All in Tableau How-Tos
Stacked bar charts are a brilliant visual for displaying how individual segments contribute to the overall value of a category, and how a category ranks in relation to other categories. Like all data visualizations however, it has some weaknesses.
One of the biggest weaknesses of a stacked bar chart is that it's hard to compare bar segments when they don't have a shared baseline. Comparing the first bar segment is straightforward, but comparing the 3rd or 5th segment is cumbersome.
How do you add a Quarter and Year list filter in Tableau? By default, Tableau lets us add a Quarter Number filter (e.g. Q1), but getting a Quarter and Year filter list isn't a standard option! As a result, we need to workaround this a bit with three possible options.
Which one works best for you depends on your use-case, but all three will be helpful to know in your Tableau work.
How do you approach a new data set in Tableau? Do you spend a while studying the fields and data types? Or do you Google what other people have built using similar data? Maybe you like jumping straight into building to see how things shake out?
I lean toward the latter. Building visuals allows you to learn the data quickly, develop insights, and expose data issues (let's be honest, there are almost always wrinkles to work out of the data).
When you put a single measure on the color tab in your Tableau worksheet, you get a single color legend. That makes sense.
But sometimes it can be frustrating. For instance, what if two different segments of your business have significantly different Sales values?
Tableau is a fantastic data visualization tool, but memorizing some of the initial data visualization rules is hard. It might only take a few clicks to create a scatter plot or a highlight table, but you need to know exactly *which* clicks to make in order to create those charts.
One of my favorite, underutilized charts is a dot plot! A dot plot is like a 2-D Scatter Plot and it's great for visualizing ranges of data. Often, I'll pop an average line on the chart for reference so the user can compare across categories as well. I hope this chart type serves you well!
Tableau formatting is a world of its own. While there are loads of options, there are also some under the radar tricks which can help you build workbooks faster and cut down on repeat work.
Let me guess, you have a value (maybe a null) displaying in a Tableau filter and you want it to go away? You don’t want to leave it just sitting there because it’s ugly and your users are insatiably curious. You know if you leave it they are going to select it and you’re going to have to answer questions about what this “null” value means and why it’s a filter option.
Have you ever created a worksheet in Tableau only to have the dreaded 'Abc" text sitting there as a distracting eyesore for your users? You don't have to live with that! Check this video out for a few methods which can help you get rid of that pesky placeholder.
Does Tableau have a PROPER() function? No! But can we convert strings to proper case anyways with some ingenuity? Probably! Check out this video to learn how you can apply proper case to single word, multiple words and even deal Irish style names in Tableau!
Bar in bar charts are a great visual for comparing values in Tableau. They can compare two related measures, or a measure and a target! Check out this video to learn about the two primary approaches for building bar in bar charts, and why a Dual Axis might be the right fit for you.
Sometimes, you need a totally customized date filter for a Tableau dashboard. A fully customized date filter allows you to list the exact date ranges you want a user to be able to select from, and then filters the worksheets in the dashboard to that selected range. Check this video out to learn how you can utilize a parameter, calculation with date logic and worksheet filters to give your users a fully customized list of date ranges they can select and filter on.
Diverging bar charts can be a quick, effective tool for looking at the relationship between multiple measures in Tableau. If your users need the ability to compare two measures across a dimension and want the ability to quickly sort on either of those measures, consider building them a diverging bar chart!
Want to learn how to build a slope chart in Tableau? Want to add customizations to that slope chart like coloring the values based on whether they are increasing or decreasing? Check out this video to learn about this visual and how to use it effectively.
Having a lot of zeroes in a crosstab or highlight table can be clunky and visually overwhelming. Lots of zeros can divert your users' attention away from actual data values because the visual looks cluttered.
So you’re building a pie chart, huh? You’ve ignored all the naysayers and pie chart haters and you’re going to build it anyways. Good for you!
