How to Create a Landing Page in Tableau

Creating a handful of disconnected worksheets in Tableau is one thing, but building a cohesive, multi-dashboard workbook that others can actually use is a whole different challenge. A well-designed landing page can transform your complex workbook from a confusing collection of charts into an intuitive, professional report. This article will walk you through, step-by-step, how to build a clean and effective navigation landing page in Tableau.

What is a Tableau Landing Page (and Why Should You Care)?

Think of a landing page as the main menu or home screen for your Tableau workbook. Instead of presenting viewers with a random dashboard full of charts, you greet them with a central hub that guides them to the insights they need. This page typically doesn't contain deep data analysis itself, its primary job is navigation.

Here’s why it's worth the extra effort to build one:

• Improved User Experience (UX): A landing page makes your workbook feel less like a tool and more like a polished application. Users who aren't Tableau experts can easily find what they're looking for without getting lost in tabs.
• Guided Analytics: You can control the narrative. By organizing the navigation, you guide users through the data in a logical sequence, helping them understand the story you’re telling.
• Clarity and Context: It provides an opportunity to add titles, descriptions, and instructions. You can give a high-level overview of the report, explain what each section contains, or define key terms right at the start.
• Brand Consistency: A landing page is the perfect place to reinforce your company’s branding with logos, brand colors, and a professional layout.

Essentially, a landing page sets expectations and makes your dashboard infinitely more approachable for your audience, whether they're executives, clients, or team members.

The Building Blocks of Your Landing Page

Before we jump into the "how-to," let's gather our ingredients. Creating a landing page in Tableau involves combining a few key components:

• A Dedicated Dashboard: This will serve as our home screen. It will be the first thing users see.
• Navigation Elements: These are the clickable "buttons" that take users to other dashboards. You can create them using text boxes, shapes, or custom images for a more professional look.
• Instructional Text: Simple text objects that welcome the user, introduce the workbook, and explain what each button does.
• Dashboard Actions: This is the magic that makes the whole thing work. Actions are rules you create that tell Tableau what to do when a user interacts with something on your dashboard - in this case, clicking a button.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Tableau Landing Page

Let's build a landing page for a fictional workbook that has three main dashboards: Sales Overview, Marketing Performance, and Product Details.

Step 1: Create the Landing Page Dashboard

First, you need a blank canvas. In your Tableau workbook, create a new dashboard.

1. Click the "New Dashboard" icon at the bottom of the workspace (the square with a plus sign).
2. Immediately rename it to something intuitive, like "Home" or "Landing Page." Right-click the new dashboard tab and select "Rename."
3. Under the "Dashboard" pane on the left, set the Size. Using a Fixed size (e.g., "Generic Desktop," 1000 x 800) is often best practice because it ensures your dashboard looks identical on any screen. "Automatic" can sometimes cause objects to shift around unpredictably.

You now have an empty dashboard ready for design.

Step 2: Design the Layout and Add Titles

A good layout is built on structure. Using containers will help keep your landing page organized and aligned perfectly.

1. Drag a Vertical container onto the empty dashboard canvas. By placing all your items into this main container, you ensure they stay stacked neatly.
2. Drag a Horizontal container into the top of the Vertical container. This will house our title and maybe a logo.
3. Drag a Text object into this new Horizontal container. Write a clear, welcoming title like "Company Performance Dashboard | Main Menu." Format the font, size, and color to match your branding.
4. If you have a company logo, navigate to your saved folder and drag the Image object into the Horizontal container next to your title.
5. Finally, drag another Text object under the title section. Add a short introductory sentence, such as: "Welcome to the central performance hub. Please use the buttons below to navigate to the desired report."

Your basic frame is now complete. It looks simple, but this structure makes adding navigation buttons much cleaner.

Step 3: Create the Navigation "Buttons"

This is where we create the clickable elements. The most robust way to create buttons that work reliably with Dashboard Actions is to use dummy worksheets. It sounds odd, but it gives you maximum control.

Create a Dummy Worksheet for Each Button:

We need to create a separate "worksheet" for each navigation button. This sheet just holds the button label and shape.

1. Create a New Worksheet. Click the "New Worksheet" icon. Rename it something descriptive like "BTN: Sales."
2. Create a Calculated Field. In the Data pane, right-click and select "Create Calculated Field." Name it "Sales Button Label" and in the formula box, simply type the text you want on the button in quotes: "Sales Overview"
3. Build the Button View.
4. Repeat for All Buttons. Duplicate this worksheet for your other navigation links ("Marketing Performance" and "Product Details"), updating the calculated field and worksheet name each time. You should now have three separate worksheets: "BTN: Sales," "BTN: Marketing," and "BTN: Product."

Step 4: Add the Buttons to the Landing Page

Return to your "Landing Page" dashboard. Drag another Horizontal container into your main Vertical container, below your introductory text. Now, drag each of your button worksheets ("BTN: Sales," "BTN: Marketing," etc.) into this Horizontal container. They will arrange themselves side-by-side.

Step 5: Configure the Navigation Actions

Now it's time to connect the dots and make those buttons functional.

In the top menu, navigate to Dashboard > Actions...

Action for the Sales Button:

1. In the Actions dialog box, click "Add Action >" and choose "Go to Sheet...".
2. A configuration window will appear. Fill it out as follows:
3. Click OK.

Repeat for Other Buttons:

Follow the exact same process to create a new "Go to Sheet..." action for your marketing and product buttons. For the marketing button, your source sheet will be "BTN: Marketing," and the target sheet will be the "Marketing Performance" dashboard. Repeat until all your buttons are connected.

Test your buttons in the dashboard view. Clicking on "Sales Overview" should now take you directly to that dashboard!

Best Practices for a Great Landing Page

You've built the framework, now let's polish it. A few extra touches can make a huge difference.

• Keep it Clean: The landing page should be minimal. Don't clutter it with charts or KPIs. Its only job is to direct traffic. White space is your friend.
• Add "Back" Buttons: Don't forget to add a "Back to Home" button on each of your destination dashboards using the same "Go to Sheet" action to complete the user journey. A simple back arrow icon works great for this.
• Provide Brief Explanations: Under each navigation button, add a short text description explaining what the user will find in that section (e.g., "Analyze year-over-year sales performance and top-performing regions.").
• Publish the Landing Page as the Default View: When you publish to Tableau Server or Public, make sure your landing page is the first tab in the workbook so it's the one that loads by default.

Final Thoughts

Building a landing page in Tableau is a simple yet powerful way to elevate your work from a complex data file into a user-friendly, guided analytics application. By organizing navigation and providing clear context, you empower users to find the insights they need without guessing where to click.

Ultimately, a Tableau landing page is all about making data easier to access. We believe this should be the default for all business intelligence, not a feature you have to build by hand. At Graphed, we've built a platform where you can create entire real-time dashboards for marketing and sales simply by asking for what you want in plain English. Instead of manually creating navigation, you can get specific answers instantly, allowing you to go from question to insight in seconds, not hours.