How to Add a Container in Tableau Dashboard

Building a dashboard in Tableau can feel like organizing a messy room - you have all the right pieces, but getting them to look clean and professional is the real challenge. The secret to a perfectly organized Tableau dashboard isn't complicated, it's using containers. This article will walk you through exactly what containers are, how to add them to your dashboard, and a few pro tips to make your layouts shine.

What Are Tableau Layout Containers? A Super Simple Explanation

In Tableau, a container is simply an invisible box you can place on your dashboard to hold worksheets, images, text boxes, and even other containers. Think of them as organizational folders for your visuals. They force the items inside them to line up neatly, either side-by-side or stacked on top of one another.

Without containers, arranging several charts on a dashboard can be chaotic. Things overlap, resizing one chart messes up another, and getting consistent spacing is a tedious manual process. Containers solve this by creating a structured layout system that keeps everything aligned and orderly.

Why bother with them? They give you precise control over your dashboard’s layout, making it look incredibly polished and professional. More importantly, they make your designs "responsive," meaning your charts will resize intelligently and predictably as you or your users adjust the screen size.

Horizontal vs. Vertical Containers: What's the Difference?

Tableau gives you two types of containers, and each has a specific job. Understanding the difference is the first step to mastering your dashboard layouts.

• Horizontal Containers: These arrange any items you place inside them in a horizontal line, from left to right. Imagine placing books on a bookshelf - they all stand side-by-side. Use this container when you want visuals like KPI cards, scorecards, or small comparison charts displayed next to each other.
• Vertical Containers: These stack items on top of each other in a vertical column, from top to bottom. Think of stacking a pile of magazines. This is perfect for placing a title at the top, followed by a series of related charts or filters below it.

How to Add and Use a Container in Your Tableau Dashboard

Let’s build a simple layout to see containers in action. For this walkthrough, imagine we want to create a section with two KPI cards displayed side-by-side, sitting directly above one wide trendline chart.

Step 1: Locate the "Objects" Menu

When you’re on a dashboard sheet in Tableau, look at the bottom-left of your screen. You’ll see the Dashboard pane, which lists all of your available worksheets. Right below that is a section called Objects. This is where you’ll find Horizontal and Vertical containers, along with other elements like Text, Images, and Web Pages.

Step 2: Drag a Container onto the Canvas

To start our layout, we first need a main container to hold everything. Since our design has elements stacked on top of each other (KPI cards on top of a trendline), we’ll start with a Vertical container.

Click and drag the Vertical object from the Objects menu onto your blank dashboard canvas. When you let go, it will automatically fill the entire dashboard view. Don't worry, this is normal behavior. We'll fill it up next.

Step 3: Nesting a Second Container Inside

Now we need a place for our two KPI cards to sit side-by-side. For this, we’ll use a Horizontal container. Click and drag the Horizontal container from the Objects menu and hover it over the top half of the Vertical container we just added. You'll see a blue box appear, indicating where the new container will be placed.

Let go, and now you have a Horizontal container nested inside your main Vertical container. This is a fundamental concept called nesting, and it’s how complex layouts are built.

Step 4: Add Your Worksheets to the Containers

This is the most important step. Find your KPI card worksheets in the panel and drag them into the Horizontal container.

Here’s the trick: Pay close attention to the outline that appears as you drag the sheet.

• A thick, dark blue border around the container means you are placing the sheet inside it.
• A thinner, gray highlight indicates you are placing the sheet next to the container.

Drag your first KPI sheet into the Horizontal container. It will take up the entire space. Then, drag your second KPI sheet and drop it to the right of the first one (again, looking for that bold blue indicator). Voila! The Horizontal container automatically arranges them side-by-side and distributes the space evenly.

Finally, find your trendline chart worksheet and drag it into the main Vertical container, right below the Horizontal container holding the KPIs. Your layout is now complete!

Step 5: Adjust Sizing and Distribution

Once items are in a container, resizing them is a breeze. You can drag the borders between the sheets to manually adjust their width or height. Additionally, you can use a powerful built-in feature for perfect alignment.

Click the small downward arrow on the container that holds your KPI cards, and you’ll see an option for Distribute Evenly. Selecting this will automatically resize all items inside that container to be the exact same size. This saves a huge amount of time trying to get pixel-perfect alignment manually.

Pro Tips for Working with Containers

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can use these techniques to build even more dynamic and user-friendly dashboards.

Tip #1: Use 'Blanks' for Spacing

Want to add some extra white space or padding between two charts? Don’t try to do it by manually resizing everything. Instead, use the Blank object. Drag a Blank from the Objects pane and drop it into a container between two worksheets. This creates a dedicated, empty block that you can resize to control your spacing with precision.

Tip #2: Visualize Your Layout with Borders

If you have a lot of nested containers, it can be hard to remember what’s inside what. To make things clearer, add a temporary border to your containers.

Select a container, click its dropdown arrow, and choose Format Container.... In the Formatting pane that appears, you can add a Border. This will draw a visible line around the container on your dashboard, helping you see the structure you've built.

Tip #3: Add a "Show/Hide Button" for Interactive Filters

For a clean look, you can make an entire container filled with filters appear and disappear with the click of a button. Place all your filters into a single Vertical container. Then, click the container’s dropdown menu and select Add Show/Hide Button. This will create a small icon that users can click to toggle the visibility of the entire container, saving screen space when the filters aren't needed.

Tip #4: Use the Layout Tree to See Your Structure

Have you lost track of how your containers are nested? Tableau has a tool for that. On the left side of the screen, click the Layout tab (next to the Dashboard tab). This will show you a hierarchical tree called the Item hierarchy. It displays every object on your dashboard and shows exactly how they are structured and nested within each other, which is incredibly helpful for double-checking and debugging complex designs.

Final Thoughts

Containers are the foundation of any well-designed Tableau dashboard. By using horizontal and vertical containers to group your worksheets, you gain full control over spacing, alignment, and sizing, turning your work from a loose collection of charts into a cohesive and professional report. While it takes a little practice, mastering this skill is one of the fastest ways to elevate your Tableau capabilities.

Of course, becoming proficient in BI tools like Tableau requires a steep learning curve and time commitment. For those who need to get answers from their data without spending hours arranging visual layouts, we've automated the entire process. At Graphed you are connected directly to your live data sources and use natural language to build real-time dashboards for you. Simply describe the report you need, and our AI data analyst generates the charts and insights in seconds, saving you from the manual work of building reports from scratch.