How to Add Border to Worksheet in Tableau

Adding a simple border to a worksheet in Tableau can instantly make your dashboard look cleaner, more organized, and easier to read. While it seems like a basic task, the formatting options can be tricky to find if you don't know where to look. This article will show you the most direct way to add borders on a dashboard and a few other methods for more advanced formatting.

Why Borders Matter in Tableau

Before jumping into the "how," it helps to understand the "why." In dashboard design, every pixel counts. White space, alignment, color, and borders are all tools you can use to guide your audience's attention and make complex data easier to understand. A well-placed border accomplishes a few key things:

• Creates Visual Structure: Borders group related information, clearly separating one section of your dashboard from another. This helps viewers process information in logical chunks instead of seeing a jumble of charts.
• Improves Readability: By creating clear boundaries, borders prevent your charts and numbers from blending together, reducing cognitive load for the viewer.
• Enhances Professionalism: A thoughtfully designed dashboard with consistent formatting looks polished and professional. It shows attention to detail and builds trust in the data being presented.

Think of borders as the frame for your data story. They don't change the underlying numbers, but they significantly impact how the story is perceived.

The Easiest Method: Add a Border on the Dashboard

The most common and straightforward way to add an outer border to a worksheet is directly on the dashboard canvas. Tableau treats each worksheet, text box, or filter you add to a dashboard as an object, and each object has its own set of layout properties, including borders.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Create a Worksheet and Add It to a Dashboard

First, build a worksheet you want to display. For this example, let's use the Sample - Superstore dataset and create a simple 'Sales by Sub-Category' bar chart.

Next, create a new dashboard and drag your 'Sales by Sub-Category' worksheet from the Sheets list on the left onto the dashboard canvas.

Step 2: Select the Worksheet Object on the Dashboard

Click once on the worksheet you just added to the dashboard. You'll know it's selected when a gray border with handles appears around it. Your worksheet will be highlighted in blue under the "Item hierarchy" in the Layout pane.

Step 3: Open the Border Formatting Options

With the worksheet selected, look at the Layout pane on the left side of the screen. (If you don't see it, make sure the "Dashboard" tab is selected above it, not the "Layout" tab.)

Within the Layout pane, you will see a section for Border. It's usually a single dropdown menu.

Step 4: Choose Your Border Style, Color, and Thickness

Click the dropdown menu next to Border. Here you can customize its appearance:

• Style: The first option controls the line style. You can choose from 'None', a solid line, a dashed line, and a dotted line. The thin solid line is the most common choice.
• Thickness: This slider controls how thick the border is. Start with the thinnest option and only increase it if you need the border to have more visual weight.
• Color: Click the color box to choose a color for your border. Light gray is often a good default choice because it provides separation without being visually distracting.

Once you select a style, thickness, and color, the border will immediately appear around your worksheet on the dashboard canvas. That's it! You've successfully added a border to your worksheet.

Formatting Internal Borders (Row and Column Dividers)

Sometimes you don’t need an outer border, but you want to control the faint lines within a chart, such as the lines separating bars in a bar chart or rows in a text table. These are controlled in the Format pane for the specific worksheet.

Here’s how to find these settings:

1. Navigate to the individual worksheet (not the dashboard).
2. Go to the main menu at the top of the screen and click Format > Borders.
3. A Format Border pane will open on the left. This pane gives you granular control over all the lines inside your visualization.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the most common options:

• Row Divider / Column Divider: These control the lines that separate individual rows and columns within the Panes of your chart. Setting these to 'None' will clean up busy visuals, particularly in tables.
• Level Slider: This slider within the divider section allows you to control which level of a dimension gets an internal border, particularly relevant for Text tables or visualizations where more than one dimension is used on Rows or Columns shelf.

Advanced Technique: Using Layout Containers for Grouped Borders

What if you have a group of related worksheets - say, three KPI cards - and you want to wrap them all in a single border instead of giving each one its own? The solution is to use a Layout Container.

A layout container is an object that holds and organizes other objects on your dashboard. You can add a border to the container, which then frames everything inside it.

Step 1: Add a Layout Container to the Dashboard

From the Objects section in the Dashboard pane, drag either a Horizontal or Vertical container onto your dashboard. A horizontal container arranges items side-by-side, while a vertical container stacks them on top of each other.

Step 2: Add Worksheets to the Container

Drag your worksheets from the Sheets list and drop them inside the layout container. You’ll see a dark blue shading when an object is properly positioned to go into the container.

Step 3: Select and Format the Container

Now, select the container itself. This step can sometimes be tricky. The easiest way is to click on an individual item inside the container, then click the small dropdown arrow on its gray border and choose "Select Container."

Once the entire container is selected (you'll see a solid blue border around it), you can go to the Layout pane and add a border to it, just as you did for a single worksheet in the first method. You can also add a background color to the container to make the entire section stand out from the rest of the dashboard.

Best Practices for Using Borders Effectively

Now that you know how to add borders, here are a few design tips to keep in mind:

• Less is More: The goal of a border is to provide subtle structure, not to overwhelm the view. Avoid thick, dark borders unless you have a specific design reason. A thin, light gray line is usually sufficient.
• Be Consistent: If you use borders, apply them consistently across your dashboard. For example, all primary charts might have a light gray border, while all filters have no border. This consistency creates a visual rhythm that makes your dashboard feel cohesive.
• Use Padding to Create Space: Borders work best when combined with padding. In the Layout pane, right below the Border option, you'll find settings for Outer Padding and Inner Padding. Outer padding adds space outside the border, giving your worksheets breathing room. Inner padding adds space inside the border, between the frame and the chart itself. Even a small increase (e.g., to 4 or 8 pixels) can make a huge difference.

Final Thoughts

Adding borders in Tableau is a simple formatting technique that has a big impact on a dashboard's structure and professionalism. The main controls are located in the Layout pane when you select an object on your dashboard, allowing you to quickly add frames to individual charts, text boxes, or groups of objects placed within layout containers.

Spending hours perfecting small details like borders, padding, and alignment in tools like Tableau is often what separates a good dashboard from a great one. We built Graphed because we believe getting actionable insights shouldn't require that much manual setup. Instead of dragging and dropping objects onto a canvas, you can just describe the report you need in plain English—like "Show me a dashboard of a sales pipeline from Salesforce"—and Graphed builds it for you in seconds, with real-time data and clean visualizations.