How to Create a Title Page in Tableau

A great Tableau dashboard does more than just display charts, it tells a compelling story with data. Every good story needs a clear beginning, and that's exactly what a title page provides. It sets the stage, adds a layer of professionalism, and creates a much better user experience. This guide will show you exactly how to create a clean, effective title page for any Tableau project.

We'll walk through a simple but powerful method: creating a dedicated dashboard to act as your title page and then using navigation buttons to guide users to your main analysis. It's a technique that's easy to implement and immediately makes your work look more polished.

Why a Tableau Title Page is Worth the Effort

You might wonder if creating a title page is an unnecessary extra step. But think about the experience from your audience's perspective. Dropping them directly into a complex dashboard full of charts and filters can be jarring. A title page acts as a welcome mat, easing them into the data and providing important context.

Here are a few key benefits:

• Professional First Impression: A well-designed title page shows attention to detail and polish. It makes your report look less like an ad-hoc analysis and more like a finished, professional product.
• Essential Context: It's the perfect place to state the report's purpose, the time period it covers, and the primary questions it answers. This ensures everyone is on the same page before they even see a single chart.
• Clear Branding: You can prominently display your company logo, use brand colors, and set a consistent aesthetic from the very beginning. This is especially important when sharing dashboards with clients or external stakeholders.
• Guided User Experience: Instead of overwhelming users, you guide them into the report with a clear call-to-action, like an "Enter Dashboard" button. This simple step improves usability and makes your dashboard feel more like an interactive application.

The Strategy: A Two-Dashboard Approach

The most effective way to create a title page is not by cramming a large title onto your main dashboard. That approach clutters your analysis and wastes valuable screen real estate. Instead, we'll use a cleaner, more modular approach:

1. Dashboard 1: The Title Page. This will be a dedicated dashboard containing only your title, subtitle, logo, and a navigation button.
2. Dashboard 2: The Main Analysis. This is the dashboard you've already built (or are planning to build) with all your worksheets, charts, and filters.

We will then use Tableau’s built-in Navigation objects to simply link the two dashboards together, creating a seamless flow for the end-user.

Step-by-Step: Building Your Tableau Title Page

Let's walk through the process from start to finish. We'll build a simple but professional-looking title page and then connect it to a placeholder content dashboard.

Step 1: Create a New Dashboard for the Title Page

First things first, you need a blank canvas. In your Tableau workbook, click the "New Dashboard" icon at the bottom of the screen.

Let's set it up for success:

• Name the Dashboard: Double-click the tab and rename it something intuitive, like "00 - Title Page." Using a number prefix ensures it stays at the front of your dashboard tabs.
• Set the Size: In the Dashboard pane on the left, under "Size," it’s best practice to use a Fixed Size rather than Automatic. This guarantees your dashboard will look exactly how you designed it on any screen. A common starting point is 1200px by 800px, but you can adjust this to your needs.

Step 2: Design the Title Page Elements

Now for the creative part. We’ll be adding various objects from the Dashboard pane to our canvas. To have more control over positioning, let’s start by adding a floating container.

• Drag a Vertical Layout Container from the Objects pane onto your dashboard. Before you drop it, hold the Shift key to make it a floating container. This allows you to place and resize it anywhere on the canvas, independent of the tiled grid. Resize this container to be the main frame for your title page content.

Add the Main Title

• Drag a Text object from the Objects selection and drop it inside the vertical container you just created. An "Edit Text" dialog box will appear. Here, you can type your main title.
• Example Title: "Quarterly Sales Performance Review"
• Formatting: Make it big, bold, and clear. For example, select the text and format it to Tableau Bold, Size 28, and a dark grey color. Center the text for a clean look.

Add a Subtitle or Description

• Grab another Text object and drag it directly below your main title text object within the same vertical container. This is a great place to provide a bit more context.
• Example Subtitle: "An analysis of global sales trends, regional performance, and top-selling products for Q3 2023. Data last refreshed on [Date]."
• Formatting: Make this text smaller and less prominent than the title. For instance, use Tableau Regular, Size 12, and a medium grey color. Centering it will maintain alignment with the title.

Add some Visual Separation

• To make the sections distinct, you can add a Blank object as a vertical spacer. Drag a Blank from the Objects pane and place it between your subtitle and logo, for example. You can resize it to create more or less space as needed. This simple trick using a Blank is incredibly powerful for adding a sense of structure to layout containers rather than letting Tableau stack right on top of itself.

Step 3: Create the Placeholder "Main Analysis" Page

If you haven't already, create your main dashboard page for purposes of continuing with the tutorial:

• Click the "New Dashboard" button from the bottom tray.
• Rename it as "01 - Main Report" using our naming convention.
• Drag any Viz from the 'Sheets' listed to create a stand-in for a completed dashboard. Make sure to size it the same as your Title Page to ensure a seamless transition. Now we are all ready for the last step.

Step 4: Connect the Two Dashboards with Navigation

Here is where the magic happens. We'll add a button that takes the user from the title page to the actual report.

Create the "Enter" Button

1. Navigate back to your "00 - Title Page" dashboard.
2. Drag a Navigation object from the Objects pane into your vertical layout container, likely at the very bottom.
3. An "Edit Button" dialog box will appear. This is where you configure the navigation action.

Here are the important settings to configure:

• Navigate to: Use the dropdown menu to select your main dashboard (e.g., "01 - Main Report").
• Button Style: You can choose either an Image Button or a Text Button. A Text Button is the simplest.
• Title: If using a Text Button, type the button's label, such as "View Dashboard," "Enter Report," or "Explore Data."
• Font/Border/Background: Style the button to match your dashboard's aesthetic. A simple background color with white text often looks very clean and professional.
• Tooltip (Optional): You can add hover text to the button, such as "Click here to see the detailed performance analysis."

Click "OK." You now have a functional button! In presentation mode or on Tableau Server/Cloud, clicking this button will instantly jump to the analysis dashboard.

Create a "Back" Button

To complete the loop, it’s good practice to add a way back to the title page from your main dashboard. A 'home' icon is a common feature from many websites and mobile apps, and it's something that can be used for our dashboard.

1. Go to your "01 - Main Report" dashboard.
2. Drag a floating Navigation object to a logical spot, like the top-left or top-right corner. Floating it is important because you don’t want to interfere directly with your carefully arranged Vizs.
3. In the "Edit Button" dialogue, set Navigate to: your "00 - Title Page."
4. For the Button Style, a simple image feels more appropriate. Choose and upload a home icon to your images from your shapes/image repo on your own computer so you can select "Return-to-Home.png" from the file manager.

Now, your user can easily navigate back and forth, creating a fluid and intuitive experience.

Pro Tips for a Next-Level Title Page

Once you've mastered the basics, you can add a few extra touches to make your title page even more dynamic and impressive.

• Add Dynamic Text: Instead of manually typing "Q3 2023," you can make your text dynamic. In the text editor, click the "Insert" menu to add fields like Data Update Time, a worksheet that has LastDate, or the name of the User to personalize the title page.
• Improve Aesthetics: Play with the dashboard's aesthetics. Go to Layout on your "00 Title Report," and find the Item Hierarchy. Select the overall container's drop down and navigate down to 'Format Container.' In this side panel, you can choose to apply a new background color to just the container and give the edges a border to add more aesthetic definition. The smallest details in an aesthetic can really pay off and this simple container trick will elevate your title page.
• Standardize Your Views: Add useful information about how users can interact in the dashboard. Sometimes an information icon can appear on hover or click and be shown as a sheet-swap with some instructions like "Hold Ctrl and Left-Click to multi-select items." It's a wonderful way to help your team collaborate by communicating with each other within your Viz.

Final Thoughts

Creating a title page in Tableau moves your work from simply being a collection of charts to a professional, cohesive report. By using a dedicated dashboard with navigation buttons, you create a polished entry point that welcomes your audience, sets proper context, and makes your entire analysis more user-friendly.

We believe building effective, real-time reports shouldn't require you to spend hours learning the complex nuances of traditional BI tools and then even more time building out your report. At Graphed (open in new tab), we’ve made it possible to connect your key data sources - like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce - and generate live dashboards just by describing what you want to see. You can ask for insights with natural language as if you are talking to an analyst and get the answers you need in seconds, not hours.