How to Put Two Sheets in One Container in Tableau

Trying to fit multiple visualizations neatly on a single Tableau dashboard can feel like Tetris with data. You drag a sheet, then another, and suddenly everything is resizing awkwardly, fighting for space. This article will show you how to use containers - Tableau's powerful layout tool - to perfectly position two (or more) sheets together, giving you full control over your dashboard's design and user experience.

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What Are Containers and Why Should You Use Them?

In Tableau, a container is an invisible layout object that lets you group related items together on a dashboard. Imagine it as a box that can hold worksheets, filters, legends, and even more containers. They come in two varieties: Horizontal and Vertical.

Why bother adding this extra step? Using containers gives you several huge advantages over just tiling sheets onto your dashboard:

• Better Organization & Control: Containers enforce a structured layout. Items in a horizontal container will always stay side-by-side, items in a vertical container will always be stacked. This stops worksheets from randomly resizing and shifting when other objects are added or removed.
• Space-Saving Designs: You can create compact, professional layouts that make the most of your screen real estate. This is perfect for dashboards that need to display a lot of information without feeling cluttered.
• Interactive Experiences: Containers are the secret behind advanced Tableau features like sheet swapping, where a user can select different charts to view within the same space. They also enable collapsible menus or navigation bars.
• Consistent Sizing and Distribution: You can evenly distribute the space inside a container among all the sheets it holds with a single click, keeping your dashboard perfectly aligned.

Convinced? Let's walk through how to do it.

The Basics: Combining Two Sheets in One Container

Let's start with the most common scenario: placing two sheets next to each other within a single container. For this example, imagine we have two worksheets ready: one is a bar chart showing Sales by Category (Sales Chart), and the other is a map showing Sales by State (Sales Map).

Step 1: Create a New Dashboard

First, open your Tableau workbook. At the bottom of the screen, click the "New Dashboard" icon (it looks like a grid).

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Step 2: Add a Container to the Dashboard

Look at the Dashboard pane on the left side of your screen. Under the "Objects" section, you'll see options for Horizontal and Vertical containers. Click and drag a Horizontal container onto the blank dashboard canvas. When you let go, it will fill the entire space. It will be invisible for now, typically outlined by a thin blue line when selected.

Step 3: Add Your First Sheet to the Container

Now, look at the Sheets list at the top of the Dashboard pane. Find your first sheet, maybe the Sales Chart. Click and drag it directly into the horizontal container you just placed on the canvas. The canvas should turn a shaded gray, showing you that the sheet is about to be placed inside the container. Release the mouse button to drop the sheet in.

Step 4: Add Your Second Sheet to the Same Container

Here’s the important part. Grab your second sheet, the Sales Map. Drag it over to the container that now holds your first sheet. As you move it to the right or left of the existing sheet, you will again see a grey shaded area appear. This tells you exactly where the second sheet will be placed. In a horizontal container, this will be to the left or right of the first sheet. Drop it into place.

That's it! Both sheets are now living inside the same horizontal container. You'll notice that you can drag the border between them to resize, but they will never "unstack" or move out of their side-by-side arrangement.

What about a Vertical Container?

The process is identical for a vertical container. Just drag a Vertical container object onto the canvas in Step 2. When you add your second sheet, the grey shaded area will appear at the top or bottom of the first sheet, allowing you to stack them vertically.

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Advanced Technique: Swapping Sheets with a Parameter

Placing two sheets side-by-side is great, but the real power of containers comes from creating dynamic experiences. Let’s say you don't have enough space for both a map and a bar chart, but you want to give the user a way to choose which one they see. This technique, called "sheet swapping," uses a parameter to show or hide sheets within the same container, effectively using one space for multiple views.

Here’s how you can set this up.

Step 1: Create a Parameter

A parameter is a dynamic value that your user can control. In the Data pane (the far left column), right-click and select "Create Parameter..."

Configure it as follows:

• Name: View Selector
• Data type: String
• Allowable values: List

In the "List of values" box at the bottom, add the names of your views. Let's add two:

• Sales by Map
• Sales by Chart

Click OK. You'll now see your [View Selector] parameter at the bottom of the Data pane.

Step 2: Create a Calculated Field to Link to the Parameter

Next, we need a calculated field that will act as a filter based on the parameter's selection.

Right-click in the Data pane again and select "Create Calculated Field..."

• Name: Selected View Filter
• Formula: Just drag your [View Selector] parameter into the calculation window. That’s it! The formula is just the parameter itself.

[View Selector]

Click OK.

Step 3: Apply the Filter to Each Sheet

Now, we tell each sheet when it should appear. Go to your Sales Map worksheet.

1. Drag the [Selected View Filter] calculated field onto the Filters shelf.
2. A dialog box will pop up. Go to the Custom value list tab.
3. Type Sales by Map into the text box and click the little "+" icon to add it to the list.
4. Click OK. The filter box for [Selected View Filter] will appear, showing your custom list. Make sure Sales by Map is checked.
5. Click OK again.

Now, repeat this process for your Sales Chart worksheet, but this time, in the custom value list step, add Sales by Chart as the value and ensure it's checked.

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Step 4: Assemble on the Dashboard

Go back to your dashboard (create a new one if needed).

1. Drag a Vertical container onto the canvas.
2. Drag your Sales Map sheet into the container.
3. Drag your Sales Chart sheet into the same container, dropping it below the map.
4. Notice that only one sheet will seem to have data at a time. This is what we want! Right-click on the title of each worksheet within the dashboard and choose "Hide Title". This step is important, as titles don't collapse and will leave a nasty blank space behind.
5. Finally, right-click your View Selector parameter in the dashboard pane and choose "Show Parameter".

Now, you should have a single selector on the screen. When you choose "Sales by Map" from the dropdown, the map appears, and the bar chart disappears. When you choose "Sales by Chart", the bar chart appears, and the map takes its place! You've successfully swapped two sheets in one spot.

Pro-Tips for Working With Tableau Containers

• Double-Click to Select a Container: It can be tricky to select a container once it's filled with items. Try double-clicking the drag handle (the little gray tab at the top) of any object within the container. This will select the container itself.
• Use the Layout Pane: Select a container, then go to the "Layout" pane on the left. Here, you can add a visible border or a background color to your container. This is a game-changer when you're first learning, as it lets you see where your containers begin and end.
• Distribute Evenly: Once you've selected a container with multiple items, you can click the dropdown arrow on it and select "Distribute Contents Evenly." Tableau will handle the resizing to give each item the same amount of space.
• Nest Containers: You can place containers inside other containers. For example, you could have a main vertical container that holds a filter section and a horizontal container, which in turn holds your two visualizations.

Final Thoughts

Mastering containers takes your Tableau dashboard skills from basic to advanced. By organizing your visualizations into horizontal or vertical containers, you establish a logical, robust structure that makes dashboards easier to build, easier to resize, and far more dynamic for your end-users. The sheet swapping technique, in particular, unlocks a ton of design possibilities for delivering valuable insights in a limited space.

Creating these kinds of advanced layouts and interactive reports in most BI tools often requires a steep learning curve and hours of manual setup. At Graphed, we’ve simplified the entire process. Rather than wrestling with containers and calculated fields, you can just describe the dashboard you want in plain English. For example, you could ask, "Show me a dashboard of a sales map and a bar chart of sales by category," and we generate the dashboard for you instantly, with your live data connected, taking you from raw data to a finished dashboard in seconds, not hours.