calculate percent of total on the fly (e.g. what percent of total sales come from California) and the ability to compare two segments that may or may not have overlap (e.g. how do Furniture Sales in the West compare to Furniture and Office Supplies Sales in the East?).
Some people realize that you can filter a calculation in Tableau with a parameter, but few people realize you can do so with a set. The added benefit of providing a set control (instead of a parameter control) for your end user is the capability to select multiple values from a dropdown (whereas a parameter only allows for a single selection at a time).
Ready to add this powerful approach to your Tableau arsenal? Check out the video and related resources!
Related Resources:
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