One of the biggest problems with scatter plots is that all the data points on the chart can be overwhelming without context.

Scatter plots are one of the most powerful visuals you can build in Tableau. They allow you to plot numerous data points to identify correlation and patterns in your data set. However, they can also be overwhelming for an end user.

Using resources like average lines and colors to identify data points with "desirable" versus "undesirable" outcomes can expedite your users' ability to properly comprehend the data.

Nov 15
Nov 15 What are Tableau WINDOW Functions? (WINDOW_AVG, WINDOW_MIN, WINDOW_MAX)

Eric Parker

Table Calculations

Tableau WINDOW functions allow you to apply an aggregation to aggregated data points in a worksheet.

This is helpful when you want to calculate the average, minimum or maximum of your data points! These functions can help you draw average lines, differentiate between values that are above or below average, or even highlight the largest and smallest values in your visuals!

WINDOW functions are a core component of maximizing Tableau's ability to communicate valuable insights about your data.

Nov 8
Nov 8 How to Calculate Moving Average in Tableau

Ollie Linley

Table Calculations

How do you track trends in Tableau when there is a high degree of fluctuation in our data? Try using a moving average!

A moving average is an average of a collection of points around a specified point. For each mark in our view, Tableau will calculate the average of the mark's value and the value of several previous marks. This creates an average value that "moves" over time.

Nov 1
Nov 1 How to Hide Data with a Filter in Tableau (LOOKUP, LAST, FIRST)

Eric Parker

Table Calculations

If you want to reference data that isn't visible in your Tableau worksheet, you're going to need a trick to 'hide' that data rather than filter it out of the worksheet entirely. For example, if you want to calculate year over year growth but only display the latest year, you can't filter the prior year out of your worksheet or Tableau will not be able to reference the prior year values.

Hiding data with a filter in Tableau is an expert trick you should know about. One of the best ways to 'hide' data with a filter is to use a Table Calculation filter. Table Calculations filters are one of the last steps processed in Tableau's order of operations. They are even processed after your standard table calculations (e.g. Percent of Total, Rank, Percent Difference) are computed.

Oct 25
Oct 25 Why does my percent of total add to more than 100%?

Ollie Linley

Table Calculations

Sometimes we want to calculate the percent of total of a variable, but those totals add up to over 100%! What's going on?

In those cases, the dimensions we use in the view likely have overlapping members. For instance, a single customer could have purchased at all our stores, meaning that the percent of total for our number of customers is skewed.

Aug 30
Aug 30 Highlight the Highest and Lowest Points in a Tableau Line Graph

Ollie Linley

Table Calculations

Imagine you are building a line graph and want to visually call out the highest and lowest values for your end user. To do that, we can create a dual axis chart where circles representing the MIN and MAX points is overlaid on the line graph.

How can we calculate the highest and lowest values in a Tableau view? These values need to be dynamic (as we filter out info, the values need to change), and they need to be integrated into what we’ve already built. But how can we do that?

Jul 12
Jul 12 How to Calculate Running Headcount in Tableau with Start and End Date Fields

Eric Parker

Data, Table Calculations, Tableau Calculations

Do you want to use Tableau to look at running headcount over time? For example, you work with employee level data which has Start Dates and End Dates and you'd like to be able to see how the total active headcount at the company has changed over the last 8 quarters.

That's something Tableau can do, but it isn't going to work out of the box. It's going to take some creative data structuring and calculations to get things working.

May 31
May 31 Display a Single Dimension Across Multiple Columns in Tableau

Eric Parker

Table Calculations, Tableau Calculations, Design

Sometimes, you have too many values in a dimension on the rows shelf in your Tableau worksheet and end up with a scroll bar. Annoying, right? Scroll bars mean your users are less likely to see the data at the bottom of your worksheet because it it out of sight and out of mind.

One idea I've heard discussed is, what if you could break the data into multiple columns? For example, instead of displaying 50 states as a single column of 50 rows, could you display it at 2 columns or 25 rows?

Apr 19
Apr 19 How Tableau Table Calculations Work

Eric Parker

Tableau Calculations, Table Calculations

Table Calculations are a family of functions in Tableau Desktop which allow users to reference data at the aggregated, data point (mark) level. They are a powerful but often misunderstood component of the Tableau ecosphere.

Some of the most common applications of Table Calculations include calculating Percent of Total, Percent Difference and Rank.

May 19
May 19 How to Repeat Row Labels in Tableau

Eric Parker

Design

So let’s say you built a worksheet in Tableau and the row labels aren’t repeating for every row in the table. For example, maybe a year or quarter field is only showing up once instead of repeating.

Nov 18
Nov 18 Compare to Equivalent Day Last Year in Tableau

Eric Parker

Tableau Calculations, Tableau Dates

In the past, we’ve covered how to write a calculation which allows you to compare today to the same day of the year in Tableau. In that scenario, we used the day of year number for comparison. That works well if January 27th from this year should be compared to January 27th of last year (for example). However, what if you want to compare so that equal days of week are being compared?

Oct 14
Oct 14 Month over Month Comparison Summary Tiles in Tableau

Eric Parker

Tableau Calculations, Tableau How-Tos, Tableau Dashboards

Sometimes when I’m creating summary tiles for Tableau dashboards, I like to add arrows or percent increases/decreases to let consumers know how current values relate to the comparison period.

Aug 30
Aug 30 Tableau Error: All fields must be aggregate or constant when using table calculation functions or fields from multiple data sources

Eric Parker

Tableau General Knowledge

Have you gotten the error “All fields must be aggregate or constant when using table calculation functions or fields from multiple data sources” in Tableau?

Jul 27
Jul 27 Using Symbols to Get More out of Your Tableau Highlight Tables

Eric Parker

Tableau General Knowledge

Complex data questions are hard to answer with simple visuals. When questions have multiple components, a single graph may not be enough. For instance, imagine you have a table of data displaying average daily high temperatures by month that looks like this:

May 25
May 25 Create a Percent of Total in Tableau That Isn't Affected by Filters

Eric Parker

Tableau How-Tos

As you likely know from using Table Calculations in Tableau, they only compute against the marks displayed in a worksheet. Check out this webinar in you need a refresher.

That means when a filter is applied to the worksheet, a table calculation will update to reflect only the data present in the worksheet.

Apr 20
Apr 20 How do Tableau Table Calculations Work?

Eric Parker

Tableau General Knowledge

Nov 29
Nov 29 How to Build a Quadrant Scatter Plot in Tableau

Nov 15
Nov 15 What are Tableau WINDOW Functions? (WINDOW_AVG, WINDOW_MIN, WINDOW_MAX)

Nov 8
Nov 8 How to Calculate Moving Average in Tableau

Nov 1
Nov 1 How to Hide Data with a Filter in Tableau (LOOKUP, LAST, FIRST)

Oct 25
Oct 25 Why does my percent of total add to more than 100%?

Aug 30
Aug 30 Highlight the Highest and Lowest Points in a Tableau Line Graph

Jul 12
Jul 12 How to Calculate Running Headcount in Tableau with Start and End Date Fields

May 31
May 31 Display a Single Dimension Across Multiple Columns in Tableau

Apr 19
Apr 19 How Tableau Table Calculations Work

May 19
May 19 How to Repeat Row Labels in Tableau

Nov 18
Nov 18 Compare to Equivalent Day Last Year in Tableau

Oct 14
Oct 14 Month over Month Comparison Summary Tiles in Tableau

Aug 30
Aug 30 Tableau Error: All fields must be aggregate or constant when using table calculation functions or fields from multiple data sources

Jul 27
Jul 27 Using Symbols to Get More out of Your Tableau Highlight Tables

May 25
May 25 Create a Percent of Total in Tableau That Isn't Affected by Filters

Apr 20
Apr 20 How do Tableau Table Calculations Work?

Youtube