#BigLittleTips -Practical Tableau Tips

Ludovic Tavernier

and I are the hosts of BigLittleTips — your weekly rendez-vous for practical Tableau tips and advice. We are excited to share with you the techniques that we have gained through our day-to-day Tableau development routine. Those techniques have proven to be incredibly useful for us, and we are confident that it can also benefit you. So join us and let’s discover new and efficient ways to make the most of Tableau!

#1 Bar Size in Time Series (Chart) - https://bit.ly/3WPuLbw
When using a period-type parameter in a time series bar chart, you can reuse the same parameter to adjust the bar size. Create a conditional calculated field with the correct number of days and use it in the mark size.

#2 Eliminate Grand Total Bar (Chart) - https://bit.ly/3Jy0Lhn
When you add Total to a Bar Chart a long bar appears. With this calculation you can remove the bar and keep only the Total Value. IF SIZE()=1 THEN 0 ELSE SUM(Measure) END

#3 Column Width in Sparkline Table (Chart) - https://bit.ly/3jgRTBQ
Use one single sheet for a table combining numbers, shapes and sparklines within a wider column. Go to Analysis/Table Layout/Advanced and set “Constrain aspect ratio” to 1. Adjust the size in the dashboard.

#4 Fix Scale with Ref.Distribution (Chart) - https://bit.ly/3Jpsm3Z
Sometimes your scale needs to be fixed to correctly display a label above a mark. Do not fix the axis just add an invisible distribution reference line to dynamically extend it.

#5 Line Dividers (Design) - https://bit.ly/3jh63Dd
Use the parent container background and the outer padding of one object to create dividers between objects on your dashboard. Parent container background to black and bottom outer padding to 2 creates a black line below the object.

#6 Remove Gray Highlight from Filter (UX) - https://bit.ly/40idYAJ
Ever experienced the gray highlight in your filter list? It shows the last click you made, but it’s quite confusing because it doesn’t indicate the selected item.
To reset it:
Mac: CMD + Click
Windows: CTRL + Click

#7 Add Secondary Information with Captions (Chart) - https://bit.ly/40l3Ozm
The worksheet caption option is very useful for adding additional information below your charts without adding new objects to your dashboard: scopes, secondary metrics, metadata, lineage, footnotes, …

#8 Rename Field (Calc) - https://bit.ly/3Ho2DGD
There are cases when the same field must be used multiple times within a workbook but with a different name. Don’t duplicate the field, just rename it inline.
//NEW NAME — SHIFT+ENTER and search for the original field

#9 Separate Legends in Tables (Chart) - https://bit.ly/3kOv4G0
Sometimes you don’t need much to create clean tables. When using measures, put measure values on color and select “Use Separate Legends” to customize the font color. Edit the legends with diverging stepped colors.

#10 Hide Tabs on Published/Embedded Reports (Server) -shorturl.at/bEFI5
Add the :tabs=n parameter to the viz url to hide the tab bar. For the embed code, just use : param name=’tabs’ value=’no’ Note: select the Show sheets as tabs option when publishing the report.

#11 Last Refreshed and Most Recent (UX) — shorturl.at/hLN89
2 Dates we should always add to our dashboard to make our end-users. Last Refreshed: last created_at/update_at from the source or/and Data Update Time from Tableau. Most Recent: the most recent date in our dataset

#12 Check the Field’s Aliases While Writing a Calculation (Calc) -shorturl.at/nqBHO
You don’t need to close the calculation window if you forget the exact reference name. You can see the aliases of the given field you are using.

If you are interested in more tips join us on Twitter – @IvettAlexa and @ltavernier7 – and discover more #BigLittleTips to make the most of Tableau!