How to Change Chart Type in Tableau

Changing your chart type is one of the most fundamental skills in Tableau. While the default "Automatic" selection is often a good start, knowing how to quickly switch a visualization from a bar chart to a line chart, or from a table to a heat map, is essential for truly exploring your data and telling a clear story. This article will walk you through the simplest methods for changing chart types in Tableau for any scenario.

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Good Data Visualization Starts with the Right Chart

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." Different chart types are designed to answer different questions. A bar chart is excellent for comparing values across distinct categories, while a line chart is perfect for showing a trend over time. A scattered text table filled with numbers can be transformed into an insightful heat map that instantly highlights problem areas or top performers.

The ability to fluidly switch between these formats is what separates basic reporting from true data analysis. It allows you to look at the same data from multiple angles, uncover hidden patterns, and find the best way to present your findings to others. The goal is clarity, and that often means experimenting with a few different chart types to see which one makes your point most effectively.

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Method 1: Using the "Show Me" Menu

The "Show Me" menu is Tableau’s built-in quick-change artist. It's the most straightforward way to toggle between visualizations, making it perfect for beginners or anyone who wants a fast and effective way to explore different chart options.

Let's use an example from the Sample - Superstore dataset included with Tableau. Imagine you want to compare Sales across different product Categories.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Build an Initial View: First, create a basic visualization. Drag the Category dimension to the Columns shelf and the Sales measure to the Rows shelf. Tableau will likely default to a vertical bar chart, which is a great starting point for this comparison.
2. Open the "Show Me" Menu: In the top-right corner of the Tableau workspace, you'll find the Show Me button. Click it.
3. Choose a New Chart Type: A panel will appear displaying a gallery of different chart types. The charts available depend on the data you have in your view — in this case, one dimension (Category) and one measure (Sales). The recommended chart types will be highlighted in full color, while others will be grayed out.
4. Experiment with Other Types: From here, you can click on other available options like pie chart, packed bubbles, or a horizontal bar chart to see how each visualizes your data differently.

Tips for Using "Show Me"

• Read the requirements: At the bottom of the "Show Me" panel, Tableau tells you what data each chart type requires. For instance, hovering over the scatter plot will tell you it needs "2 to 4 Measures." This is a great way to learn visualization best practices.
• Understand the re-arranging: When you select a new chart, notice how Tableau automatically moves your pills on the Columns, Rows, and Marks cards. Paying attention to this will help you learn how to build that chart from scratch next time.

"Show Me" is fantastic for speed and experimentation, but for more granular control, you'll want to use the Marks Card.

Method 2: Using the Marks Card for Direct Control

The Marks Card is the command center for the visual properties of your chart. It determines what your data points look like — whether they are bars, lines, circles, shapes, and what color, size, or label they have. Changing the chart type here gives you far more control than the "Show Me" menu.

Let's say you're looking at Sales over time. You would typically drag Order Date (set to Continuous Month) to Columns and Sales to Rows. Tableau’s "Automatic" setting will likely produce a line chart.

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Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Locate the Marks Card: The Marks Card is located to the left of your worksheet view, just below the Filters shelf.
2. Click the Marks Type Dropdown: On the toolbar for the Marks card, you’ll see a dropdown menu that's likely set to "Automatic." Click it.
3. Select a New Mark Type: A list of mark types will appear, including a Bar, Line, Area, Square, Circle, Shape, and so on.
4. Transform the Chart:

The beauty of the Marks Card is precision. It allows you to build sophisticated charts that aren’t in the "Show Me" menu, like lollipop charts, and it’s the key to creating combination charts.

Method 3: Creating a Combination (Dual Axis) Chart

What if you want to show two different measures as two different chart types on the same view? For example, you want to see overall Sales (as bars) overlaid with Profit (as a line) to identify profitable months. This is called a combination or dual-axis chart, and it's built using the Marks Card.

In this scenario, we use the Marks card to assign different mark types to each measure.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Add Your Fields: Drag Order Date (as Continuous Month) to the Columns shelf. Then, drag both the Sales and Profit measures onto the Rows shelf, one after another. Tableau will create two separate line charts stacked on top of each other.
2. Note the New Marks Cards: Look at your Marks Card. You now have tabs for "All," "SUM(Sales)," and "SUM(Profit)." This means you can control the visual properties of each measure's chart independently.
3. Change the Chart Type for Sales: Click the SUM(Sales) tab on the Marks card. From the mark type dropdown menu, change it from "Automatic" (or "Line") to Bar. The top chart will now transform into a bar chart, while the bottom one remains a line chart.
4. Create the Dual Axis: Find the SUM(Profit) pill on the Rows shelf. Right-click it and select Dual Axis from the dropdown menu. This will overlay the line chart on top of the bar chart, with a second axis appearing on the right side of your visualization.
5. (Crucial Tip!) Synchronize Axes: The chart isn’t done yet! Notice that the left axis for Sales and the right axis for Profit have different scales, which can be misleading. Right-click the right axis (the one for Profit) and select Synchronize Axis. Now both measures use the same scale, giving you an accurate comparison.

Practical Swaps: Moving from a Good Chart to a Better Chart

Knowing how to change chart types is just the beginning. The goal is building more effective visualizations. Here are some of the most common and powerful chart swaps:

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From a Text Table to a Highlight Table or Heat Map

• When to swap: You've built a cross-tab with dimensions on Rows and Columns, but it's just a wall of numbers that’s hard to interpret.
• Why it's better: A Highlight Table (by selecting Square in the Marks Card and adding your measure to Color) uses color to draw the viewer’s eye to the most important values. This allows your audience to see lows and highs at a glance without reading every single number. A Heat Map takes away the numbers completely and uses just color and size, making it a powerful way to visualize density.

From a Pie Chart to a Bar Chart

• When to swap: Almost anytime you create a pie chart with more than two or three slices.
• Why it's better: Our brains aren’t very good at accurately comparing the sizes of angles and areas, but we are excellent at comparing lengths. A bar chart makes it much easier to see which category is largest and by how much, delivering a clearer and more precise message. It's often the better choice for part-to-whole comparisons.

From a Line Chart to an Area Chart

• When to swap: You want to emphasize the total volume of something over time, not just its rate of change.
• Why it's better: An area chart is essentially a line chart with the space between the line and the axis filled in. This fill gives a sense of cumulative quantity and makes the overall trend feel more substantial. It's great for showing how a total has accumulated or changed across time periods.

Final Thoughts

Effectively communicating insights with data depends on choosing the right visualization. Mastering the skill of changing chart types in Tableau, whether through the easy "Show Me" menu or with the precision of the Marks Card, allows you to experiment, explore, and ultimately find the clearest method to tell your data's story. It's a foundational skill that transforms you from a data user into a data storyteller.

At our core, we believe that accessing these data-driven stories shouldn't require you to be a software expert. Manually swapping between charts is a huge step up from static spreadsheets, but what if you could bypass the clicks altogether? Our goal with Graphed is to let you describe what you need in plain English - like "compare sales vs. profit over time" - and get correctly visualized, live data from Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce instantly. We built Graphed to eliminate the manual setup, so your focus can remain on the insights, not the configuration.