Happy Election Day, everyone. I have not blogged in over four months, but I wanted to post (repost) something Vanessa Otero from Ad Fontes Media had posted several years ago and recently reposted. She has improved the graphic, and I think today, of all days, this is something to keep stored in the back of your mind as you ..read more

Here are 5 more hidden functions for you to use. CURRENT_TIME() – Returns the current time, without the date part. Example: CURRENT_TIME() = 11:22:53 AM ISNOTDISTINCT() – Checks if two expressions are not distinct from each other. Examples: ISNOTDISTINCT(NULL, “plane”) = False ISNOTDISTINCT(13, 13) = True ISNOTDISTINCT(“foo”, “bar”) = False LIKE() – Checks if a string matches a certain pattern. Example: LIKE(“This workbook is great!”, “%workbook%gr_a%”) = True LIKE(“Universe”, “U_i%”) = True LIKE(“W-ORDER_01”, “W-ORDER\_%”) = True TRUNC() – Chops off the deci ..read more

Here is a little trick from my friend, Prasann Prem (He actually posted this on LinkedIn yesterday). Did you know there are Hidden Functions in Tableau that can make your life easier? Who knew!  Here are 5 hidden functions for you to use (Yes, there are more that I will add as future Tableau Tips and Tricks). GREATEST() – Finds the value of the biggest value from multiple expressions—no more hassle of using nested MAX statements to get the result. COALESCE() – Finds the first non-null expression from multiple expressions. Example: COALESCE(NULL, NULL, “T-Shirt”, “Anime ..read more

Vince Baumel on Feb 4, 2022: Hey #datafam, want to see another cool #TinyTableauTip? Here’s a single calc solution for converting a numeric string field (that may or may not end in K, M, or B) into a usable quantity! Pretty cool, right? Credit: Vince Baumel on Feb 4, 2022 (via The Flerlage Twins Blog ..read more

Lindsey Poulter (@datavizlinds) used a great technique in #IronViz 2019 that a lot of people saw for the first time. Did you know that you can ALSO drag a selected portion of a #Tableau calc WITHIN the same calc to quickly copy/paste without using any keyboard shortcuts? Check it out! Credit: Vince Baumel on Nov 22, 2019 (via The Flerlage Twins Blog ..read more

Options for navigating, viewing, and organizing sheets You can navigate and organize sheets in a workbook using the sheet tabs, the filmstrips, or the sheet sorter. There are three ways to navigate and view the sheets in a workbook: Tabs at the bottom of the workbook In the filmstrip view In the sheet sorter view The tabs are useful when you want to quickly navigate between a small number of sheets. If your workbook has a large number of sheets, you can use the sheet sorter to easily navigate them all. You can also drag and drop to do the following: Reorder the sheets Create new sheets Dupl ..read more

Here is a little trick most Tableau users do not know. Whenever you alias a measure in Tableau, those aliases are tracked in the Measure Names field in the Data Pane. Better yet, you can use the Data Pane to alter default properties for Measures like color and sort order. Another secret: You can manage the aliases of ad-hoc calculations there as well. Credit: Eric Parker (and Steve Adams ..read more

Use a Tableau parameter to show and hide filters, No “Blank” cover-up. 1. Create a “spacer” sheet that expands when parameter = “show”. 2. Make the container x position equal to -150. This approach allows us to reuse the parameter rather than the native “show and hide” button. This trick can now be done using Dynamic Zone Visibility (DZV), but it is nice to have it in your back pocket. Kudos to Viral Patel, who was inspired by @VizGenie‘s off-canvas tip. Credit: Candice Che ..read more

Searching for Fields. If you want to search for a field, and don’t want to drag your mouse all the way to the upper left search field, you can hold down the Ctrl key (or command on a Mac) and hit ‘f’ to go directly to the search bar no matter where your cursor is on the screen. This one comes from Paul Wachtler. I highly encourage you to follow him on LinkedIn and X. I have included the link to his LinkedIn profile below. Credit: Paul Wachtler ..read more

This one is from the “It was right under my nose all along!” file. Did you know you can filter to view only certain kinds of fields in the Data Pane of #Tableau? Here are the special searches you can run. ·          D: Dimensions ·          M: Measures ·          C: Calculations ·          F: Fields with Comments You can click on the funnel at the end of the Search box to get a drop ..read more