Tableau I Exercises

Davis Library Research Hub • Lorin Bruckner

Exercise 1: Import Data

1. Click on Connect > To a File > Text File

2. Open 2018_WBIndicators.csv
3. The Data Source tab now displays the contents of your spreadsheet.
4. Clicking on the icon over a column allows you to change the data format.
5. Clicking the down arrow over a column gives you more options.
6. Click on the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom.

Tableau Interface

Exercise 2: Create a Bar Chart

1. Drag Country Name from the Data pane to the Columns shelf.
2. Drag Individuals using the Internet from the Data pane to the Rows shelf. A bar chart appears.
3. Roll over one of the bars. Do the numbers make sense? Something is off. Tableau is ADDING up the numbers for
all of the different years in the dataset.
4. Drag Year from the Data pane to the Filters box.
5. Click on Years and select Next. Check the box next to 2008 and click on OK.
 6. Roll over a bar again. The numbers now represent only the percentage for 2018.
7. Right click on the Years pill in the Filters box and select Show Filter.
8. Look at the interactive filter to the right of your visualization. Check and uncheck the years you want to look at.
9. Click on the downward arrow at the top right of the interactive filter and select Single Value Dropdown from
the menu. This makes it easier to select one year at a time.

10. The bar chart is difficult to read. Click the Swap Rows and Columns icon to make the bar chart horizontal.
11. Let’s make it easier to see the countries with the highest and lowest internet use. Click the Sort Descending
icon.
12. Now let’s add some more information to the visualization. Drag Region from the Dimensions pane to the Color
box in the Marks pane. A legend appears on the right.
13. Click on the Color box in the Marks pane.
14. Click Edit Colors.
15. Under Select Color Palette, use the dropdown menu to find a palette that you like.
16. Click on Assign Palette to automatically use the first colors in the palette.
17. To select colors individually, click one of the Data Items on the left, then click on the color you want it to use.
18. Click OK.
19. Right click on the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom and select Rename Sheet. Change it to Internet.

Exercise 3: Create a Bubble Chart

1. Next to the Internet tab, click the New Worksheet icon.
2. Click on Life Expectancy at birth, total in the Data pane.
3. Find Population: Ages 65 and above, also in the Data pane. Hold down the CTRL key (or command if you
have a mac) and click on it. Both pills should now be highlighted.
4. Click on the Show Me tab in the upper right and select the Scatterplots graph which should be outlined with an
orange box.
5. Our scatterplot only has one circle! How can we fix it?
6. Drag Country Name from the Data pane to the Details box in the Marks pane. We now have a bubble for every
country!
7. Roll over one of the bubbles. Does something seem off about those numbers? Tableau is ADDING up the
numbers for all of the years in the dataset once again.
8. Click the Internet tab at the bottom.
9. Right click YEAR(year):2018 in the Filters box and select Apply to Worksheets > All Using This Data Source.
10. Click the Sheet 2 tab at the bottom.
11. Roll over a bubble again. The tooltip shows us only the numbers for 2018.
12. Let’s add some more information to the graph. Drag Current health expenditure per capita from the Data pane
to the Size box in the Marks pane. A legend appears on the right. If you can’t see the legend, click on the Show
Me tab.
13. Click the Size box in the Marks pane and change the bubble sizes to your liking.
14. Click the Shape box and change the symbol to a filled circle.
15. Click the Color box and reduce the Opacity to 50%.
16. Drag Country from the Data pane to the Label box.
17. Right click on the Sheet 2 tab at the bottom and select Rename Sheet. Change it to Health.
Exercise 4: Create a Map
1. Next to the Health tab, click the New Worksheet icon.
2. Drag Country Name from the Data pane directly onto the sheet.
3. Drag Fuel Exports from the Data pane to the Size box in the Marks pane.
4. Roll over the map and click on the Search icon in the upper left. Type in the name of a country and press
Enter. The map should zoom to that country.

5. To return to the full map, click on the pushpin icon.

6. Click and drag on the map. Note that you are selecting multiple data points this way. Click on an empty area
of the map to deselect.

7. Click the Arrow icon in the map controls and select the Pan icon . You can now move the map around
by clicking and dragging on it.
8. In the top menu, select Map > Map Layers.
9. Use the various controls to change the appearance of the map to your liking. Click the X at the top right of the
pane when you’re done to close the map layers.
10. Click on Show Me > Filled Maps (located next to the symbol maps).
11. Right click on the Sheet 3 tab at the bottom and select Rename Sheet. Change it to Fuel.

Exercise 5: Create Two Charts in One Worksheet

1. Next to the Fuel tab, click the New Worksheet icon.
2. Drag Year from the Data pane to Columns.
3. Drag Fixed Broadband Subscriptions from the Data pane to Rows.
4. Only one year of data is currently visible because the Years filter from the Internet sheet is still being applied to
this visualization.
5. Click the Internet tab at the bottom.
6. Right click YEAR(year):2018 in the Filters box and select Apply to Worksheets > Selected Worksheets.
7. Uncheck Sheet 4 and click OK.
8. Click the Sheet 4 tab at the bottom. Since the years filter is no longer applied to this worksheet, we can now see
all of the years in our line chart.
9. What if we want to compare broadband usage to telephone usage? Drag Fixed Telephone Subscriptions from
the Data pane to Rows and drop it to the right of your pill for broadband. A second line graph appears below
the first one.
10. Something else has changed. The Marks pane now has three different tabs inside of it. The top tab is labeled All
and controls the marks for both graphs at the same time. Click on Color and change it to green. Both line graphs
are now green.
11. Click on the middle tab in the Marks pane. This tab controls our graph for broadband. Click on Color and change
it to purple. Now the top graph is purple and the bottom graph is green.
12. Click on the bottom tab in the Marks pane. This tab controls our graph for telephones. There is a dropdown
menu at the top of the pane which is currently set to Automatic. Click on it and select Bar. The bottom graph is
now a bar chart.
13. Now combine the two charts into one. Right click SUM(Fixed Telephone Subscriptions) in Rows and select
Dual Axis.
 14. The bars are overlapping the line. If you want the line on top, select SUM(Fixed Telephone Subscriptions) and
drag it in front of SUM(Fixed Broadband Subscriptions).
15. We now have a serious problem. There are two different vertical axes on the left and right side of the chart, and
they are using different scales. This is very misleading.
16. Right click on one of the vertical axes and select Synchronize Axis. Both axes are now using the same
scales.
17. There is another problem. Roll over one of the bars. Telephone subscriptions are supposed to be per 100
people, but the numbers are very large. Tableau is ADDING up the numbers for all of the countries in the
dataset.
18. Right click SUM(Fixed Telephone Subscriptions) in Rows and select Measure > Average. Do the same for
SUM(Fixed Broadband Subscriptions).
19. Roll over one of the bars again. The number now reflects the Average number of telephone subscriptions per
100 people in all countries for that year.
20. Right click on the Sheet 4 tab at the bottom and select Rename Sheet. Change it to Communication.

Exercise 6: Create a Dashboard

1. Near the tabs at the bottom, click the New Dashboard icon.
2. On the left is a menu for Size. Click on it to get a pop-up box.
3. At the very top of the pop-up box is a dropdown menu. Click on it and select Automatic.
4. Drag Fuel from the Sheets pane on the left into the blank area at the center.
5. Drag your Internet sheet over the map, but don’t release the mouse button. Watch the highlighted areas on
the dashboard. Position the sheet below your map.
6. Drag the Communication sheet over and position it to the right of your Fuel sheet.
7. Drag the Health sheet over and position it to the right of your Internet sheet.
8. Click on each of the charts that are now in your dashboard. Notice that a grey border appears around them.
Notice there are icons attached to the grey border.
9. Notice that your legends appear on the dashboard with your charts. They are located in the column on the
right.
10. Click on one of your legends. The grey border appears around it. Click on the tab in the top center of the grey
border and drag to move the legend. Rearrange your legends so they are closer to their corresponding charts.

11. Click on the Internet sheet and on the down arrow icon. A menu appears. Select Filters > Year of Year.
12. The filter appears on the right side of your dashboard. Double click the Title to change it.

13. Click the down arrow icon for the filter and select Single Value (dropdown).
14. Move the filter to the top of the dashboard. Select different years and watch all the visualizations change at once.

15. Let’s add another filter. Select your map and click on the use as filter icon .
16. Click on one of the countries in the map. All data in the dashboard is now filtered based on the country you
selected on the map.

Exercise 7: Uploading to Tableau Public

If you are using Tableau Public

1. Go to File > Save to Tableau Public As...
2. Type in your email and password.
3. Click on Sign In.
4. Under Workbook Title, give your workbook a name and click save.

If you are using Tableau Desktop

1. Click on the Data Source tab in the lower left.
2. In the upper right, under Connection, select Extract.
3. Click on the Dashboard I tab.
4. A window will pop up, allowing you to select the location of your extract. It doesn’t matter where you decide
to save it.
5. Go to Server > Tableau Public > Save to Tableau Public...
6. Type in your email and password.
7. Click on Sign In.
8. Under Workbook Title, give your workbook a name and click save.