Learning

Tableau Starter Kits

Practice authoring, interacting, publishing, and administering Tableau.

Author a Viz

Follow the activities below and learn how to create visualizations and ask questions of your data using Tableau Desktop. You’ll learn how to use software, educate yourself on authoring best practices, and be inspired by the great work of others. Enjoy!

Section 1: Orient Yourself
1.1 Getting Started
1.2 Create an account on Tableau.com
1.3 Join the Tableau Newbie Group in the community
1.4 Explore the Tableau Public Viz of the Day Gallery
1.5 Explore Tableau Use Cases with Customer Stories
1.6 Download Tableau Desktop
1.7 The Tableau Workspace
1.8 Follow the Get Started Tutorial
Section 2: Visual Analytics
2.1 Hans Rosling's TED Talk
2.2 Get Inspired with an Iron Viz Champion Dashboard
2.3 Visual Best Practices
2.4 Visual Analytics Best Practices
2.5 Which Chart or Graph is Right for You
2.6 Why the Time-Tested Science of Data Visualization Is So Powerful
Section 3: Work with Data
3.1 Open Tableau and Connect to Data
3.2 Getting Started with Data
3.3 Try a Makeover Monday
3.4 Preparing Excel Files for Analysis
3.5 Managing Metadata
3.6 Integrate your Data
3.7 How to Dive Deeper into Your Survey Data
3.8 Find a fun data set from Wikipedia
Section 4: Building Vizzes
4.1 The Basics
4.2 Understanding Pill Types
4.3 Drill Down and Hierarchies
4.4 Sorting
4.5 Grouping
4.6 Interactive Filters
4.7 Ask a question at a Live Online Training
4.8 Tooltips
4.9 Combination Charts
4.10 Filtering
4.11 Measure Names and Measure Values Explained
4.12 Maps in Tableau
4.13 Bullet Graphs
4.14 Create Sets for Top N and Others
4.15 Visualizing Time: Beyond the Line Chart
4.16 If You Must Use Text Tables Follow These 5 Design Tips
4.17 Aggregation, Granularity, and Ratio Calculations
4.18 Creating Filled Maps with Pie Charts
4.19 Explore the Community Workbook Library
Section 5: Dashboards
5.1 Building a Dashboard
5.2 Best Practices for Effective Dashboards
5.3 Actions
5.4 Dashboard Interactivity Using Actions
5.5 Adding a Logo to a Dashboard
5.6 How to Use Custom Shapes as Filters on Your Dashboard
5.7 Dashboards that Persuade, Inform, and Engage
5.8 6 Tips to Make Your Dashboards More Performant
Section 6: Calculations
6.1 Getting Started with Calculations
6.2 A Handy Guide to Choosing the Right Calculation for Your Question
6.3 Explore the Calculation Reference Library
6.4 Using a Parameter to Change Fields
6.5 Modifying Table Calculations
6.6 Resolving Aggregation Calculation Error
6.7 Top 15 LOD Expressions
Section 7: Get Hands On
7.1 Attend a Tableau User Group
7.2 Attend a Tableau Classroom Training
7.3 Attend a Tableau Webinar
7.4 Try a Build it Yourself exercise
7.5 Are You as Tableau-Smart as a Tableau Consultant?
Section 8: Go Deeper
8.1 Create Views for Market Basket Analysis
8.2 How to Visualize Sentiment and Inclination
8.3 When to Blend and When to Join
8.4 Designing Great Visualizations
8.5 8 Great Books about Data Visualisation
8.6 5 Lesser-Known Books on Data Visualization
8.7 Applying Graphic Design Principles to Create Killer Dashboards
8.8 LODs of Fun with Jedi Filters