How to Use Tableau
Learning Tableau opens up a world of powerful data visualization, but staring at that blank canvas for the first time can feel overwhelming. You don’t need to be a data scientist to master the basics and start building insightful dashboards. This guide will walk you through the essential concepts, from connecting your data to creating your first interactive dashboard, step by step.
What is Tableau?
Tableau is a leading data visualization tool that helps people see and understand their data. Think of it as a bridge between your raw, boring spreadsheets and clear, beautiful, and interactive charts. Instead of just looking at endless rows and columns, you can create bar charts, line graphs, maps, and entire dashboards that make it easy to spot trends, identify outliers, and get answers from your information. It’s popular with everyone from individual marketers to large enterprise analytics teams because it’s incredibly powerful yet still accessible for non-technical users.
Understanding the Tableau Workspace
The first step to confidently using Tableau is getting familiar with its interface. When you first open the application, it might look complex, but it's organized into a few key areas that you'll quickly get used to navigating.
The Start Page
When you launch Tableau Desktop, the Start Page is the first thing you'll see. It has three main sections:
Connect: This is a list of data sources you can connect to. You can connect to a wide variety of sources, from simple files like Microsoft Excel and CSVs to powerful databases like SQL Server, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.
Open: This section displays your recently opened workbooks so you can quickly jump back into projects.
Discover: Here you can find training resources, tutorials, and visualization inspiration from the Tableau community, which are excellent for learning new techniques.
The Data Source Page
Once you connect to a data source, you'll be taken to the Data Source page. This is where you prepare your data for analysis. You can see all the tables and sheets from your source on the left. You can drag and drop tables into the canvas area to create relationships (called joins) between different datasets. This is where you’d combine sales data with customer information, for example. You can also rename fields, change data types, and get a quick preview of your data before you start building visuals.
The Worksheet Page (the main canvas)
The worksheet is where the magic happens - it’s the editor where you build individual charts and graphs (known as "vizzes" in Tableau). It’s composed of several essential components:
Dimensions and Measures (The Data Pane)
On the left side of the worksheet, you'll see the Data pane. Tableau automatically categorizes your data fields into two groups:
Dimensions: These are qualitative, categorical data. Think of names, dates, geographic locations, or product categories. They are typically used to "slice" your data. In Tableau, Dimensions are usually color-coded blue.
Measures: These are quantitative, numerical data - the things you can measure, aggregate, or calculate. Think of sales figures, profit, quantities, or scores. In Tableau, Measures are usually color-coded green.
Understanding the difference between Dimensions (blue pills) and Measures (green pills) is one of the most fundamental concepts in Tableau.
Shelves (Columns, Rows, and more)
At the top of the worksheet, you'll find the Columns and Rows shelves. You build your visualization by dragging and dropping fields (pills) from the Data pane onto these shelves. For example, dragging a Dimension to the Columns shelf and a Measure to the Rows shelf will create a basic bar chart.
The Marks Card
The Marks card is a powerful menu that gives you control over the visual details of your chart. It allows you to customize how your data points (or "marks") appear. You can drag fields to change:
Color: Add a dimension to color your marks differently based on category (e.g., color-coding bars by region).
Size: Adjust the size of marks based on a measure (e.g., making bubbles on a map larger for cities with higher sales).
Label: Display the actual data values on top of your marks (e.g., showing the profit number above each bar).
Detail: Add a dimension to break the visualization down to a finer level without changing the overall structure.
Tooltip: Customize the information that appears when you hover over a data point.
The Filters Shelf
Located just above the Marks card, the Filters shelf lets you include or exclude data from your view. For instance, you could drag a date field here to only show data for the last quarter or drag a region field to let users select which part of the country to view.
Your First Tableau Visualization: A Step-by-Step Guide
Let's walk through building a simple bar chart to see these concepts in action. For this example, imagine you have a simple spreadsheet with sales data that includes columns for Product Category, Region, and Sales.
Step 1: Connecting to Your Data
First, open Tableau and on the Start page, under the "Connect" section, click on "Microsoft Excel." Navigate to your saved sales data spreadsheet and open it. Tableau will then take you to the Data Source page, where you'll see your sheet available. If your data is clean, you can click on the "Sheet 1" tab at the bottom to go straight to the worksheet.
Step 2: Building the View
In the worksheet, look at the Data pane on the left. You should see Product Category and Region listed under Dimensions, and Sales under Measures.
To create a chart showing sales by category, simply:
Drag the Product Category dimension onto the Columns shelf.
Drag the Sales measure onto the Rows shelf.
That’s it! Tableau will instantly generate a vertical bar chart with each bar representing a product category, and the height of the bar corresponding to its total sales.
Step 3: Choosing a Chart Type
Notice the "Show Me" panel on the top right. This feature suggests different chart types based on the data you've placed on your shelves. Right now, it has highlighted the bar chart. You could click on other options like a tree map or pie chart to see your data presented differently, but we'll stick with the bar chart for now.
Step 4: Adding Color and Detail
Now, let’s add more detail. What if you want to see how sales in each category break down by region?
Simple: drag the Region dimension from the Data pane and drop it directly onto the Color tile in the Marks Card. Your bars will now become segmented, with different colors representing different regions. You'll also see a color legend on the right.
Step 5: Filtering Your Data
Let's say you want to give the user the ability to view only certain regions. Drag the Region dimension (again) to the Filters shelf. A dialog box will appear. Select all the regions for now and click OK. Now, right-click the "Region" pill on the Filters shelf and select "Show Filter." A control will appear on the right side of your view, allowing you or anyone viewing your report to check or uncheck regions to focus on specific areas.
Building Your First Tableau Dashboard
Individual worksheets are great, but the real power of Tableau comes alive in dashboards, which let you combine multiple views into one cohesive, interactive screen.
What is a Dashboard?
A dashboard is a collection of worksheets and other elements (like text, images, or web pages) displayed in a single view. This allows you to monitor different KPIs at a glance and see how they relate to each other.
Creating a New Dashboard
At the bottom of your Tableau workbook, next to the "Sheet 1" tab, there's a small icon with four squares. Click this "New Dashboard" icon.
This will open a blank dashboard canvas. On the left, instead of the Data pane, you'll see a list of the worksheets you've built.
Adding Worksheets to the Canvas
Simply drag your completed worksheet (the bar chart we just made) from the Sheets list on the left and drop it onto the canvas. It will snap into place. You can resize it, position it, and add other sheets alongside it. For example, if you also made a map view showing sales by state, you could drag that onto the canvas as well.
Making It Interactive
This is where Tableau really shines. Let's make your dashboard interactive, so clicking on one chart filters another. Imagine you have our bar chart and a map on the same dashboard.
Select the bar chart worksheet within the dashboard.
Look for a small funnel icon in the top-right corner of the selected worksheet container. Click it. The icon title is "Use as Filter."
Now, click on a specific region segment within your bar chart (like Technology sales in the West region). The map will automatically update and zoom in to only show you the states in the West region. This simple action allows users to explore the data themselves, asking and answering questions on the fly - a key element of effective business intelligence.
Final Thoughts
This guide covers the core concepts you need to get up and running with Tableau, taking you from a blank slate to an interactive data dashboard. With these fundamentals, you can start exploring your data, experimenting with different chart types, and uncovering valuable insights previously hidden in spreadsheets.
While mastering traditional BI tools like Tableau is a powerful skill, the reality is that sometimes you need answers faster than its learning curve allows. We built Graphed because we believe anyone should be able to get business insights without spending all day connecting data sources and manually building reports. Instead of grappling with shelves, marks, and filters, you can simply ask in plain English, "Show me product sales by category, broken down by region," and get a live, interactive dashboard created for you in seconds. It connects to all your platforms automatically, so you can spend less time wrangling data and more time acting on it.