Ray Givler’s Post

❓ Do you use "Show selections" when you publish to Tableau Server?   🤔 What are your use cases?   I don't use it, but I imagine there are situations in which it is beneficial or it would be there.   So please tell me. 🗣   I am experiencing FOMO. 😱   As an aside, I had to look up that acronym (FOMO) the first FIVE times I saw it. It just would not stick.   FOMO doesn't sound like fear or regret.   It sounds like a brand of pillow brand. 🛌   Anyhow, why "Show selections"?   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 Should you use Boolean expressions as formulas in Tableau calculated fields rather than IF/THENs producing 'Y' and 'N'?   ☝️ Answer: Usually, yes.   ✔️ And yes, I was going for irony in a Y/N Boolean question…   There is always a use case for anything you can do in Tableau, but you can make your calculations a little more compact by making them Boolean and using a simple conditional statement rather than assigning a text value based on that condition.   Go one step further and name that Boolean as the question that it answers and end the name with a ?   You can put that Boolean on Filters, Color, Shape, wherever, and be just as effective as a Y/N column.   Yes, you may want to display a Y/N - if so, you can alias the True and False values to Y and N!   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 In Tableau, have you ever had a field that sometimes holds a number…   and sometimes holds a name?   ☝️ In these cases, it may be useful to check to see if you have a number, and then take the appropriate action.   I had one solution for this, but I like Carl Slifer's better. It's on the Tableau community:   Is_Number? IIF(ISNULL(INT([Field])),'No','Yes')   In my case, I wanted to join on one field for numbers and another for names.   That data was an example of Mixed Dimensions (aka Overloaded/Conflated Columns), which are not "Tidy Data".   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔  Do you still have tooltips for some your Tableau reference lines that say "max max profit" and stuff like that? ❌ You don't have to accept the defaults.   👍 Tableau allows you to customize reference line tooltips.   📝 This is an important feature because users forget the meaning of reference lines.   😮 Heck, I sometimes forget the meaning of reference lines *that I created.*   🙏 It's great to be able to spell it out directly in a tool tip.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

❓ Do you use view data frequently?   There are definitely features in Tableau that I have underutilized traditionally.   View Data was one of them.   I wasted time going to the data source tab or the source database when I could have viewed the data from, well, the "View Data" button.   The Summary Card is a function that I continue to tend to completely forget.   I would list others, but to be honest, I'm not sure what they are   ... because I'm forgetting them. 🤣🤣🤣   ❓ How about you? Is there a useful function in Tableau that you tend to forget?   Please tell me about it in the comments.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 Did you know that in Tableau you can put a Dimension in Size?   ⌛ For a long time, I never thought of that.   💭 But one day, I was testing an idea and I thought, "Man, it would be great if I didn't need to make another variable for a measure to put on size."   💣 So I dragged the dimension that was on color to size as well, and BAM! It worked.   Wait, it gets even better! You can drag the Dimension values into the order you want (wouldn't make much sense otherwise, would it?)   There are some use cases out there for this!   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 Have you ever seen an "*" in a Tableau Quick Filter?   🛸 I've only seen this on rare occasions in my years of using Tableau.   Last time, I forgot what the solution was.   Luckily, re-discovered it fairly quickly.   Somehow, I had placed ATTR(Dimension) in the Filters shelf rather than the Dimension itself.   That's all it was.   I probably Ctrl-dragged it there from a Mark label.   Regardless, it's a easy to miss and overlook the cause.   🔧 If you have this somewhere, go fix it!   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 Did you know that when you add new worksheets to a dashboard, they are automatically included in existing dashboard actions?   ⚠️This can present some challenges.   🔘 I'd prefer it to be conditional - meaning give me a switch to control whether this is how my instance of Tableau works.   Even if the Action applies only to a single sheet out of a dozen, Tableau assigns the new sheet to that Action, which is probably functionality that you don't want.   So stay alert when adding sheets!   Or don't add actions until all sheets are in place…   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🤔 Are you stuck in a rut with your color palettes for your creative efforts?   🎨 Do you want to try something new?   Well, there is plenty out there on Tableau Public.   🔗 Links in comments an hour after post. Feel free to add your own.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

🙃 This is a weird Tableau use case…   ✔️ but it happened.   I wanted to move a single Dimension value from the Other group (that was generated when I checked "Include 'Other' ") to its own group.   The image with Superstore data is analogous to my real world problem.   I went down a rabbit hole of thinking about this the wrong way.   If you right-click, and choose Add to…, well, the Group doesn't exist yet and you're sunk.   Don't do what I eventually came up with: ❌ Ungroup all Other items. ❌ Make the single item a Group. ❌ Re-check Include Other.   Instead, just select your single item from Other and click Group.   You can re-group from existing groups like that - occasionally useful.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶♀️🚶♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay