How to Make a Chart in Tableau

Creating your first chart in Tableau can feel like a big step, but its drag-and-drop interface is more intuitive than you might think. This guide will walk you through the fundamental steps to connect your data, build your first visualization, and customize it to start uncovering insights. We'll cover everything from the basic workspace layout to creating common chart types like bar charts, line charts, and more.

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Understanding the Tableau Workspace

Before you build anything, it helps to know your way around. When you open a Tableau workbook and connect to your data, you’ll see the main workspace. Think of it as your canvas for data analysis.

The Data Pane

On the left-hand side, you’ll find the Data Pane. This is where all the fields from your connected data source are listed. Tableau automatically categorizes them into two key types:

• Dimensions: These are qualitative, categorical fields like text or dates. Think of them as the ways you might want to slice and dice your data. Examples include Customer Name, Product Category, or Order Date.
• Measures: These are quantitative, numerical fields that you can perform calculations on. They are the numbers you want to analyze. Examples include Sales, Profit, or Quantity.

Shelves and Cards

At the top of the workspace are the Columns and Rows shelves. This is where you will drag your dimensions and measures to structure your visualization. What you place on Columns will determine the x-axis, and what you place on Rows will determine the y-axis.

The Marks Card is a powerful area just below the shelves that controls the visual properties of your chart — the marks on your canvas. You can drag fields here to control things like:

• Color: Change the color of your marks based on a field's value.
• Size: Adjust the size of marks based on a measure.
• Label: Display data values directly on the chart.
• Detail: Break down the visualization to a deeper level of granularity without adding color or size.
• Tooltip: Customize the information that appears when you hover over a mark.

The Canvas

This is the large, central area where your chart will appear. As you drag fields to the shelves and cards, you'll see your visualization build out in real time on the canvas.

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The "Show Me" Panel

Located on the top right, the "Show Me" panel is a handy guide. It suggests different chart types based on the fields you've already selected. If you're unsure how to start, you can select your fields first (by holding Ctrl/Cmd and clicking on them in the Data Pane) and then click a chart type in "Show Me" to see what Tableau recommends.

Step 1: Connect to Your Data Source

You can't visualize what you don't have. The very first step in Tableau is always to connect to your data. Tableau supports a wide range of connectors, from simple spreadsheets to complex data warehouses.

For this tutorial, let's assume you're connecting to a basic Excel file, like the Sample - Superstore dataset that comes with Tableau.

1. Open Tableau Desktop. You'll land on the start page.
2. Under the "Connect" heading on the left, you'll see a list of common file types and servers. Click on "Microsoft Excel".
3. A file browser window will appear. Navigate to your Excel file, select it, and click "Open".
4. You're now on the Data Source page. You’ll see the sheets available in your Excel file on the left. Drag the sheet you want to analyze (e.g., "Orders") onto the canvas area that says, "Drag tables here."
5. Tableau will display a preview of your data in a table at the bottom. You can examine your columns and data types here before proceeding.
6. Once you're satisfied, click on the first worksheet tab at the bottom of the screen (e.g., "Sheet 1") to go to the main workspace.

That's it! Your data is now connected and ready for you to start building charts.

Step 2: Build Your First Chart (A Simple Bar Chart)

Bar charts are one of the most common and effective ways to compare values across different categories. Let's create one to show Sales by Product Category.

The core of building in Tableau is a simple drag-and-drop action. Your primary question should be: "What do I want to measure, and how do I want to slice it?"

• What to measure? Sales (our Measure).
• How to slice it? By Product Category (our Dimension).

Here’s how to build it:

Method 1: Drag and Drop

1. In the Data Pane on the left, find the Category field under Dimensions. Click and drag it onto the Columns shelf. You’ll see the column headers appear on your canvas for each category (Furniture, Office Supplies, Technology).
2. Next, find the Sales field under Measures. Click and drag it onto the Rows shelf.

Instantly, Tableau generates a vertical bar chart. It automatically aggregates the Sales values for each Category and displays them as bars. Each bar's height represents the total sales for that category. It’s that simple.

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Method 2: Using the "Show Me" Panel

The "Show Me" panel can be a great shortcut, especially for beginners.

1. In the Data Pane, click on Category to select it.
2. Hold the Ctrl key (or Cmd key on a Mac) and click on Sales. Now both fields are selected.
3. Look at the "Show Me" panel in the top-right. Tableau highlights several recommended chart types. Click on the horizontal or vertical bar chart icon.

Tableau will automatically place the fields on the correct shelves and build the chart for you.

Step 3: Customize and Enhance Your Chart

You have a basic chart, but now it’s time to make it more informative and visually appealing. The Marks Card is where the magic happens.

Add Color to Breakdown Data

What if you want to see how different customer segments contribute to sales within each category? You can use color to add another dimension to your analysis.

• Drag the Segment dimension from the Data Pane completely onto the Color tile in the Marks Card.

Your bars will now be segmented into different colors, with each color representing a customer segment (Consumer, Corporate, Home Office). A color legend appears on the right, helping you interpret the chart.

Add Labels for Precise Values

Hovering over a bar segment shows you the exact sales number in the tooltip, but sometimes you want those numbers to be visible at a glance.

• Drag the Sales measure onto the Label tile in the Marks Card.

The total sales figure will now appear on top of each corresponding bar or segment, making your chart much easier to read without interaction.

Filter Your View

Maybe you only care about sales for a specific region or time frame. Filters allow you to narrow down the data shown in your view.

• Drag a dimension, like Region, onto the Filters card.
• A dialog box will appear asking you which regions you want to include. Check the box for "South".

Your chart will now update to show only the sales data for the South region. This is incredibly useful for drilling down into specific parts of your data.

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Exploring Other Common Chart Types

How to Create a Line Chart in Tableau to Track Trends Over Time

• To track Sales over time, you’ll need a date field. Drag the Order Date dimension onto the Columns shelf.
• Tableau will automatically aggregate the dates at the year level, which may not be what you want. You can right-click the pill in the Columns shelf and change it from YEAR(Order Date) to month, quarter, or exact date to change the granularity.
• Drag the Sales measure onto the Rows shelf.

Tableau automatically creates a line chart when a time-series dimension is placed on the Columns shelf.

How to Make a Scatter Plot in Tableau

• Drag one measure, such as Sales, to the Columns shelf.
• Drag another measure, like Profit, onto the Rows shelf.
• Drag a dimension like Product Category onto the Detail tile in the Marks Card to plot individual points for each category.

How to Make a Pie Chart in Tableau

Pie charts aren't the best choice for comparison, but they can be useful for showing parts of a whole, for example, market share among product categories.

• Use the "Show Me" panel to facilitate this task.
• Select a dimension, like Category, and a measure, like Sales, by Ctrl-clicking (Cmd-clicking on Mac).
• Then click the pie chart icon in the "Show Me" panel.

Tableau automatically places fields on the appropriate shelves and settings, angles the segments by the value, and assigns colors to them. To add labels, drag the measure to the Label card.

Final Thoughts

Creating charts in Tableau is not only easy but also a fundamental skill for anyone looking to unlock insights from data. By connecting your data source, understanding how dimensions and measures work, and dragging fields to the appropriate shelves, you can create powerful visualizations in just a few steps. With some customization, you can turn basic charts into compelling stories that highlight your business's key data.

While Tableau is a powerful tool, we understand that it can have a steep learning curve. We created Graphed to help in this regard by allowing you to create live charts and dashboards without writing a single line of code, enabling you to focus on analyzing your data rather than spending time opening and learning many new tools.