Tableau

What is the purpose of the Filters Shelf in Tableau?

To restrict data displayed in a visualization by selecting specific values or ranges across categorical, continuous, or date fields.

What are the four main tabs available when applying filters to categorical variables?

General, Wildcard, Condition, Top.

What does the General tab do in categorical filters?

Allows selection from a list of values, with options to include or exclude categories manually.

What is the purpose of the Wildcard tab in categorical filters?

Filters string values using patterns like "contains", "starts with", "ends with", or "exactly matches".

How does the Condition tab work in categorical filters?

Allows filtering based on conditions using aggregated measures, e.g., showing departments with sales > $1000.

What does the Top tab do in categorical filters?

Displays the top or bottom N items based on a selected measure, like top 5 products by sales.

What is 'Add to Context' in Tableau filtering?

Makes a filter a context filter, so subsequent filters are computed only within its results.

What are the two major types of filters for continuous variables?

All values (row-level filters) and Aggregation (filters based on sum, avg, etc.).

What are common aggregation options for continuous filters?

Sum, Average, Median, Count, Count Distinct, Min, Max, Std. Dev., Variance.

What does the "All Values - Special" option allow?

Filters based on Null values, Non-null values, or All data.

Name four key filter options for date variables in Tableau.

Relative Date, Range of Dates, Date Part, Individual Dates.

What does the Relative Date filter do?

Filters data based on a moving or fixed window, e.g., last 6 months from today or a fixed date.

How can you animate visualizations using Pages Shelf?

By placing a field (like a date) on the Pages shelf, Tableau generates one view per value with playback controls.

What is a Tableau Dashboard?

A collection of visualizations and interactive objects designed to tell a data story or enable analysis.

What objects can be added to a dashboard in Tableau?

Sheets, filters, parameters, images, text boxes, page controls, legends, highlighters.

What’s the difference between a Story and a Dashboard in Tableau?

A story is a sequence of visualizations (story points) meant to communicate a narrative, while a dashboard shows multiple views at once.

What is the "Show Me" panel in Tableau used for?

To create different types of visualizations based on selected data fields.

What is a Text Table in Tableau?

A table (crosstab) displaying data in a spreadsheet format using rows and columns.

What is a Heat Map?

A color-coded grid showing relative value intensity, ideal for comparing across categories.

What is a Tree Map?

A nested rectangle chart where size represents a continuous variable, used for hierarchical data.

What does a Symbol Map show?

Quantitative data overlaid on geographic locations using circles.

What is a Stacked Bar Chart useful for?

Comparing parts of a whole across categories, using segmented bars.

What is the difference between Line and Area Charts in Tableau?

Both show trends over time, but area charts fill the space below the line to emphasize volume.

What does a Box-and-Whisker Plot show?

The distribution of data with 5-number summary: min, Q1, median, Q3, max, plus outliers.

What is a Gantt Chart used for?

Project management visualization showing task duration and scheduling milestones.