Data Visualization

Unit-IV

Data Visualization is the representation of data in a graphical format. It makes the

data easier to understand. Data Visualization can be done using tools like Tableau,
Google charts, DataWrapper, and many more. Excel is a spreadsheet that is used
for data organization and data visualization as well. In this article, let’s understand
Data Visualization in Excel.
Excel provides various types of charts like Column charts, Bar charts, Pie charts,
Linecharts, Area charts, Scatter charts, Surface charts, and much more.
Steps for visualizing data in Excel:
 Open the Excel Spreadsheet and enter the data or select the data you
want to visualize.
 Click on the Insert tab and select the chart from the list of charts available
or the shortcut key for creating chart is by simply selecting a cell in the
Excel data and press the F11 function key.

 A chart with the data entered in the excel sheet is obtained.

 You can design and style your chart with different types of styles and
colors by selecting the design tab.
 In Excel 2010, the design tab option is visible by clicking on the chart.

Example 1:
The Excel data is as follows:
The column chart obtained for the data by following the above steps:

Example 2:
When excel data contains multiple columns and if you want to make a chart
for only a few columns, then select the columns required for making the chart
and press the ‘F11’ function key or click on the Insert tab and select the
chart from the list of charts available.
We can also select the required data columns by doing right-click on the
chart and click on the ‘select data‘ option. Now, data can be added or
removed for making the chart.

For swapping rows and columns in the chart, use the ‘Switch Row/Column‘ option
available in the design [Link] can also make different types of charts for the same
spreadsheet data by clicking on the ‘Change Chart Type’ option in the Design
[Link] make your chart more clear, use the ‘Layout’ tab. In this tab, you can more
changes to your chart like editing the chart title, adding labels to your chart, adding
a legend, and adding horizontal or vertical grid lines.
Example 3: Formatting Chart Area
To format the chart area, right-click on the chart and select the option
‘Format chart Area‘.

The format chart area provides various options for formatting the chart like
Filling the chart with patterns and solid colors, Border colors, Styles for
borders, the shadow effect for your chart, and many more. Formatting makes
the chart look more attractive and colorful.

Bar Chart Visualization

Let’s consider an example of using a bar chart where we need to plot the
curve with more than one data series. And, we need to compare the data
from different categories, whereas the axis labels are rather lengthy. In
Power View, there are three types of bar charts: stacked, 100% stacked and
clustered. The country is represented vertically, whereas numerical data is
presented horizontally. Let’s take a dataset as an example in order to
understand bar chart visualization. This is the major dataset that will be used
in this case.
Steps to Create a Bar Chart Visualization

The following example shows how to create a bar chart in Excel step by step:
Step 1: Create a table in Power View. Choose the Country, Events, and
Season options. This Country and Events are category fields,
whereas Events are numbers.

Step 2: Choose the Table. Select the DESIGN tab. Select Bar Chart from
the Switch Visualization group. Any option you can select from the
dropdown menu. But here Clustered Bar option is selected.
Step 3: In the Power View Fields pane, the Events is under area
– Values. In the Power View Fields pane, the country is under Axis. In the
Power View Fields pane, the Seasons are under the area – Legend.

Step 4: The table will be transformed into a Clustered Bar chart. A Bar
Chart appears with Events by Country and season. The X-Axis
represents the events, while the Y-Axis represents the country. The data
points are shown as different bars, demonstrating the different seasons.
Line Chart Visualization in Excel Power View
Power View is the visualization technology that brings our data to
life. It is available in Microsoft Excel, on Power BI desktop or we can
use it using an SQL server. With the help of power view, we can
create on-the-go reporting using its interactive feature. It has
versatile visualizations that enable to analyze of large data sets. In
power view in excel, we can create lots of visualizations that best
illustrate our data. We can start with any excel sheet or import the
data from another source and convert it to any of the visualizations.
Creating a Visualization
Visualization helps to handle large sets of data by performing drill-
up or drill-down operations to extract the essential data. Various
visualizations available are listed below:
1. Table
2. Map
3. Matrix
4. Card
5. Chart: Line, Bar, bubble, column, scatter
While each of these can be used individually, we can combine all of
these charts to provide interactive visualization. For every table or
data that we have, we can easily create a visualization that best
represents our data. We are going to create a Line chart using Power
BI desktop.
Prerequisites:
 Excel power view enabled via add-ins, or
 Power BI Desktop (for later versions)
Steps for Exploring the Data
Step 1: Enable Excel Power View by going to Insert -> Power View.
Step 2: To load the data, go to Data-> Get External Data.

It will migrate to the dialog box and select “get external data”. It will
show a list of data sources from which the data could be imported.
We can either import from excel, SQL server from the dataset, as
text/CSV file, or directly from the web, as a blank query or any
template apps.
Step 3: Select any of the data sources. Here we are going to import
an access database. Select the file and in the Table import wizard,
click on the source table that has data.

Step 4: It will create a table in excel with the Power View tab as
shown below.

The power view tab helps to create charts and visualization of our
data.
Steps to Create a Line Chart
Step 1: Go to the Power View tab.
Step 2: Click on the blank area anywhere and it will open up a
power view field on the right-hand side.

Step 3: Drag and drop the fields in the areas section. Select two
fields to be displayed on horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (y-axis)
lines. Here we have selected buyer (categorical) data to be
displayed on the horizontal line and amount (numerical) displayed
on the vertical axis.
Step 4: In the design tab, go to “change chart type”.

Step 5: Select “Line” from the available options. A blank chart will
appear. It will convert a table to a visualization chart.
Step 6: It will generate a line chart as shown below.

Filtering with Line Chart Visualization

To filter the data we will first click the actual graph that shows the
sum of the amount against various buyers,
Step 1: Click on the filters pane on the right-hand side. Currently,
there are no filters applied so the fields appear blank. Click on the
“add data fields here” box.

Step 2: We will apply the filter on the “Sum of amount” fields. Go to

“show items when value ” and select “is less than” among the
available selectors. Enter any value (here we have entered 300).
Step 3: Click on “apply filter” button. A filtered line graph will
appear as shown below where the values under the “sum of
amount” field will be less than 300.

Features of Line Chart

 The line chart shows the relationship between two values for all
items of a table.
 Distributes categorical data on the horizontal axis and numerical
data on the vertical axis.
 Serves perfect analytical representation in 2D for two data item
comparisons.
 Displays data in chronological order along the vertical axis even if
the actual data may not be in the same order or in similar base
units.
 Great for displaying sequential data or data pertaining to time.
Map Visualization in Excel Power View
We can use maps to present our data in a geographical
context. Power View Maps employ Bing Map Tiles, so one can
zoom and pan it like other Bing maps. Power View must submit the
data to Bing through a secure online connection for geocoding in
order for the maps to function and work. As a result, it asks you to
activate the content, which involves adding location and values to
the map and placing the dots on it. The greater the value, the larger
the dot. When you add a multi-value series, pie charts appear on the
map, with the size of the pie chart representing the total data. In
this article, we will learn about Map Visualization in Power View.
Steps to Create a Power View Map
Step 1: Create Table.
In order to create a power view map. First, we will create a table. For
this, we will be using Country and Events as two different columns of
our table. In Power View, we can see two fields Country and Events.

Step 2: Making Country Field Global.

In Power View Map Visualization, we need to make our Country field
global, In order to make it, we will need Power Pivot. For this go
to Ribbon Tab > Power Pivot > Add to Data Model > Manage.
Once we click on the Manage option, excel will open the Power
Pivot Window, we need to Select Country Column > Advanced
> Data Category: Uncategorized. We need to
select [Link] from the drop-down menu
list.

Fig 3 – Adding Data Category

After this, excel will pop up a notification window for changing the
Data Model. We need to click on the OK button.

Once we are done updating the Data Model. We will move to our
excel sheet. In the Power View Fields window, we can find a globe
symbol added to our Country column in the Range table. It signifies
that the geographic place is contained in the country field.
Step 3: Convert Table To Map Representation.
In this step, we will convert our table to a map representation. For
this Select Table > Design > Switch Visualization > Map.

Once we click on the Map option, Excel will create the map
visualization from the table visualization. Power View creates a map
with dots for each geographic place (Here, it is a country). The size
of the dots represents the numeric value(Here, it is the value of the
Event field).

Fig 6 – Map Visualization

When we place the cursor over the dots. It will display a message
box with the information for the Country name and the Event value
which is represented by that dot.

Step 4: Zooming and Panning The Map.

Excel provides us built-in feature to zoom and pan the map. We can
zoom in or zoom out the map along with panning in left, right, up,
and down directions using the cursors provided in the top right
corner of the map.

Step 5: Convert Dot To Pie Chart.

In this step, we will convert dots into a pie chart. In order to convert
the dot to pie chart we need to drag the Country field from the
Range table to LOCATIONS and Events to SIZE. To convert dots to
the pie chart, we need a multi-axis, for this, we will use the Season
field. We will drag Season to the COLOR section, which represents
the season of the country such as summer or winter.
Once we do this, excel will convert the dots into a pie chart. Excel
adds a Season Label depicting the season and their associated
colors.

Fig 10 – Pie Chart Visualization

We can click on Pie Slice to enlarge the pie chart. It will highlight
that particular chart and other will be deactivated.
Step 6: Filtering Pie Chart.
In this step, we will filter our pie chart. For this, we will use the filter
option, in the top right corner of the map a filter button is shown. it
shows the filter icon. After clicking on it, it shows the Map in the
filters area.

Once we click on it, excel will open a filter popup window, we will
use specifying the filter criteria depending on our requirement to
filter out the map data(Here, we are filtering only for the winter
season).
Step 7: Output.

A Heat Map in Excel is a visual representation that quickly shows

you a comparative view of a dataset.

For example, in the dataset below, I can easily spot which are the
months when the sales were low (highlighted in red) as compared
with other months.
In the above dataset, the colors are assigned based on the value in
the cell. The color scale is Green to Yellow to Red with high values
getting the green color and low values getting the red color.

Creating a Heat Map in Excel

While you can create a heat map in Excel by manually color coding
the cells. However, you will have to redo it when the values
changes.

Instead of the manual work, you can use conditional formatting to

highlight cells based on the value. This way, in case you change the
values in the cells, the color/format of the cell would automatically
update the heat map based on the pre-specified rules in conditional
formatting.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

 Quickly create a heat map in Excel using conditional

formatting.

 Create a dynamic heat map in Excel.

 Create a heat map in Excel Pivot Tables.

Let’s get started!

Creating a Heat Map in Excel Using Conditional Formatting

If you have a dataset in Excel, you can manually highlight data

points and create a heat map.

However, that would be a static heat map as the color would not
change when you alter the value in a cell.

Hence, conditional formatting is the right way to go as it makes the

color in a cell change when you change the value in it.

Suppose you have a dataset as shown below:

Here are the steps to create a heat map using this data:

 Select the dataset. In this example, it would be B2:D13.

 Go to Home –> Conditional Formatting –> Color Scales. It

shows various color combinations that can be used to
highlight the data. The most common color scale is the first
one where cells with high values are highlighted in green and
low in red. Note that as you hover the mouse over these color
 scales, you can see the live preview in the data set.

This will give you a heat map as shown below:

By default, Excel assigns red color to the lowest value and the
green color to the highest value, and all the remaining values get a
color based on the value. So there is a gradient with different
shades of the three colors based on the value.
Now, what if don’t want a gradient and only want to show red,
yellow, and green. For example, you want to highlight all the values
less than say 700 in red, irrespective of the value. So 500 and 650
both gets the same red color since it’s less than 700.

To do this:

 Go to Home –> Conditional Formatting –> Color Scales –>

More Options

 .

 In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, select ‘3-Color scale’

from the Format Style drop down.
  Now you can specify the minimum, midpoint, and the
maximum value and assign the color to it. Since we want to
highlight all the cells with a value below 700 in red, change the
type to Number and value to 700.

 Click OK.

Now you will get the result as shown below. Note that all the values
below 700 get the same shade of red color.
Create Interactive Excel Dashboard –

Most of us probably rely on our trusted MS Excel dashboard for the day to
day running of our businesses, but like many, we struggle to turn that
data into something that will actually interest people and want them to
know more about it. So how do you attain this seemingly impossible goal?
This is where the Interactive excel dashboard comes in. The first question
that we must answer before we delve into the depths of it is what an excel
Dashboard is? A dashboard may be described as a visual display of the
important information that an individual needs to convey to the client to
achieve one or more objectives that can fit entirely on a single computer
screen and hence can be monitored at a glance.

It is a comprehensive as well as complete visual report or analysis of your

project, which can be shared with other people concerned. Creating an
excel dashboard can be tedious, time-consuming, and difficult if you do
not have the proper knowledge about how to go about doing it. But fret
now; that’s where we enter.

Dashboards are not native to Excel, as they can be created on PowerPoint

as well. Excel Dashboards offer a more dynamic approach to presenting
data than the more linear and un moving nature of PowerPoint
dashboards. An interactive dashboard in excel is basically slices of visualization
which enables your data to tell a story. A dashboard is only useful if they
are dynamic, easy to use, and compatible with the PC you are using.
Before making a dashboard, you need to consider the decisions the end-
user will make based on the data, look, and feel. You will also need to
keep in mind how much they are familiar with the data and its context.
For example, a monthly report for your boss who is already familiar with
everything will look very different from the one you make to pitch a new
idea to a potential client.

Another thing to remember is that the data should be the star of the excel
dashboard. There is no need to clutter the screen with unnecessary
components, so keeping it simple is the best way to go. You will also want
to strike a perfect balance between making it look striking (so that it holds
your audience’s attention) but not so stylized so that it takes away from
the data to be presented. When we tell a story, we must always consider
the tastes and distastes of the audience and adapt our presentation
accordingly. For example, if you are presenting to a very formal
organisation, you should do your best to keep the excel dashboard as
simple as possible without compromising on subdued attractiveness.

Armed with the right knowledge about how to go on about creating a

stunning excel dashboard, you can create an excel dashboard of your own
without it being tedious or difficult! We provide you with a step by step
analysis below:
 1. Bringing in data
Sure, Excel is very useful and flexible. But to create an excel dashboard, you
cannot just paste some data and add a few charts. You need to maintain
it, update it, and impose some structure to that data. Usually, you don’t
have to enter the data directly into the spreadsheet. You can copy-paste
the data, but the best option is to bring in data via an external source. You
can use it to connect your excel dashboard to Access or Oracle. A good
practice is to limit the amount of data you bring in. As we’ve seen before,
data can be brought in with two basic structures: a flat file and a pivot
table. A flat file is generally smaller, where as a pivot table is a large file
(As a thumb rule). Both have their pros and cons, which one must figure
out only through experience.

2. Select a background
Select an appropriate background that will bring your excel dashboard to
appear attractive without focusing away from the data. Your data should
be the star. You can go with subdued shades like blue, grey and black, or
you can take it up a notch like orange, green and purple. It is your choice,
but keep in mind the audience you will be presenting it to. I suggest you
stick to subdued hues if it is for official purposes.

3. Manage your data and link it to your excel dashboard

If you are using a pivot table, use the GETPIVOTDATA function. If you use
a flat-file, there are a number of formulae you can use like DSUM,
DGET, VLOOKUP, MATCH, INDEX or even a dew math formulas like SUM,
SUMIF, etc

But be careful here, do not punch in the formula after formula. Fewer
formulas mean a safer and more reliable excel dashboard which is also
easier to maintain. You can automatically reduce the formula number by
using pivot tables.

Also, another important point is that you should name all your ranges.
Always, always document your work. Simplify your work by making your
excel dashboard formulas

4. Use Dynamic Charting

Dashboards that a user can’t interact with don’t make much sense. All
your excel dashboards should have controls that will enable you to change
the markets, product details, and other nitty critters. What is most
important is that the user must be able to be in complete charge of his or
her own excel dashboard and make changes whenever and wherever they
want.
If you are creating interactive charts, you will need dynamic ranges. You
can do this by using the OFFSET() function. You can also add a few cool
things to your excel dashboard, like greeting the user and selecting the
corresponding profile when they open the excel dashboard. All this can be
done using macros. All you need to do is record a macro, add a FOR NEXT
or a FOR EACH loop. If you have never recorded a macro before, there
are many sites online that give you perfectly tailored macros as per your
needs.

Creating a macro is easier than it seems. To do so, you much click right
anywhere on the Ribbon. Click customize Ribbon. In the drop-down menu
that opens up, select main tabs. Check the Developer check box. Click OK.
You can now find the Developer Tab next to your last tab on the Ribbon.
Now click on the Developer tab – Insert. In the ActiveX Control, click on
the Command Button. Drag this button to your active cell.

This is all you have to do, most of the time:

1. Define what cells should be selected, using the RANGE function;

2. Use a variable (i) instead of row number;
3. Add a loop.

It may not seem very simple, but rest assured that it is not rocket science
either. You need not be a programmer to know Excel macros. Search the
internet, and you will find it. Suppose you want your excel dashboard to
display a particular set of content when a certain user accesses it; you can
use a set of particular macros for the same.

5. Design your excel dashboard report

If you are still using Excel 2003 or 2007, their default charts are not very
attractive, so I suggest you avoid them like the plague but make sure to
use acceptable formats. Excel 2010 and 2013 are a lot better, but they
still need some work. Keep this in mind, a chart is used to discover
actionable patterns in the data, and you should do your best to bring out
most of it. This also means that you should remove all the jazzy, glittery
stuff which adds no value to your excel dashboard. Instead, you can
create a hierarchy of focus and contextual data that is relevant and create
a form of basic interaction, if not much.

6. Dashboard Storytelling
Storytelling which is pregnant with data, is the best kind that there is.
With better access to data and better tools to make a point, we are able to
recover a lot of data types. However, even though data is good, it is great,
but you must not reveal all of it at once. When deciding how to make an
excel dashboard, start by reviewing the purpose of the said dashboard.
The goal shouldn’t be to overwhelm the audience with data but to provide
data in such a form so that it gives them the insight you want them to
have. I think this is true for all data-based projects.

Let your audience explore the data on their own by offering them their
own filters and controls. This is where interactive visuals come into the
picture. If you are a newcomer to interactive excel dashboards, you can
still spot trends and learn how to build up a stunning dashboard. If you are
a pro at it, you can drill down deeper into the data for better charts.

7. Select the right kind of chart

type
Before we decide which chart to use in our excel dashboard, let us have a
review of all the charts used in dashboards and when to use what.

8. Colour theory
I love colours. Who doesn’t? Colours in an excel dashboard make it livelier
as opposed to the drab and overused grey, black and white. I could write
an entire book on how colour theory works, but well, that’s already fine.
You must know which colours work together and which do not. For
example, you cannot pair bright pink and red together unless you want an
assault on the eyes. One thing you must keep in mind while selecting a
colour coding, that 8% of men and 0.5% of women are colour blind.

Most people can perceive colour but cannot correctly distinguish between
two shades of the same colour. These people can perceive changes in
brightness, though, just like you and me. Avoid having shades that
overlap, like the example I gave above. That would not only look ugly but
also be completely useless for users we discussed above.

9. Dashboard Design
So now you know how and when to use each chart and the colours to pair
them with. But one more thing that is critical to this is where you place
everything on the excel dashboard. It is essential that everything is
strategically placed. Data that you want to compare must be arranged
with that in mind.

10. Have fun and let your

creativity flow
Once you have understood your target audience, the purpose of your
excel dashboard and have selected the correct charts and designs, you
should be good. By the end of this step by step informative article, you
can go from a blank spreadsheet to a fully functional spreadsheet with
stunning interactions.

What is Tableau?

Tableau is an excellent data visualization and business intelligence tool used for reporting
and analyzing vast volumes of data. It is an American company that started in 2003—in June
2019, Salesforce acquired Tableau. It helps users create different charts, graphs, maps,
dashboards, and stories for visualizing and analyzing data, to help in making business
decisions.

Tableau has a lot of unique, exciting features that make it one of the most popular tools in
business intelligence (BI). Let’s learn more about some of the essential Tableau Desktop
features. Now that we know what is tableau exactly, let us understand some of its salient
features.

Tableau Features

 Tableau supports powerful data discovery and exploration that enables users to answer
important questions in seconds

 No prior programming knowledge is needed; users without relevant experience can start
immediately with creating visualizations using Tableau

 It can connect to several data sources that other BI tools do not support. Tableau enables
users to create reports by joining and blending different datasets

 Tableau Server supports a centralized location to manage all published data sources within an
organization

Read More: When Shamanth Kumar’s journey took him from Industrial Engineer to Assistant
Manager for Data Analysis, he knew he wanted to learn more about data than just Excel. His
search took him to our Tableau Certification Training Course. Read more about this journey
and his experience with our course in his Simpliearn Tableau Course Review.

Tableau Product Suite

Product Version Features

Tableau Desktop helps to create reports,

dashboards, and stories using different charts
Tableau
Paid and graphs. The workbooks and the dashboards
Desktop
created using Tableau Desktop can be shared
locally or publicly.

Tableau Server is mainly used in organizations

to share workbooks and reports that are created
Tableau using Tableau Desktop applications across
Paid
Server different teams. You can ask questions with
natural language, and you will receive AI-
driven explanations for your data.
 The Tableau Online analytics platform is
hosted on the cloud, and it helps users publish
dashboards and share discoveries with anyone.
Tableau
Paid You can connect to cloud databases, like
Online
Amazon Redshift and Google BigQuery. It
automatically refreshes data from web apps,
like Google Analytics and Salesforce.

Tableau Public is free to use, but the

workbooks created cannot be saved locally.
Tableau They can be saved to Tableau's public cloud,
Free
Public which anyone can access and view. Due to the
lack of privacy options, any user can download
and access the files saved to the cloud.

Tableau Reader is a free desktop application

Tableau
Free that enables users to open and interact with
Reader
reports built using Tableau Desktop.

Tableau Mobile provides interactive previews

where users can check data and reports anytime
Tableau
Free from anywhere. You can select, filter, and fine-
Mobile
tune the data with a tap of your finger using the
mobile app.
Installing Tableau Desktop

Knowing what is tableau is the first step, however how to install it follows right after. The
following are the steps for downloading Tableau Desktop:

 Click on the Products Download and Release Notes page and select the version you want to
download.

 Select the DOWNLOAD TABLEAU DESKTOP version option and select your operating system.

 Once you have downloaded the file, go ahead and install it.

 Launch Tableau Desktop, and it will show you the Tableau registration form, which is where you
can register and activate your product.
 Enter your product key, or sign in to Tableau Server or Tableau Online to activate your Tableau
license. Upon successful activation, you can start using Tableau Desktop.

File Types Used in Tableau

Next up in the what is tableau tutorial, we will learn about the various file types. In Tableau,
you can save your work using various Tableau-specific file types. The following are the
different types of files that Tableau supports:

File Type File Extension Description

The most commonly used file type in

Tableau
.twb Tableau that has information about
Workbook
worksheets, dashboards, and stories.

Tableau .twbx A packaged zip file that enables users to

Packaged share their work with those who don't have
Workbook access to the original data.

These files are shortcuts for quickly

connecting to the original data that you use
Tableau Data often. It does not contain the actual data, but
.tds
Source has the information needed to connect to the
real data and any modifications you've made
to the data.

A zip file that has the data source file and

Tableau
any local file data, such as extract files
Packaged .tdsx
(.hyper or .tde), text files, Excel files,
Data Source
Access files, and local cube files.

This contains a local copy of a subset or

Tableau Data entire dataset that can be used to share data
.tde or .hyper
Extract with others when you have to work offline
and improve performance.

This enables you to save worksheets and

Tableau share them with others so that they don’t
.tbm
Bookmark have to create a new worksheet from scratch
and can use it in their workbooks.
Data Types in Tableau

Tableau primarily supports seven different data types. The data type indicates the type of
information stored in a particular field.

Data Type Icon

Text (string) values

Date values

Date & Time values

Numerical values

Boolean values

Geographic values
 Cluster Group

Connecting to Data Sources in Tableau

Tableau is capable of connecting with a wide range of data sources. It can connect to files
present in your system, such as Microsoft Excel, text files, JSON, PDF, etc. It can also work
on data present on a database server, such as Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle,
Teradata, etc. There are other saved data sources that Tableau can connect with. It also can
connect and fetch data from cloud sources, like AWS, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and
Google Cloud SQL.

The following is an example of importing an excel file to Tableau Desktop.

Under Connect, click on Microsoft Excel. Locate the Excel file present in your system, which
will export the dataset into Tableau. As you can see below, we have imported the Sample -
Superstore dataset. Now, drag the required sheets under the “Drag sheets here” space.

Now, if you click on Sheet1, you can see all the fields of the dataset under Dimensions and
Measures.

Tableau Desktop Interface

Next up in the what is tableau tutorial, let us understand all about its interface. Tableau
Desktop’s interface, or the workspace, consists of menus, a toolbar, cards, shelves, data and
analytics pane, different sheets for creating reports, dashboards, and stories.

The following is what the Tableau Desktop interface looks like:

Dimensions and Measures in Tableau

Once you load a dataset, Tableau automatically divides the data into dimensions and
measures. You can see this in the workspace area under the data pane.

Dimensions are usually categorical fields that cannot be aggregated, while measures are
numerical fields that can be measured, aggregated, or manipulated.

Dimensions are marked in blue, while measures are marked in green.

What is Tableau Tutorial: Creating visualizations?

11. The following is a simple table that will analyze sales and profit for different
subcategories of products across various regions.

About data field roles and types

Data fields are made from the columns in your data source. Each field is
automatically assigned a data type (such as integer, string, date), and a
role: Discrete Dimension or Continuous Measure (more common), or
Continuous Dimension or Discrete Measure (less common).

 Dimensions contain qualitative values (such as names, dates, or

geographical data). You can use dimensions to categorize, segment,
and reveal the details in your data. Dimensions affect the level of
detail in the view.

 Measures contain numeric, quantitative values that you can

measure. Measures can be aggregated. When you drag a measure
 into the view, Tableau applies an aggregation to that measure (by
default).

Blue versus green fields

Tableau represents data differently in the view depending on whether the

field is discrete (blue), or continuous
(green). Continuous and discrete are mathematical terms. Continuous
means "forming an unbroken whole, without interruption"; discrete
means "individually separate and distinct."

 Green measures and

dimensions are continuous. Continuous field
values are treated as an infinite range. Generally, continuous fields
add axes to the view.

 Blue measures and

dimensions are discrete. Discrete values are
treated as finite. Generally, discrete fields add headers to the view.

Possible combinations of fields in Tableau

This table shows examples of what the different fields look like in the
view. People sometimes call these fields "pills", but we refer to them as
"fields" in Tableau help documentation.

Discrete Dimensions

Continuous Dimensions (dimensions with a data type of String or Boolean cannot be

continuous)

Discrete Measures

Continuous Measures

A visual cue that helps you know when a field is a measure is that the
field is aggregated with a function, which is indicated with an
abbreviation for the aggregation in the field name, such
as: . To learn more about aggregation,

But there are exceptions:

 If the entire view is disaggregated, then by definition no field in the

view is aggregated.
  If you are using a multidimensional data source, fields are
aggregated in the data source and measures fields in the view do
not show that aggregation.

Examples of continuous and discrete fields used in a view

In the example on the left (below), because the Quantity field is set
to Continuous, it creates a horizontal axis along the bottom of the view.
The green background and the axis help you to see that it's a continuous
field.

In the example on the right, the Quantity field has been set to Discrete.
It creates horizontal headers instead of an axis. The blue background and
the horizontal headers help you to see that it's discrete.

Continuous Discrete

In both examples, the Sales field is set to Continuous. It creates a

vertical axis because it continuous and it's been added to the Rows shelf.
If it was on the Columns shelf, it would create a horizontal axis. The
green background and aggregation function (in this case, SUM) help to
indicate that it's a measure.
The absence of an aggregation function in the Quantity field name help
to indicate that it's a dimension.

Dimension fields in the view

When you drag a discrete dimension field to Rows or Columns, Tableau

creates column or row headers.

In many cases, fields from the Dimension area will initially be discrete
when you add them to a view, with a blue background. Date dimensions
and numeric dimensions can be discrete or continuous, and all measures
can be discrete or continuous.

After you drag a dimension to Rows or Columns, you can change the
field to a measure just by clicking the field and choosing Measure. Now
the view will contain a continuous axis instead of column or row headers,
and the field's background will become green:

Date dimensions can be discrete or continuous. Dimensions containing

strings or Boolean values cannot be continuous.
Tableau does not aggregate dimensions. For a discussion of the different
types of aggregation Tableau can perform, see List of Predefined Aggregations
in Tableau.

In Tableau queries, dimensions in the view are expressed in SQL as

"Group By" clauses.

For details on converting fields between continuous and discrete,

see Convert Fields between Discrete and Continuous.

How dimensions affect the level of detail in the view

The level of detail in a view refers to how granular the data is given the
dimension and measure data in the view.

As you add dimensions to Rows or Columns, the number of marks in the

view increases.

To understand why adding dimensions increases the number of marks in

the view, do the following:

1. Drag Segment to Columns.

The status bar at the bottom of the Tableau window shows you that
there are now three marks in the view:

Those marks just contain placeholder text, Abc, because you are
only building the view's structure at this point.

2. Drag Region to Columns.

Now there are 12 marks. Three values in Segment multiplied by

four values in Region is 12.

3. Drag [Ship Date] to Rows.

The total is now 57 marks (three segments by four regions by five

years is 60, but there are three combinations of the dimensions in
the view for which there is no data in the data source).

We could continue adding dimensions to Rows and Columns and

observe as the number of total marks continues to increase.
Dragging a dimension to a location on the Marks card such as
Color or Size will also increase the number of marks, though it will
not increase the number of headings in the view. The process of
 adding dimensions to the view to increase the number of marks is
known as setting the level of detail.

Adding a dimension to any of the following locations in Tableau

affects the level of detail:

4. The view now contains 57 separate instances of Abc—the view is all

structure and no content. Rectify this by dragging Sales to Text.
The view can now be considered complete:
Notes

 In some cases, adding a measure to the view can increase the

number of marks in the view. For example, if you
dropped Sales on Rows in the view above, the number of marks
would be 57. But if you then also dropped Profit on Rows, the
number of marks would increase to 114. But this is not the same as
changing the view's level of detail.

 The number of marks in the view is not guaranteed to correspond

to the number you would get by multiplying the number of
dimension values in each of the dimensions that make up the level
of detail. There are multiple reasons why the number of marks
could be lower. To increase the number of marks in this view from
57 to 60 in the view above, right-click (Control-click on a Mac) on
one of the Date headers in the view and the date or bin headers
and choose Show Missing Values. For more information about how to
show missing values.

Measure fields in the view

When you drag a measure to the view, it is aggregated by default. The

type of aggregation will vary depending on the type of view. You should
always check the aggregation and change it if necessary. For details, see
"Change the default aggregation" in Edit Default Settings for Fields. For more
details about aggregation, see Data Aggregation in Tableau.

When you drag a continuous field from the Data pane

to Rows or Columns, Tableau creates a continuous axis for that field.
If you click the field and change it to Discrete, the values become
column headers.

Tableau continues to aggregate values for the field, because even though
the field is now discrete, it is still a measure, and Tableau aggregates
measures by default.

In cases where Tableau has misclassified a field as a dimension or a

measure, possibly because of the data type, you can convert it and
change its role. If a measure contains numbers that don't need to be
aggregated (such as a field that contains date values), you may want to
convert it to be a dimension.

For related details, see Convert a Measure to a Dimension.

For details on converting fields between continuous and discrete,

see Convert Fields between Discrete and Continuous.
How continuous and discrete fields change the view

Continuous and discrete are mathematical terms. Continuous means

"forming an unbroken whole, without interruption"; discrete means
"individually separate and distinct."

In Tableau, fields can be either continuous or discrete. When you drag a

field from the Data pane to Columns or Rows, the values are continuous
by default and Tableau creates an axis. When you drag a field from
the Data pane to Columns or Rows, the values are discrete by default
and Tableau creates column or row headers.

Continuous fields produce axes

If a field has values that are numbers that can be added, averaged, or
otherwise aggregated, it is added as a measure field in the Data pane
when you first connect to a data source. Tableau is assuming that the
values are continuous.

Tableau displays an axis when you drag a continuous field

to Rows or Columns. An axis is a measuring line that shows values
between a minimum and a maximum. Rulers and analog thermometers
are examples of physical objects that display axes.

Tableau must be able to show a range of actual and potential values,

because in addition to the initial values in the data source, it is always
possible that new values will emerge as you work with a continuous field
in the view.

While there are value labels on a continuous axis (0, 0.5, ... 3.0 in the
following image), actual marks don't have to align with these labels as
they would with column headers. For example, in the following image,
the blue bar actually extends to a value of 6.940 on the horizontal axis,
not 7.0 exactly.

The number of potential values for continuous fields is impossible to

anticipate. For example, if you have a field named Ratings and the initial
values are 1, 3, 3.5, 3.6, and 4, that's five distinct values. But if you
drop Ratings on Rows, Tableau automatically aggregates that value as
SUM (which you would then immediately change to AVG, because it's
more logical to average grades than to add them), and that would then
create a sixth value (3.02) that didn't exist until you added the field to the
view. And if you then applied a filter that eliminated two of the initial
values, the average would change as well, so that would be yet another
value. And then if you changed the aggregation, ... You get the idea. The
number of potential values is, if not infinite, then certainly immense.

The fact that a field contains numbers does not automatically indicate
that those values are continuous. Postal codes are the classic example:
though they are often composed entirely of numbers, they are actually
string values which shouldn't be added or averaged. If Tableau assigns
such a field as a measure to the Data pane, you should drag it to a
dimensions area to change it to a dimension field.

Discrete fields create headers

If a field contains values that are names, dates, or geographical locations

—anything other than numbers—it is added as a dimension field in
the Data pane when you first connect to a data source. Tableau treats
the values as discrete.

Tableau creates headers when you drag a discrete field

to Columns or Rows. The individual values for a discrete field become
the row or column headings. Because these types of values are never
aggregated, no new field values are created as you work with your view,
so there is no need for an axis.

Discrete versus continuous fields on filters

 When you drop a discrete dimension field on the Filters shelf,

Tableau prompts you to choose which "members" of the discrete
field to include in the view.
  When you drop a Date field on Filters, the result can be a discrete
filter or a continuous filter. For more information, see Filter
dates (Link opens in a new window).

 When you drop a continuous measure on Filters, Tableau first

prompts you to choose an aggregation for the filter, and then
prompts you to specify how to filter the continuous range of values.

 When you drop a continuous dimension on Filters (other than a

Date), Tableau prompts you to specify how to filter the continuous
range of values.

Discrete versus continuous fields on color

When you drop a discrete field on Color in the Marks card, Tableau
displays a categorical palette and assigns a color to each value of the
field.

When you drop a continuous field on Color, Tableau displays a

quantitative legend with a continuous range of colors.
2. The horizontal bar chart below shows sales of different subcategories of products with the
color of the bars indicating the profit. Sort the sales axis in descending order and change the
color of the bars using a different palette.

Phones made the highest amount of sales, while copiers had the highest profit.

3. The side-by-side bar chart is used to visualize sales and profits for different subcategories
of products under each category.
4. A dual-axis chart will analyze sales and profits by order month. Drag the order date field
on to columns shelve and profit field on the right corner where you see a green rectangle.
Synchronize the profit axis and change sales to bars.

The month of November had the highest amount of sales, while January had the least.

5. A blended axis chart is used for comparing two measured values against the same axis.

The blended axis chart enables users to forecast the data for making future predictions. Go to
the analytics pane and double-click on forecast.
Tableau enables users to create hierarchies using data fields, which makes it easy to break
down the visualization and organize data in a logical order. The following is an example of
creating a location hierarchy using country, state, and city fields. You need to drag a field and
drop it directly on top of another field and give a name to the hierarchy.

6. The highlight table in Tableau helps users compare data using colors.

7. Maps in Tableau help users visualize geographic data and analyze certain measure values.
The following is an example of analyzing sales and profits across different states in the US.
Drag the country field on to the view and expand it to see all states.
Drag sales on to the size card and profit on to the color card. Increase the size of the bubbles
for sales and edit the color.

States marked in green made the highest profit, while those marked in orange made the least
amount of profit. This shows that California has the highest sales and profit, followed by
New York. It also reveals that Texas made a decent amount of sales, but overall, made the
least amount of profit.
List of Predefined Aggregations in Tableau

Sometimes it is useful to look at numerical data in an aggregated form

such as a summation or an average. The mathematical functions that
produce aggregated data are called aggregation functions. Aggregation
functions perform a calculation on a set of values and return a single
value. For example, a measure that contains the values 1, 2, 3, 3, 4
aggregated as a sum returns a single value: 13. Or if you have 3,000
sales transactions from 50 products in your data source, you might want
to view the sum of sales for each product, so that you can decide which
products have the highest revenue.

You can use Tableau to set an aggregation only for measures in relational
data sources. Multidimensional data sources contain aggregated data
only.

Tableau provides a set of predefined aggregations that are shown in the

table below. You can set the default aggregation for any measure that is

not a calculated field that itself contains an aggregation, such

as AVG([Discount). You can also set the aggregation for a field already in

the view.

Change the Aggregation of a Measure in the View

When you add a measure to the view, Tableau automatically aggregates

its values. Sum, average, and median are common aggregations; for a
complete list,

The current aggregation appears as part of the measure's name in the

view. For example, Sales becomes SUM(Sales). Every measure has a
default aggregation which is set by Tableau when you connect to a data
source.

Tableau computes Attribute using the following formula:

IF MIN([dimension]) = MAX([dimension]) THEN MIN([dimension]) ELSE "*" END

The formula is computed in Tableau after the data is retrieved from the
initial query. The asterisk (*) is actually a visual indicator of a special
type of Null value that occurs when there are multiple values
Below is an example of using Attribute in a table calculation. The table
shows sales by market, market size, and state. Suppose you wanted to
compute the percent of total sales each state contributed to the market.
When you add a Percent of Total quick table that computes along State,
the calculation computes within the red area shown below. This is
because the Market Size dimension is partitioning the data.

When you aggregate Market Size as an Attribute, the calculation is

computed within the Market (East, in the following image), and the
Market Size information is used purely as a label in the display.

List of Predefined Aggregations in Tableau

Sometimes it is useful to look at numerical data in an aggregated form

such as a summation or an average. The mathematical functions that
produce aggregated data are called aggregation functions. Aggregation
functions perform a calculation on a set of values and return a single
value. For example, a measure that contains the values 1, 2, 3, 3, 4
aggregated as a sum returns a single value: 13. Or if you have 3,000
sales transactions from 50 products in your data source, you might want
to view the sum of sales for each product, so that you can decide which
products have the highest revenue.

You can use Tableau to set an aggregation only for measures in relational
data sources. Multidimensional data sources contain aggregated data
only.

Note: Using floating-point values in combination with aggregations can

sometimes lead to unexpected results. For details, see Understanding data
types in calculations(Link opens in a new window).

Tableau provides a set of predefined aggregations that are shown in the

table below. You can set the default aggregation for any measure that is
not a calculated field that itself contains an aggregation, such
as AVG([Discount]).

What is the difference between axis titles and labels?

Axis labels are words or numbers that mark the different portions of the axis. Value axis
labels are computed based on the data displayed in the chart. Category axis labels are taken
from the category headings entered in the chart's data range. Axis titles are words or
phrases that describe the entire axis.

Creating Stories:
In Tableau, a story is a sequence of visualizations that work together to
convey information. You can create stories to tell a data narrative,
provide context, demonstrate how decisions relate to outcomes, or to
simply make a compelling case.

A story is a sheet, so the methods you use to create, name, and manage
worksheets and dashboards also apply to stories (for more details,
see Workbooks and Sheets). At the same time, a story is also a collection
of sheets, arranged in a sequence. Each individual sheet in a story is
called a story point.

When you share a story —for example, by publishing a workbook to

Tableau Public, Tableau Server, or Tableau Cloud—users can interact
with the story to reveal new findings or ask new questions of the data.

Create a Story
Applies to: Tableau Cloud, Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server

Use stories to make your case more compelling by showing how facts are
connected, and how decisions relate to outcomes. You can then publish
your story to the web, or present it to an audience.

Each story point can be based on a different view or dashboard, or the

entire story can be based on the same visualization seen at different
stages, with different filters and annotations.

Create a story point

1. Click the New Story tab.

Tableau opens a new story as your starting point:

2. In the lower-left corner of the screen, choose a size for your story.
Choose from one of the predefined sizes, or set a custom size, in
pixels:

3. By default, your story gets its title from the sheet name. To edit it,
right-click the sheet tab, and choose Rename Sheet.

If you're using Tableau Desktop, you can also rename a story by

double-clicking the title.

4. To start building your story, double-click a sheet on the left to add

it to a story point.

In Tableau Desktop, you can also drag sheets into your story point.

When you add a sheet to a story point, that sheet remains

connected to the original sheet. If you modify the original sheet,
your changes will automatically be reflected on the story points
that use it.

5. Click Add a caption to summarize the story point.

 In Tableau Desktop, you can highlight a key takeaway for your
viewers by dragging a text object to the story worksheet and typing
a comment.

6. To further highlight the main idea of this story point, you can
change a filter or sort on a field in the view. Then save your
changes by clicking Update on the story toolbar above the
navigator box:

7. Add another story point by doing one of the following:

o Click Blank to use a fresh sheet for the next story point.

o Start customizing a story point and click Save as New on the

toolbar above the navigator box.

o Click Duplicate to use the current story point as the basis

for a new one.

Explore layout options

You can refine the look of your story using the options on the Layout tab.
 1. Click the Layout tab.

2. Choose a navigator style that best suits your story, and show or
hide the next and previous arrows.

Format a story

Resize captions (Tableau Desktop only)

Sometimes the text in one or more of your captions is too long to fit
inside the height of the navigator. In this case, you can re-size the
captions vertically and horizontally.

1. In the navigator, select a caption.

2. Drag the border left or right to resize the caption horizontally, down to
resize vertically, or select a corner and drag diagonally to resize the
caption both horizontally and vertically.

All captions in the navigator update to the new size.

Fit a dashboard to a story

You can fit a dashboard to the exact size of a story. For example, if your
story is exactly 800 by 600 pixels, you can shrink or expand a dashboard
to fit inside that space.

Click the Size drop-down menu and select the story you want the
dashboard to fit inside.
 

Format a story's shading, title, and text objects (Tableau Desktop only)

To open the Format Story pane, select Format > Story.

Clear all formatting (Tableau Desktop only)

 To reset a story to its default format settings, click

the Clear button at the bottom of the Format Story pane.

 To clear a single format setting, right-click (Windows) or control-

click (macOS) the format setting you want to undo in the Format
Story pane. Then select Clear.

For example, if you want to clear the alignment of the story title,
right-click (control-click on Mac) Alignment in the Title section,
and then select Clear.
Delete a story point

Click the X in the toolbar above the point's caption:

Present your story

1. In Tableau Desktop, click the Presentation Mode button on

the toolbar. Or, publish the story to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server,
and click the Full Screen button in the upper-right corner of the
browser.

2. To step through your story, click the arrow to the right of the story
points. Or, in Tableau Desktop, use the arrow keys on your
keyboard.

3. To exit Presentation or Full Screen mode, press Esc.

Best Practices for Telling Great Stories

A good data story brings data and facts to life. Use this article for tips on
best practices to use with Tableau's story points feature.

What's your story's purpose?

Before you start to build your story, take some time to think about the
purpose of your story and what you want your viewers' journey to be. Is it
a call to action, is it a simple narrative, or are you presenting a case?

If you're presenting a case, decide whether you want to present data

points that lead up to a conclusion at the end, or start with a conclusion
then show the supporting data points. The latter approach works well for
a busy audience.

Finally, sketching out your story first on paper or a whiteboard can help
you quickly identify problems with your sequence.

The seven types of data stories

When you use the story feature, you are building a sequence of points.
Each point can contain a view, dashboard, or even just text. Some stories
show the same view throughout the story, with text annotations and
different filters applied to different points to support the narrative arc.

The following table describes seven different data story approaches you
can take and provides an example for each.
Data Story Type Description

What it does: Uses a chronology to illustrate a trend.

Discussions it starts: Why did this happen, or why does it keep

happening? What can we do prevent or make this happen?

Example: Arsenal's Injury Crisis(Link opens in a new window)

Change Over Time

What it does: Sets context so that your audience better understands
what's going on in a particular category.

Discussions it starts: Why is this person, place or thing different? How

does the performance of this person, place, or thing compare?

Examples: Tell Me About Will(Link opens in a new window), The

Drill Down Simpsons Vizipedia(Link opens in a new window)
What it does: Describes how something your audience cares about
relates to the bigger picture.

Discussion it starts: How does something you care about compare to the
bigger picture? What effect does one area have on the bigger picture?

Example: Vancouver Cyclists(Link opens in a new window)

Zoom Out
What it does: Shows how two or more subjects differ.

Discussions it starts: Why are these items different? How can we make
A perform like B? Which area should we focus on and which area is
doing fine?

Example: The Pyramids of Egypt(Link opens in a new window)

Contrast
What it does: Highlights important shifts when one category overtakes
another.

Discussions it starts: What causes these shifts? Are these shifts good or
bad? How do these shifts affect other aspects of our plan?

Example: US vs. THEM(Link opens in a new window)

Intersections
 What it does: Explains a subject by dividing it into types or categories.

Discussions it starts: Is there a particular category we should focus on

more? How much do these items affect the metric we care about?

Example: Planet Earth(Link opens in a new window)

Factors
What it does: Shows anomalies or where things are exceptionally
different.

Discussions it starts: Why is this item different?

Example: SOS Children's Villages(Link opens in a new window)

Outliers
Keep it simple

A common error is trying to cram too many views and dashboards into a
single story. The result is too many points for your viewers to take in.

The clarity of each story point is also important. Take a step back and
consider your story from the perspective of someone who's never seen it.
Every element should serve a purpose. If captions, titles, legends, or grid
lines aren't necessary, get rid of them!

Before After
Use 'Fit to' in your dashboards

Dashboards are a common ingredient in Tableau stories. For dashboards

that you plan to include in your story, you can use the Fit to option
under Size on the Dashboard pane. It will resize your dashboard so that
it's the right size for the story you're creating.
Plan for fast load times

The most wonderful story in the world won’t have much impact if it takes
too long to load once it's published. People find long waits frustrating.

Filtering is a common culprit for slow load times. Although filters are
effective in restricting the amount of data being analyzed, they also
impact query performance. For example, Exclude filters tend to be
slower than Keep Only filters. This is because Exclude filters load all of
the data for a dimension instead of just what you want to keep.
Knowing Tableau's Order of Operations can also shave time off your load times.

Some of the most critical performance decisions you make as an author

begin before you even create your first view or story, in the data
preparation stage. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the data
you’re working with. See Know Your Data at the Database Level and Test Your Data
and Use Extracts in the Tableau Desktop online help for tips on what to look
for and smart ways to work with your data.