How to Add Info Button in Tableau Dashboard

A great dashboard gives you answers at a glance, but sometimes the numbers need a little extra context. Instead of cluttering your visualization with lengthy text boxes or footnotes, you can add an elegant info button that reveals helpful details on command. This walkthrough will guide you step-by-step through creating a clean, interactive info button in your Tableau dashboards.

Why Bother With an Info Button?

You’ve spent hours perfecting your dashboard, making sure every chart is clear and insightful. So why add another element? An info button isn’t just for looks, it’s a powerful tool for improving user experience without sacrificing a clean design. It solves several common dashboard problems:

• Defines Metrics: What exactly does "Active User" mean? Is your "Revenue" figure gross or net? An info button can house these definitions, ensuring everyone interprets the data correctly.
• Explains Calculations: If you're using a complex calculated field like a Lead Velocity Rate or a custom ROI formula, the info button is the perfect place to explain the methodology behind the magic.
• Provides Instructions: Tell users how to interact with your dashboard. "Click a state to filter the sales data," or "Use the date slider to adjust the time frame."
• Reduces Clutter: It keeps your dashboard focused on the visualizations. All the supporting text and definitions are tucked away, visible only when a user needs them. This maintains a clean, professional look and feel.

Think of it as adding a helpful user manual directly into your dashboard, accessible with a single click.

The Method: Combining Sheets, Parameters, and Actions

The trick to creating an interactive "pop-up" info box in Tableau involves making three key components work together. It might sound complex, but once you understand the logic, it's quite straightforward:

1. A "Text" Worksheet: This is the pop-up box itself. It's a simple worksheet that contains the text, definitions, or instructions you want to display.
2. A Parameter: This acts as an on/off switch. We'll create a parameter that can have two states, something like "Show" and "Hide."
3. Dashboard Actions: These are the engine that drives the interactivity. We'll set up actions that tell the parameter to switch states when a user clicks the button, which in turn shows or hides our text worksheet.

Let's build it from the ground up.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding an Info Button

For this example, imagine we have a sales dashboard and want to add an info button that explains our key metrics: Sales Revenue, Profit Ratio, and Order Quantity.

Step 1: Create the Information Worksheet

First, we need to create the sheet that will serve as our pop-up info box. This sheet won't contain charts or graphs, just the explanatory text.

1. Open a new worksheet in your Tableau workbook. Rename it something descriptive, like "Info Box Text."
2. We need a place to write our text. The easiest way is to create a calculated field. Click the dropdown arrow in the Data pane and select Create Calculated Field.
3. Name the field "Info Box Content." In the formula box, type out the information you want to display. You can use multiple lines by enclosing your text in quotation marks and pressing Enter between lines.

"Metric Definitions:

• Sales Revenue: Total sales value, excluding tax and shipping.

• Profit Ratio: (Profit / Sales) * 100. Measures profitability percentage.

• Order Quantity: The total number of unique items sold."

1. Click OK. Now, drag your new "Info Box Content" field onto the Text card in the Marks shelf.
2. Format the text to your liking. Click the Text card, then the three-dot button to open the editor. Here you can adjust the font, size, color, and alignment to create a clean, readable text block. Add a title to the worksheet itself like "Dashboard Glossary."

You should now have a simple sheet that just displays your formatted text.

Step 2: Create the Show/Hide Parameter

Next, we build the "light switch" that will control our info box's visibility.

1. In the Data pane, click the dropdown arrow and select Create Parameter.
2. Name it "Show Info Parameter."
3. Set the Data type to Integer.
4. Under Allowable values, select List.
5. In the list of values, add two entries:
6. Click OK. You'll see "Show Info Parameter" appear in the Parameters section at the bottom of the Data pane. (You don't need to "Show Parameter" on the sheet).

Step 3: Link the Parameter to the Info Worksheet

Now we connect our switch (the parameter) to our lightbulb (the info worksheet) using a simple true/false filter.

1. Create one more calculated field. Name it "Show/Hide Filter."
2. The formula is extremely simple. Just enter the name of your parameter:

[Show Info Parameter] = 1

This formula checks if the parameter's value is currently 1 (our "Show" state). It will return True if it is, and False otherwise.

1. Go to your "Info Box Text" worksheet. Drag the new "Show/Hide Filter" calculated field to the Filters shelf.
2. A filter dialog box will pop up. Check the box for True and click OK.

With this filter applied, the "Info Box Text" worksheet will now be blank unless the "Show Info Parameter" is set to 1. Test this by right-clicking your parameter and changing its value. When set to 1 ("Show"), your text appears, when set to 0 ("Hide"), it vanishes. Perfect!

Step 4: Create the Button Worksheet

Our final worksheet is the one that will act as the clickable info button icon.

1. Open a new worksheet and call it "Info Button."
2. Go to your Marks card and change the mark type from Automatic to Shape.
3. We need something on this sheet for the shape to attach to. The easiest way is to create a simple ad-hoc field. Double-click in an empty area of the Marks card (or the Columns shelf) and type "" (two double quotation marks). Press enter. This creates a placeholder.
4. Drag this blank field onto the Shape card if it's not already there.
5. Click the Shape card. In the dialog, select a shape palette and choose an icon that looks like an "i" for info. Tableau has some built-in, but you can also add custom shapes for a more branded feel.
6. Resize the shape to be a suitable size for a button.
7. Finally, right-click on the worksheet and choose Format. Go to the Borders and Lines menus (paint bucket and ruler icons on top of the Format pane) and remove all grid lines, zero lines, and borders to make the background perfectly clean.

Step 5: Assemble the Dashboard

Now it's time to put all the pieces together.

1. Go to your main dashboard. Drag your "Info Button" worksheet onto the canvas. It's often best to make this a floating object so you can place it precisely, usually in a corner where it’s accessible but not obtrusive. Resize its container to be just large enough to show the icon.
2. Next, drag a Floating Vertical Container from the Objects pane onto the dashboard. Position this container where you want your info pop-up to appear.
3. Drag your "Info Box Text" worksheet inside this floating vertical container. You'll know it's correctly placed when the container gets a blue border.
4. Tableau automatically adds the sheet title and the parameter card to the view inside the container. We don't want those. Right-click on the "Info Box Text" worksheet's title (e.g., "Dashboard Glossary") within the container and select Hide Title. Also, click the X on the parameter card to remove it. Now only your info text is visible within the box.

At this point, you'll still have to manually toggle the parameter to show or hide the info box. The final step is to automate this with actions.

Step 6: Set Up the Dashboard Actions

This is where we connect the user's click to our parameter switch.

1. Go to Dashboard > Actions… in the top menu.
2. Click Add Action > Change Parameter...
3. Configure the "Show" action:
4. Click OK.
5. Now, let's create the action to hide the box. Click Add Action > Change Parameter... again.
6. Configure the "Hide" action:

That's it! Go back to your dashboard and test it out. Clicking the info icon should now reveal the text box, and clicking anywhere inside the text box should make it disappear.

Final Thoughts

Adding an interactive info button is a fantastic way to increase the clarity and usability of any Tableau dashboard. By layering information and providing on-demand context, you empower users to fully understand the data you're presenting, all while keeping your core visualizations clean and focused.

While mastering small details like info buttons improves your dashboards, a core challenge is often just getting the right data visualized without spending hours on setup. For times when you need answers fast, we designed Graphed to streamline this entire process. You can connect all your marketing and sales data sources in seconds, then simply describe the report or dashboard you want - like "show me leads from Facebook Ads vs Google Ads this month" - and get a live dashboard built for you instantly. When questions come up, you can ask them in plain English and get immediate answers instead of manually building new views.