Tableau Thursday Tutorial: Dynamic Top N Filter

In Tableau, creating a dynamic "Top N" filter allows users to control how many top items (e.g., customers, products, categories) they want to display on a dashboard. Here's a step-by-step guide to create it:

1. Build the Base Chart

• Drag the Product Name pill to Rows.
• Drag the Sales pill to Columns.

2. Create Parameter

• In the Data pane, click the drop-down arrow in the upper-right corner and select Create Parameter.
• In the Create Parameter dialog box:
  • Set the Name to Top N Parameter.
  • Set the Data type to Integer.
  • Set the Current Value to 5 (this can be adjusted later).
  • Under Allowable values, select All.
  • Click the OK button.

3. Show the Parameter Control

• In the Data pane, right-click on Top N Parameter (found at the bottom under Parameters) and select Show Parameter. This allows you to control the value dynamically.

4. Create the Filter

• Drag the Product Name pill to the Filters shelf.
• In the Filter dialog box:
  • Go to the Top tab.
  • Select By Field.
  • Set the dropdowns to:
    • Top by Top N Parameter using Sales (Sum).
  • Click the OK button.

5. Test the Parameter

• In the Parameter Control Card (on the right of the viz), click the type-in field and enter the number 10 or any other N integer to update the chart dynamically.

Ensure that other filters in your worksheet are added to context so Tableau applies these filters to your data before calculating the Top N values.