Tag / Data Visualization

by anthonysmoak

Creating Sankey Charts the Easy Way with Tableau

Historically, creating Sankey charts in Tableau has been a time-consuming process, often requiring the use of complex templates. However, the team at Tableau Public has introduced a game-changing functionality that allows us to create Sankey charts effortlessly. This feature, currently in beta and available for a limited time (like the McRib of data visualizations), enables us to author and publish Sankey charts directly to our Tableau Public profiles.

In this blog post, I’ll briefly walk you through the process of creating one using Tableau Public.

What is a Sankey Chart?

Before we delve into the specifics of this new Tableau Public feature, let’s take a moment to understand what a Sankey chart is and why it’s such a powerful visualization tool. A Sankey chart is a flow diagram that illustrates the movement of data, be it goods, energy, or even money. With a Sankey chart, you can effortlessly compare different data points and identify patterns that might remain hidden in traditional charts or tables.

Testing Out the New Feature

Assuming you already have a Tableau Public profile (and if you don’t, I highly recommend creating one—it’s an incredible platform for sharing your data visualizations with the world). You’ll need to create a visualization directly from your Tableau Public page.

Once you’ve created your visualization, navigate to the “Connect to Data” section. As we’re uploading data from our computer, select the “Upload from Computer” option. Choose the dataset you want to work with—I’ll be using the “Sample Superstore” dataset for this example. After confirming that your data has been successfully imported, select the “Sankey” chart type.

Now, here’s where the magic happens. You’ll notice a “Level” and “Link” section that appears. To define the flow in the Sankey chart, let’s select a dimension like “Segment” and drag it into the “Level” area. Next, grab another dimension—I’ll choose “Region”—and place it in the “Level” area as well. Finally, to quantify the flow, let’s choose a measure like “Sales” and place it in the “Link” area.

Voila! With just a few clicks, we’ve created a Sankey chart. Impressive, isn’t it? You’ll notice the flow between the segments and regions instantly come to life. But we’re not done yet—let’s keep the party going by adding another level.

For the sake of experimentation, let’s grab a dimension like “Ship Status” and drop it into the visualization. Now we have an additional sub-level in our Sankey chart. To avoid overcrowding, we can uncheck the “Allow Labels to Overlap” option, ensuring our chart remains clean and legible.

Keep Innovating for The Analytics Core Audience

Tableau Public’s decision to incorporate this feature highlights their commitment to democratizing data visualization. While the addition of features like Sankey charts to Tableau Public is fantastic, it’s essential that the overlords at Salesforce remember Tableau’s core audience—the general analytics users who are generally decoupled from Salesforce usage. Let’s keep hoping for bigger and better things to come with the tool. This beta signals that they’re heading in the right direction.

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please check out the logo shop here.

Stay in contact with me through my various social media presences.

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

(Note: The mentioned feature and availability were accurate as of the blog post’s publication date, but please refer to the Tableau Public documentation for the latest updates and information.)

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by anthonysmoak

Learn Advanced Tables in Tableau (Step by Step)

TLDR

Yes I put an AI version of myself on the thumbnail. I obviously “Quantum Leaped” from the future to teach you these Advanced Tableau table skills that you’ll encounter in the accompanying video.

Be warned, this is Highly Advanced Tableau!! In the main video, we’ll explore how to generate advanced tables in Tableau (step by step), complete with multiple chart elements displayed on the same table row. It’s OK, you can click the area below since it leads to a YouTube short.

Intro

As a data enthusiast and Tableau user, I always strive to learn new things, experiment with different techniques and share my knowledge with others. Recently, I came across a visualization by Zainab Ayodimeji that caught my attention. Zainab is a Tableau Ambassador and her work is always top-notch, so I reached out to her and asked if I could reverse engineer one of her vizzes for a video. She was cool with it, so I got to work.

The visualization that caught my eye was an advanced Tableau visualization that used normalized data to create sales and profit sparklines for using standard Superstore data. Zainab’s visualization featured a variety of different chart elements, all on the same row, and looked incredibly cool.

I was immediately intrigued and wanted to see if I could reproduce something similar myself, but with a different data set other than the ubiquitous Superstore. So, I got to work on reverse engineering and came up with my own take on Zainab’s visualization.

I discovered that the technique used in her viz was innovated by Sam Parsons, so I also checked out his video on this technique and found it ingenious; very MacGyver like. Sam’s innovative video is the inspirational source for all of these techniques. Watch his video for the concepts, watch my video for practical hands on building.

Watch the Step by Step Re-creation Video to Learn this Advanced Technique

In the video below, I will explain step by step how I used Tableau to create a compelling chart example that will help my viewers understand the Advanced Tableau calculations and concepts it takes to visualize multiple types of charts on one table row.

The dataset that I worked with contained information about the sales and profits of different products sold at a coffee shop as opposed to Superstore data. Recreating the data with a different dataset forced me to understand the concepts better than just copying and pasting the existing code in Zainab’s visualization.

The Reviews are In

Y-Axis Positioning Trick – (How this Process Works)

One of the coolest concepts in this process is the positioning of the chart elements on the same Y-Axis. Again, a big shoutout to Sam Parsons for coming up with these techniques!

The y-axis position is critical because it determines where each data point will be plotted on the chart. As a result of the ingenious calculation, Tableau places all non-line chart elements at a y-axis position of 0.5, which is the middle of the y-axis. However, for line chart elements, the y-axis position is calculated based on the normalized sales or profits value.

To normalize the data, we make the values of the sales and profit of each product fit between a range of 0 and 1 for a consistent Y axis. This allows us to see the trends of the sales and profits of each product at a standard consistent height on the visual.

The sales or profit axis test (a calculated field) determines whether the normalized sales or profits value should be plotted if the chart element is a line. If the test returns a value of 1, Tableau will plot the normalized sales value. If it returns a value of 0, Tableau will plot the normalized profits value. This is determined by checking whether the sales access product field is present in the detail section of the view.

Download the Workbook for This Technique

Download at this link.

Conclusion

I just realized that I used Quantum Leap and MacGyver references in the same blog post (gettin’ Ziggy with it). After watching my video above, you’ll be able to create an insightful visualization using clever and unconventional methods (not unlike MacGyver making a jetpack out of a toothpick and a piece of gum).

Again, big thanks to Zainab and Sam for influencing this work so I could teach you how to Quantum Leap forward in your Tableau skills (Ok I’ll stop with the puns). Keep doing great things with your data!

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please check out the logo shop here.

Stay in contact with me through my various social media presences.

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

by anthonysmoak

Remove the Default Highlighting Effect in Tableau

Have you ever wanted to disable the default Tableau highlighting effect when you select a mark on your chart and then remove the filter? Even when the filter is removed via the “Remove All Filters” process, it can be confusing for the user experience when all values remain “greyed out”, tricking the user into thinking that their filter is still applied. This video will help you remedy this issue and improve your dashboard user experience.

Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem that is simple and easy to implement. In this video I will show you how to use a simple calculated field and highlight action to remedy the issue. This should be default behavior in Tableau, (help us out here Tableau!)

The solution approach involves creating a boolean calculated field and setting it initially to TRUE. Then, placing this calculated field on the detail of the chart that has a filter applied. Next, adding a highlight action to the same chart that you want to remove the “greyed out” effect for. In the “Add Highlight Action” pop-up box, the Source Sheet and the Target Sheet should be the same and the Selected Fields option should have the boolean calculated field checked.

By following these steps, you will be able to remove the greyed out effect on your Tableau chart when the “Remove All Filters” process is applied.

This not only improves the appearance of your dashboard but also makes it easier to understand the data.

★☆★ THESE ADDITIONAL FILTERING VIDEOS IN TABLEAU ARE WORTH YOUR TIME ★☆★

Don’t let the greyed out effect on your Tableau charts hold you back any longer. Watch the video and follow the steps outlined in this blog post to improve the appearance and functionality of your Tableau dashboards.

You can also follow my dapper data adventures on Instagram.

Stay in contact with me through my various social media presences.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please check out the logo shop here.

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

by anthonysmoak

How to Swap Sheets in Tableau

Learn how to perform a useful Tableau hack that allows you to display multiple sheets in one container on your Tableau dashboard. In this video I use my personal training dashboard to show you step by step how this trick is performed. This tip is a must know for the intermediate to advanced dashboard builder as it will help you save space on your dashboard.

Learn more about the dashboard used in this video: https://youtu.be/MFluvSKJXnI

Interact with the Dashboard here:

Watching the video will make the concept clearer but I will provide an overview in this post.

Step 1: I create a Parameter named “Select a Chart”. You can see that I have chosen a list of allowable values and I place into the list the names of charts that I want to swap.

Step 2: I create a calculated field named “_Selected Chart”. It only holds the value of the parameter I created in Step 1.

Step 3: (Use screenshot below)

1. Place the “_Selected Chart” calculated field on the filter shelf of a chart that you wish to show and hide.

2. Edit the “_Selected Chart” filter and select the “Custom value list” option.

3. Type in the respective name of the chart that corresponds to the value that you entered in the parameters allowable values list in Step 1. Hit the plus button to the far right to add the value. Additionally add the value of “All” to the Custom value list in the same manner.

IMPORTANT: the value that you enter into your chart must match EXACTLY to the value that you placed on the parameter allowable values list.

Repeat this process for every chart that you wish to show and hide, making sure to type in the exact same chart name that you entered in the parameter allowable values list in Step 1.

Step 4:

Now it’s time to place all of your charts into the same object (i.e., horizontal or vertical container) on your dashboard . Make sure to show the parameter named “Select a Chart” on the dashboard so you have a combo box with the names of your charts inside that you can select.

Make sure to watch the video for exact details!!

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All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please click here

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

by anthonysmoak

Build Better Sparklines in Tableau

So you want to add some spice to your bland looking Sparklines in Tableau? You have come to the right place (start by watching the video above). Let’s talk about how a Sparkline is defined per Wikipedia:

“A sparkline is a very small line chart, typically drawn without axes or coordinates. It presents the general shape of the variation (typically over time) in some measurement, such as temperature or stock market price, in a simple and highly condensed way. Sparklines are small enough to be embedded in text, or several sparklines may be grouped together as elements of a small multiple. Whereas the typical chart is designed to show as much data as possible, and is set off from the flow of text, sparklines are intended to be succinct, memorable, and located where they are discussed.”

Here are a few examples of Tableau specific sparklines in action (with latest complete month bubble indicators and reference lines): Notice how I do not include any data axes, but you can clearly recognize the data trends in the visuals.

Here is an example of how I used the sparklines demonstrated in the video to build a out a classic yet refined looking Tableau dashboard.

Interact with and download this workbook here.

For reference purposes I am going to list three formulas used in the completion of the sparklines, you’ll have to watch the video to learn how to put them together.

In this exercise I am using that standard Tableau Superstore data set which you can perform a Google search to find if you are using Tableau Public.

Calculated Fields

Calculated Field #1 (Name: SPRK_CircleMonths)

This calculated field puts a circle on the penultimate month data points. Penultimate is just a fancy SAT word way of saying “next to last”. When the month of the data point on the line chart (Order Date) equals the next to last order date month in the dataset, then return the Order Date.

//IF THE MONTH OF THE DATE ON THE LINE CHART EQUALS THE MONTH-1 OF THE MAXIMUM DATA POINT
// THEN RETURN THE DATE
If DATEPART('month',[Order Date]) = DATEPART('month',dateadd('month',-1,{MAX([Order Date])}))
Then [Order Date] END

Calculated Field #2 (Name: SPRK_CircleMonths)

This logic will be applied to the circles generated by the previous calculation SPRK_CircleMonths. Only the next to last month will meet the TRUE condition (which will be colored as red).

// IS THE MONTH OF THE CHART DATE EQUAL TO THE MOST RECENT DATE MONTH MINUS 1 MONTH
// E.G., NOV 2018 = NOV 2020 WILL RESOLVE TO TRUE DUE TO MATCHING MONTHS
DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date]) = DATEADD('month',-1,DATETRUNC('month',{max([Order Date])}))

Calculated Field #3 (Name: SPRK_RefLine Profit)

This logic will return the profit associated with the next to last month in the dataset to display on the reference line.

// RETURNS A VALUE USED FOR THE REFERENCE LINE
// IF THE MONTH OF THE DATE = THE MONTH OF THE MAXIMUM DATE MINUS 1 MONTH (GET A COMPLETE FIRST MONTH)
if DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date]) 
= DATEADD('month',-1,DATETRUNC('month',{max([Order Date])}))
THEN [Profit] END

When you put all the functions together in a manner according to the video, you end up with a more refined sparkline in my opinion. Big shoutout to the Data Duo for the inspiration on the dashboard I created and this technique. If you haven’t checked out any of their work make sure to do so.

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please click here

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

by anthonysmoak

Tableau Tile Map Data Project

I was recently inspired by some really great tile-maps that have been created in the Tableau community (e.g., see beautiful work by Chimdi Nwosu and Michael Dunphy). Thus, you know I had to come up with a way to construct a simplified map in this style with some data and share with my followers. In these two videos, I’m going to walk you through how to prepare the necessary data file in Tableau Prep Builder and then we’ll build out the tile-map in the second video, step by step.

This is a good intermediate level portfolio project for you to follow along with in order to increase your Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep skills. We’ll use CDC data, specifically United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State over Time, to build the tile-map.

The advantage of a tile-map is that it represents geographic regions (like states) at equal sizes. Thus, the distortions and biases introduced by differences in sizes are eliminated. In the case of the United States, data for smaller regions like Washington D.C. can be interpreted on equal footing with data for a much larger region like California.

Tableau Prep Builder helps to greatly simply the data shaping process. My only wish is that Tableau would integrate Prep into Tableau Desktop for one seamless data tool to rule them all, but I digress. The process below illustrates how simple it is take some data from an input file, and subsequently clean and pivot the data into a new file. Watch the first video, to learn how to build out this simple flow in Tableau Prep. If you do not have a copy of Tableau Prep, you can complete this lesson on a 14 day trial license of the tool, which you can download here.

Watch the second video for the step by step instructions to build out the tile-map above.

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please click here

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

by anthonysmoak

Filter Tableau Data By Wildcard Search With Multiple Keywords

In this video I will teach you how to perform a multiple keyword search in Tableau. I’ll show you how to perform both an OR search & an AND search against keywords you type into your dashboard parameter.

In order to accomplish these tasks, we need to use regular expressions. As I mention in the video, regular expressions can be indecipherable, akin to hieroglyphics or something out of a Dan Brown novel to the average person. You can go find this information on the Tableau knowledge base, but I want you to be the person that understands WHY something works as opposed to just copying and pasting a solution that you cannot explain to yourself or others.

The use case for multiple keyword search is for those times when you need to filter your data by a comment, description or other free form blocks of text that are not necessarily subject to the most stringent data governance rules, because let’s face it, these types of fields exist in abundance. In the video I create a dashboard that illustrates the power that this type of search can bring to your dashboard.

You can interact with the dashboard from the video on my Tableau Public page.

OR SEARCH

1. CREATE PARAMETER

Create a parameter named Search Terms.

  • Data type: String
  • Current value: keep it blank.
  • Allowable values: All

2. CREATE CALCULATED FIELD 1

Create a calculated field named Regex String (OR) including the following formula:

"(" + REPLACE([Search Terms], ',' ,'|') + ")"

Let’s breakdown what is going on with the apparent gibberish seen above (there is a method to the madness here). I’ll assume you want to perform a search against a field that contains the terms “paper” OR “Paper”; the case of the spelling is a factor in the results (case sensitive). To adhere to proper regex formatting, you could write a valid expression as such:

(paper|Paper)

This pattern indicates that you want to return a match on the characters “paper” OR “Paper” literally. You can test this out at https://regex101.com/

Although for some reason the official Tableau knowledge base article says to use the REGEX_REPLACE formula in lieu of REGEX, it is not needed since we are doing a simple replace and not using a regex formula to aid our replacements.

In the Tableau calculated field above, we are using the REPLACE function against the parameter named “[Search Terms]” to replace every instance of a comma with the the ‘|’ pipe symbol.

Think about it, if you type the terms “paper, Paper” into the a dashboard’s search term parameter as seen below, the calculated field will reformat your list into the proper regex format by replacing the comma with a pipe and then enclosing the term within parenthesis; i.e., (paper|Paper).

3. CREATE CALCULATED FIELD 2

Next create a calculated field named Regex OR Filter that contains the following formula:

REGEXP_MATCH([Product Name],[Regex String (OR)])

Let’s breakdown what is going on with the formula seen above. The REGEXP_MATCH formula is evaluating a properly formatted regex expression which is contained within the [Regex String (OR)] calculated field we created in step 2. This calculated field will contain the formatted expression (paper|Paper).

REGEXP_MATCH returns TRUE if a substring of the specified string matches the regex pattern. In our case

[Regex String (OR)] = (paper|Paper)


Thus the REGEXP_MATCH function will evaluate the regex expression (paper|Paper) from the second argument against the [Product Name] field in the first argument. The function will return either TRUE or FALSE depending upon whether a match is located within this field.

3. DRAG FIELDS TO ROWS AND FILTERS SHELF

Place [Product Name] to rows and [Regex OR Filter] to filters, then select True.

AND SEARCH

In order to create the AND search for your dashboard, you will follow very similar steps to the OR search. 1. Create the same parameter named Search Terms as in the OR Search above.

2. CREATE CALCULATED FIELD 1

Next create a calculated field named Regex AND Filter including the following formula:

"(?=.*" + REPLACE([Search Terms], ',' ,")(?=.*") + ").*"

This may look like something out of a Dan Brown novel, but don’t let it intimidate you. In a similar fashion to the OR search where we replaced commas with a pipe symbol, we are simply replacing commas with the following characters between the double quotes “)(?=.*”

The proper regex pattern to indicate an AND search against the terms paper and Paper within a body of text would be as such:

(?=.paper)(?=.Paper).*

Knowing the proper regex format should make the contents of the calculated field above more clear. We are using the REPLACE function against the parameter named [Search Terms] to replace every instance of a comma with the the “)(?=.*” symbols. Thus “Paper, paper” values typed into the [Search Terms] parameter becomes reformatted into(?=.paper)(?=.Paper).*

Placing .* at the end of the string means that any combination of characters can be placed after the search terms and still yield a TRUE result.

3. CREATE CALCULATED FIELD 2

Next create a calculated field named Regex AND Filter including the following formula:

REGEXP_MATCH([Product Name],[Regex String (AND)])

4. DRAG FIELDS TO ROWS AND FILTERS SHELF

Then place [Product Name] to rows and [Regex OR Filter] to filters, then select True.

CONCLUSION

That wasn’t so horrible was it? If you’re a visual learner like me, then go ahead and watch the video to hammer home the concepts. Hopefully this post will help you understand how these regex patterns work and how they can add value to your next dashboard design! As always if you learned something drop a comment on the YouTube video and let me know.

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please click here

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

TLDR: Tableau Knowledge Base Reference: https://kb.tableau.com/articles/howto/how-to-filter-data-by-wildcard-search-with-multiple-keywords

by anthonysmoak

Build an Interactive Tableau Resume to Get Noticed

Interact with my resume here: Anthony Smoak Interactive Tableau Public Resume

This post is for everyone who has ever asked, “How do you create an interactive resume in Tableau?” If you’re looking to get noticed as a Tableau visualization developer / subject matter expect, then building out an interactive resume using Tableau is a great place to start. It is a good starter visualization to build because you already have all the data! The data is inherently about you, but you just need some inspiration on how to get started building out your resume.

That’s where I come in, to share with you a place to start for inspiration, and direction on how to build out a few charts I leveraged to construct my interactive resume.

Where to Get Inspired

The first place you want to start looking for interactive Tableau resume inspiration is the Tableau Public Resume Gallery. The Tableau community has done an excellent job of sharing resumes so you don’t have to start from scratch with respect to idea generation. As I was looking through the gallery, I started to notice that most of the resumes had some common DNA, most notably a timeline chart (either linear or Gantt chart) and an abacas chart (both of which I will show you how to build in the video).

My resume is inspired by offerings from both Ann Jackson and Lindsay Betzendahl. When you look through the gallery you may find a resume that fits your personal vision. I’m sure you’ll use a few of the techniques I’m going to share as well.

You can also do a simple google image search on “Tableau Interactive Resume” and you’ll find additional images that link to resources that are not on the official Tableau Public Resume Gallery.

Format Your Data

In order to build out the necessary charts to support your resume, you’ll use Excel to format the data. I cover the format for both the timeline chart and the abacas chart in the video, but below is a sneak peek of how I formatted my data for the abacas skills chart.

The data above supports the buildout for two separate abacas charts. One chart is for a self-rating of my skills (rows 2-6), while the other chart is a representation of LinkedIn endorsements (7-11).

Column E represents the maximum value of the skill that I want to present on the abacas chart. Since I was self-rating my skills from a scale of 1 to 5, then 5 was the maximum value represented. For the LinkedIn endorsements, 51 was the highest number I received, thus for all rows supporting this chart, 51 was the maximum value.

Gantt Chart

Every resume needs a timeline! Although I describe how to build a single linear timeline chart in the video above, I have another video that explains how to build a Gannt chart in Tableau. For some of our experiences, we have more than one activity happening at the same time, thus the following video will help in your resume build out as well.

Remember that we all have a story to tell and an interactive resume in Tableau will help you share your experiences and get noticed if done well. Good luck!

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

I appreciate everyone who has supported this blog and my YouTube channel via merch. Please click here

Thank you!!

Anthony B Smoak

INCREASE YOUR FOCUS TRY BRAIN.FM

When I am focusing hard during the day at work or developing visualizations on the weekend. I use Brain.fm to help me focus when it matters. It’s Science-driven and research-backed functional music designed from the ground up to help you you focus, relax, meditate and sleep. If you’d like to try a free trial check out https://brain.fm/anthonyb

Please use coupon code anthonyb for a 20% discount upon checkout. It helps support this blog and my YouTube channel as I receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

by anthonysmoak

Fix the Reset All Filters Button in Tableau

Let’s fix the “Reset All Filters” button in Tableau! Sometimes when we create the Reset All Filters button in Tableau, it doesn’t initially work. In this video and post I will troubleshoot a few of the reasons for the lack of functionality and get you and your dashboard up and running.

If you need a refresher on how to reset all filters in Tableau, make sure to check out this video first.

The inspiration for this post comes from the following dashboard I built for the Real World Fake Data (#RWFD) initiative spearheaded by Mark Bradbourne at Tableau. Mark was kind enough to include my dashboard on his recap of top submissions for this particular challenge. You can interact with the dashboard on my Tableau Public gallery here.

The dashboard above utilizes the reset all filters technique, but I initially ran into an issue when trying to get the technique to work. Here is the first area you should check if you run into issues.

SOURCE SHEETS / TARGET SHEETS

On your dashboard, Select Actions (or CTRL+SHIFT+D), and then edit your Reset All Filters action.

Once you select [Edit] for the dashboard action, make sure that your Reset Filters action is the only selection for your [Source Sheets]. Also make sure that all other sheets on the dashboard that you want to remove filters from are selected on [Target Sheets] EXCEPT for your Reset Filters action. See the figure below.

TARGET FILTERS

Additionally, double check to make sure that you have all of your necessary fields selected in the [Target Filters] section that you want to remove as a filter. I have found that selecting the [All Fields] option never works. I’ll repeat, double check that every field you want to reset appears as a target filter. If it is not there, then simply add it by selecting [Add Filter].

In my my particular circumstance, I did have all of the fields selected in the [Target Filters] section that were required to reset all filters, so I had to keep looking for answers. Let’s move to step 3 in the process.

VISUAL CUES FOR FILTERS

In your workbook, I want you to hunt down any filters that are applied to ALL WORKSHEETS with the same data source. From the Tableau knowledge base, here is a screenshot of the icons applied to fields on the Filters shelf. On your worksheets, look for the cylindrical database icon next to any filters. We will further investigate these filters.

Where you see the cylinder next to any Filters on your worksheets, change the [Apply to Worksheets] option from [All Using This Data Source] to [Selected Worksheets…]. In my case, the offending icon was next to the [Location City] filter.

This next step is key. Make sure to UNCHECK the Reset Filters Worksheet. Your filter should not be applied to the same worksheet that is used to display the Reset All Filters button.

Once you’ve unchecked the Reset Filters worksheet your icon next to the filter will change to the following.

Go back to your dashboard and test to make sure that your reset all filters button functionality works. In my case, the above trick was successful for me. I’m sure it will be for you as well.

Make sure to watch the video below as I step through the checks.

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

INCREASE YOUR FOCUS TRY BRAIN.FM

When I am focusing hard during the day at work or developing visualizations on the weekend. I use Brain.fm to help me focus when it matters. It’s Science-driven and research-backed functional music designed from the ground up to help you you focus, relax, meditate and sleep. If you’d like to try a free trial check out https://brain.fm/anthonyb

Please use coupon code anthonyb for a 20% discount upon checkout. It helps support this blog and my YouTube channel as I receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Do Great Things with Your Data!

by anthonysmoak

Place Bar Chart Labels Above Bars in Tableau

In this video I will provide a method in which you can place your bar chart labels above the bars in Tableau. This technique is based off Adolfo Hernandez’s technique with a little more explanation and additional alternatives for the zero line. Make sure to add this to your bar chart repertoire!

If you want to follow-along with the video, you can download the data at this link:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2021.html

In the video I exported data from the “Per Game Stats” section but you are free to download from whichever stats section you’d prefer.

High Level Steps:

Make sure to watch the video to get more in-depth:

  1. Drag your measure to columns (e.g., 3P)
  2. Drag your dimension to Rows (e.g., Team)
  3. Sort the measure to descending value
  4. Place the Team and 3P on the label and format accordingly
  5. Create a placeholder directly on the Columns shelf : AVG(0))
  6. Drag the placeholder to the bottom of the visual onto the 3P axis to make a combined axis visual
  7. In the Measure Value area make sure that AGG(AVG(0)) is placed above SUM(3P)
  8. Uncheck “Show Headers” for the Team dimension and for the axis at the bottom of the visual
  9. Format the visual to remove unnecessary borders and lines
  10. Make the following adjustments on the Label:
    1. Marks to Label: Min/Max
    2. Scope: Pane
    3. Field: Measure Values
    4. Options:
      1. Allow Labels to Overlap Other Mark
      2. Label Minimum Value
  11. Change the color of the bar chart borders to the background color of your visual in order to camouflage the tiny bar created by AVG(0)
  12. Uncheck “Show Header” for AVG(0)

When it’s all said and done you have a fresh new take on adding labels to your bar chart that can add differentiation to your overall visual!

For more detail on how to add a zero line (which I believe is important for bar charts in general and is a good design practice), watch the video.

Please like and subscribe on the Anthony B. Smoak YouTube channel.

All views and opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

Do Great Things with Your Data!