Tableau Desktop

The Tableau Environment:

This section will introduce you to the Tableau environment including how to open and close the application, the work space in the general, and how your work is organized and stored.

• Opening and Closing the Application

• Start Page

• The Tableau Work space

• Workbooks and Sheets

• Files and Folders

Opening and Closing the Application

The first thing to understand is how to open and close the application.

Open Tableau

There are many ways to open Tableau from your desktop computer.Open the application by doing one of the following:

• Double-click the Tableau icon on your desktop.

• Select Start > All Programs > Tableau.

• Double-click a Tableau workbook or bookmark file. Tableau files are typically stored in the My Tableau Repository folder of your My Documents folder.

• Drag a data source such as an Excel or Access file onto the Tableau icon or the application window. Tableau automatically makes a connection to the data source.

Close Tableau

When you are done working in Tableau you should save your work and close the application. Close the application by doing one of the following:

• Click the Close icon located in the right corner of the application title bar.

• Select File > Exit.

(If your workbook has not been saved, you will be asked whether you want to save it).

Start Page

When you first open Tableau, the Start Page opens to help you get started quickly. The Start Page contains many different resources that are useful whether you are first learning or very experienced.

Open the start page by doing one of the following:

• Open Tableau by double-clicking the icon on your desktop.

• From an open workbook, click the third tab in the top right corner of the workbook.

The start page is split into following sections:

• Data – The data section lets you either connect to a new data source or quickly open a saved connection. By default sample data source connections are available. As you continue to create and save connections they’ll be added to the list. The start page lists any data source connections that are saved in your repository.

• Workbooks – The workbooks section shows thumbnail images for workbooks you’ve recently opened. Click a thumbnail image to open the workbook. When you open Tableau for the first time, the Workbooks section will be blank. As you create a save new workbooks, the nine most recently opened are available on the start page.

You can pin workbooks to the start page by clicking the pin icon that shows in the lower left corner when you hover the mouse over the workbook image. Pinned workbooks will always show on the start page even if they weren't opened recently. Remove the workbook by clicking the red "x" icon. The workbook is removed immediately but will be shown again with your most recently used workbooks the next time you open the workbook.

• Getting Started – The getting started section contains links to resources that can help you learn how to use Tableau. You can watch a short flash video that introduces you to the work space or browse more in-depth training videos on the Tableau website.

• Samples – The samples section contains several sample workbooks that show off the types of views you can create with Tableau Desktop. Click on a thumbnail image in the samples areas to open a sample workbook.

The Tableau Work space

The Tableau work space consists of menus, a toolbar, the Data window, cards that contain shelves and legends, and one or more sheets. Sheets can be worksheets or dashboards.

Worksheets contain shelves, which are where you drag data fields to build views. You can change the default layout of the shelves and cards to suit your needs, including resizing, moving, and hiding them.

Dashboards contain views, legends, and quick filters. When you first create a dashboard, the Dashboard is empty and all of the worksheets in the workbook are shown in the Dashboard window.

• Data Window

• Toolbar

• Tooltips

• Status Bar

• Cards and Shelves

• Reorganizing the Work space

• Language and Locale

Data Window

Data fields appear on the left side of the work space in the Data window. You can hide and show the Data window by selecting Window > Show Data Window. You can also click the minimize button in the upper right corner of the Data window.

You can search for fields in the Data window by clicking the magnifying class icon and then typing in the text box. Right-click the fields in the Data window to access important commands.

Click the View Data icon at the top of the Data window to see the underlying data.

Toolbar

Tableau’s toolbar contains commands such as Connect to data, New Sheet, and Save. In addition, the toolbar contains analysis and navigation tools such as Sort, Group, and Highlight. You can hide or display the toolbar by selecting Window > Show Toolbar.

Tool tips

Tool tips are additional data details that display when you rest the pointer over one or more marks in the view. Tool tips also offer convenient tools to quickly filter or remove marks or view underlying data. Tool tips consist of a body, action links, and commands.

Body

The body of a tool tip contains details about a specific mark or a selection of multiple marks. For example, in a bar chart showing sales by region, the tool tip body may include the actual sales amount and the region name. The default tool tip is based on the fields used in the view. You can customize what is shown in the tool tip and how it is formatted by selecting Worksheet > Tool tip. Refer to Tool tips to learn more about formatting the body of the tool tips.

Action Links

If the sheet has any actions, the action links will be listed below the body of the tool tip. An action adds context and interactivity to your data through filters, highlighting, and links to external resources. Refer to Actions to learn more.

Commands

The bottom of the tool_tip lists commands for quickly filtering data and viewing the underlying data. For example, you can use the tool tip to quickly remove an outlier in a scatter plot. Each of the commands are described below.

• Keep Only - creates a filter that removes all other data.

• Remove - creates a filter that removes the selected data.

• View Data - opens a window displaying the data. You can view the summarized data or the underlying data. Refer to View Data to learn more about this command.

These commands are visible by default. You can disable the commands in the Edit Tool tip dialog box. Select Worksheet > Tool tip and then clear the Include command buttons checkbox in the bottom left corner. Tool tip settings only apply to the active worksheet.

Status Bar

The status bar is located at the bottom of the Tableau workbook. It displays descriptions of menu items as well as information about the current view.

You can hide the status bar by selecting Window > Show Status Bar.
(Occasionally, Tableau will display warning icons in the bottom right corner of the status bar to indicate errors that have or may occur. )

Cards and Shelves

Every worksheet contains a variety of different cards that you can show or hide. Cards are containers for shelves, legends, and other controls. For example, the Marks card contains the mark selector, the size slider, the mark transparency control, and the shape, text, color, size, angle, and level of detail shelves.

Cards can be shown and hidden as well as rearranged around the worksheet.

The following list describes each card and its contents.

• Columns Shelf - contains the Columns shelf where you can drag fields to add columns to the view.

• Rows Shelf - contains the Rows shelf where you can drag fields to add columns to the view.

• Pages Shelf– contains the Pages shelf where you can create several different pages with respect to the members in a dimension or the values in a measure.

• Filters Shelf– contains the Filters shelf; use this shelf to specify the values to include in the view.

• Measure Values Shelf – contains the Measure Values shelf; use this shelf to use multiple measures along a single axis. This shelf is only available when there is a blended axis in the view.

• Color Legend – contains the legend for the color encoding in the view and is only available when there is a field on the Color shelf.

• Shape Legend – contains the legend for the shape encoding in the view and is only available when there is a field on the Shape shelf.

• Size Legend – contains the legend for the size encoding s in the view and is only available when there is a field on the Size shelf.

• Map Legend - contains the legend for the symbols and patterns on a map. The map legend is not available for all map providers.

• Quick Filters – a separate quick filter card is available for every field in the view. Use these cards to easily include and exclude values from the view without having to open the Filter dialog box.

• Parameters – a separate parameter card is available for every parameter in the workbook. Use these cards to modify parameter values.

• Marks – contains a mark selector where you can specify the mark type as well as the Path, Shape, Text, Color, Size, Angle, and Level of Detail shelves. The availability of these shelves are dependent on the fields in the view.

• Title – contains the title for the view. Double-click this card to modify the title.

• Caption – contains a caption that describes the view. Double-click this card to modify the caption.

• Summary – contains summary of each of the measures in the view including the Min, Max, Sum, and Average.

• Map Options - allows you to modify the various labels and boundaries shown in the online maps. Also you can use this card to overlay metro statistical area information.

• Current Page – contains the playback controls for the Pages shelf and indicates the current page that is displayed. This card is only available when there is a field on the Pages shelf.

Each card has a menu that contains common controls that apply to the contents of the card. For example you can use the card menu to show and hide the card. Access the card menu by clicking on the arrow in the upper right corner of the card.

Reorganizing the Work space

You can rearrange and hide cards, legends, shelves, and more.

• Rearranging Cards

• Showing and Hiding Parts of the Work space

• Presentation Mode

Rearranging Cards

A worksheet contains several cards that contain shelves, legends, and other controls. Each card can be rearranged to create a custom work space.

To move a card, point the cursor at the title area of the card you want to move. When the cursor becomes the move symbol , click and drag the card to a new position. As you drag the card around the worksheet, the possible positions for it are highlighted with a black bar.

Note:

You can restore the worksheet windows to their default state by selecting Reset Cards on the Show/Hide Cards toolbar control.

Showing and Hiding Parts of the Work space

Just about everything in the work space can be turned on and off so you can avoid cluttering the worksheet with unnecessary cards, shelves, etc.

• To show or hide a card click Show/Hide Cards on the toolbar and then select the card you want to show or hide.

You can restore the worksheet windows to their default state by selecting Reset Cards on the Show/Hide Cards toolbar control.

Presentation Mode

Sometimes you may want to use Tableau for presenting your findings. Rather than hiding each card or shelf one at a time, you can switch into Presentation Mode. Presentation Mode hides everything on the sheet except for the view and its associated legends, quick filters, and parameter controls.

To toggle in and out of Presentation Mode, click the Presentation Mode button on the toolbar or select Window > Presentation Mode.

Language and Locale

Tableau Desktop work space is localized into several languages. You can set Tableau to display the user interface (menus, messages, etc.) in one of the supported languages. The language you select is your User Interface (U I) Language. By default, when you install Tableau, the language is set to an automatic setting that recognizes your computer locale and uses the appropriate language is it is supported. If you are using an unsupported language, the application will default to English.

When you run the application, you can change the (U I) Language by selecting Help > Choose Language. After you change this setting, you’ll need to restart the application for the changes to take effect. You do not need to change this setting for every workbook.

When you change the U I Language, the workbook will automatically use the corresponding locale for number formatting, maps, dates, and so on. By default, the locale is set to Automatic, which means the locale will match the locale when the workbook is opened. This can be useful if you are authoring a workbook that will be viewed in many different languages and you want the dates and numbers to update accordingly. You can override the locale setting for the workbook by selecting File > Workbook Locale. When you select a specific locale, the workbook will not change regardless of who opens it.

Tableau cascades through the following settings to determine locale:

• Workbook Locale

• Windows Locale

• U I Language

• English

Each feature in Tableau may start at different levels in the above hierarchy. For example, when opening a workbook that has a map view, Tableau will determine the correct map tiles by first looking at the Workbook Locale setting. If it is set to Automatic, it will then look at the Windows Locale setting. If that cannot be determined, it will fall back to the UI language. And finally, if all else fails, it will use English.

Workbooks and Sheets

Tableau uses a workbook and worksheet file structure, much like Microsoft Excel.

• Workbooks

• Sheets

Workbooks

Tableau workbook files are much like Microsoft Excel workbooks. They contain one or more worksheets or dashboards and hold all of your work. They allow you to organize, save, and share your results.

When you open Tableau, a blank workbook is automatically created. You can also create a new workbook by selecting File > New or by pressing Ctrl + N on your keyboard. You can open an existing workbook by doing one of the following:

• Double-click the thumbnail image of the workbook on the start page. The start page shows workbooks that you’ve recently used.

• Select File > Open and navigate to the location of your workbook using the Open dialog box. Tableau workbooks have the .twb or .twbx file extensions.

• Double-click on any workbook file. • Drag any workbook file onto the Tableau desktop icon or onto the running application.

The workbook name is displayed in Tableau’s title bar.

(You can open multiple workbooks simultaneously. Each workbook is shown in its own )

Sheets

Each workbook can contain worksheets and dashboards. A worksheet is where you build views of your data by dragging and dropping fields onto shelves. A dashboard is a combination of several worksheets that you can arrange for presentation or to monitor. The sheets, whether worksheets or dashboards, display along the bottom of the workbook as tabs. In this section you’ll learn how to create, open, duplicate, hide, and delete sheets as well as how to organize sheets in a workbook.

• Creating New Sheets

• Undo, Redo, and Clearing Sheets

• Duplicating Sheets

• Hiding and Showing Worksheets

• Deleting Sheets

• Organizing Sheets

Creating New Sheets

Create a new worksheet by selecting Worksheet > New Worksheet or by pressing Ctrl + M on your keyboard. Tableau inserts a new worksheet into the current workbook.

Create a new dashboard by selecting Dashboard > New Dashboard. Tableau inserts a new dashboard sheet into the current workbook.

Tableau automatically generates sheet names. The first worksheet is named Sheet 1, the second worksheet is named Sheet 2, and so on. you can rename a sheet by right clicking the sheet tab and selecting Rename Sheet. Alternatively, double-click the name of the sheet on the sheet tab and type a new name.

Undo, Redo, and Clearing Sheets

Every Tableau workbook contains a history of steps you have performed on the worksheets or dashboards. To move backward through the history click Undo on the toolbar or press Ctrl + Z on your keyboard. Similarly, move forward through the history by clicking Redo on the toolbar or by pressing Ctrl + Y on your keyboard.

You can remove all fields, formatting, sizing, axis ranges, filters, and sorts in the sheet by clicking Clear on the toolbar. You can also use the Clear drop-down list on the toolbar to clear specific aspects of the view such as clear all formatting, sizing, filters, or sorts.

Note: Using the clear commands on the toolbar does not clear the history. If you decide that you didn’t want to clear the sheet, click the Undo button.

Duplicating Sheets

Duplicating a sheet allows you to easily make a copy of a worksheet or dashboard. You can then modify the view without losing the original version. To duplicate the active sheet, right-click the sheet tab and select Duplicate Sheet.

A cross-tab (sometimes referred to as a Pivot Table) is a table that summarizes data in rows and columns of text. It is a convenient way to display the numbers associated with the data view.

In Tableau, you can quickly create a cross-tab from a worksheet by right-clicking the sheet tab and selecting Duplicate as Cross-tab. You can also select Worksheet > Duplicate as Cross-tab. This command inserts a new worksheet into your workbook and populates the sheet with a cross-tab view of the data from the original worksheet. Dashboard sheets cannot be duplicated as cross-tabs.

There are other ways to see the numbers behind the data views. For example, you can mouse-over any mark to display the associated numbers in a tool-tip. Click the View Data command at the bottom of the tool-tip to view underlying data. You can copy and paste the data into Excel.

Hiding and Showing Worksheets

A worksheet that is used in a dashboard cannot be deleted, but it can be hidden. You may want to hide a worksheet if you are sharing the dashboard with others and don’t want to clutter the workbook with all the supporting worksheets.

You can hide the worksheets that are used in a dashboard by right-clicking the worksheet tab and selecting Hide Sheet. Keep in mind that someone viewing the dashboard can still access the hidden worksheet.

You can show a hidden sheet by navigating to the dashboard that uses it. Select Go to Sheet on the dashboard view menu. The hidden sheet is shown until you switch to another sheet. When the hidden sheet is showing, you can right-click the sheet tab and select Unhide to Unhide it permanently.

Deleting Sheets

Deleting a sheet removes it from the workbook You can delete the active sheet by right-clicking the worksheet or dashboard tab along the bottom of the workbook and selecting Delete Sheet. Worksheets used in a dashboard cannot be deleted, rather you can hide the worksheet. Refer to Hiding and Showing Worksheets to learn more.

Note: There must always be at least one worksheet or dashboard in a workbook.

Organizing Sheets

There are three ways to navigate and view the sheets in a workbook: the tabs at the bottom of the workbook, the filmstrip, and the sheet sorter. The tabs are useful for quickly navigating between a small number of sheets. If your workbook has a large number of sheets, you may find that the sheet sorter makes it easier to navigate them all.

Sheet Tabs

Each sheet, whether worksheet or dashboard, is represented as a tab along the bottom of the workbook. Simply select the tab for the sheet you want to show in the work_space. On the left side of the tabs there are several controls that you can use to advance through each sheet or quickly jump to the first or last sheet in the workbook.

You can also navigate between sheets using the Window menu or move through the multiple worksheets by pressing Ctrl + F6 on your keyboard.

You can also right-click these tabs to specify commands that apply to the entire selected sheet. For example you can create new sheets, duplicate sheets, copy formatting, and delete the sheet entirely. Finally, you can hold the control key when selecting to select and apply settings to multiple sheets all at once.

Filmstrip

Similar to the sheet tabs, the mini sheet sorter displays along the bottom of the workbook. However, instead of sheet names, the filmstrip shows a thumbnail image of each sheet. The filmstrip is useful when you are using Tableau to present your analysis and works well when you are working in Presentation mode.

Open the filmstrip by clicking the arrows on the far right side of the sheets tabs at the bottom of the workbook. Just like with the tabs, select the thumbnail image for the sheet you want to open. You can right-click the images to specify command that apply to each sheet.

Sheet Sorter

The full sheet sorter shows all sheets in a workbook as thumbnail images on a single page and is similar to the slide sorter in Microsoft Power Point. The sheet sorter is really useful when you have a large number of sheets in a workbook. Open the sheet sorter by clicking the sheet sorter tab in the upper right corner of the workbook.

From the sheet sorter you can drag and drop to reorder the sheets, create new sheets, and duplicate or delete existing sheets. Right-click a sheet to see these commands. You can also right-click to refresh the thumbnail image of a particular sheet or Refresh All Thumbnails at once.

Files and Folders

You can save your work using several different Tableau specific file types: workbooks, bookmarks, packaged data files, data extracts, and data connection files. Each of these file types are described below.

• Workbooks – Tableau workbook files have the .twb file extension and are marked with the workbook icon. Workbooks hold one or more worksheets and dashboards.

• Bookmarks – Tableau bookmark files have the .tbm file extension and are marked with the bookmark icon. Bookmarks contain a single worksheet and are an easy way to quickly share your work.

• Packaged Workbooks – Tableau packaged workbooks have the .twbx file extension and are marked with the packaged workbook icon. Packaged workbooks contain a workbook along with any supporting local file data sources and background images. This format is the best way to package your work for sharing with others who don’t have access to the data.

• Data Extract Files – Tableau data extract files have the .tde file extension and are marked with the extract icon. Extract files are a local copy of a subset or entire data source that you can use to share data, work offline, and improve database performance.

• Data Connection Files – Tableau data connection files have the .tds file extension and are marked with the data connection icon. Data connection files are shortcuts for quickly connecting to data sources that you use often.

These files can be saved in the associated folders in the My Tableau Repository directory, which is automatically created in your My Documents folder when you install Tableau. Your work files can also be saved in other locations, such as your desktop or a network directory.

Changing the Repository Location

You can specify a new location for the Tableau repository if you are not using the default location in your Documents folder. For instance, if you are required to have your data on a network server instead of on your local machine, you can point Tableau at the remote repository.

1. Select File > Repository Location.

2. Select a new folder that will act as the new repository location in the Select a Repository dialog box.

3. Restart Tableau so that it uses the new repository.

Changing the repository location does not move the files contained in the original repository, rather it creates a new repository where you can store your files.