How to switch chart type in Tableau dashboard

by Sylvie Imbert

Sometimes you may want to show the same insight but using two different types of charts, however space on your dashboard might be limited (and it would be a bit redundant to have twice the same insight). This is how you can switch between two (or more) charts as Stephanie taught us during our Tableau refresher day -a life changing trick!

First of all, you need to create your different charts on separate sheets. Here I have used the Superstore data and created a map and a bar chart showing the sum of sales per state:

The next step is to create a parameter. Name it as desired, choose the data type to be a string, click on list and enter the name of your chart types:

Right click on the parameter and select “Show Parameter Control” on both sheets.

Next you will need to create a calculated field that only has the name of your parameter in it -this will act as a filter later on, hence the calculation name:

Drag that calculation into the filter pane and filter (include) according to which chart you have on your current sheet. In my case, looking at the map sheet, I will choose to filter on “map”. You will also need to make sure that the parameter is set to the right chart type, in this case “map”:

Repeat the previous step with the other sheet, this time selecting the parameter to “bar chart” first, then drag the calculation to the filter pane and click on “bar chart”.

Next step is to build your dashboard. For this to work, you will need to use containers. Drag a vertical container onto your dashboard and then drag your map sheet into it and *important step* hide the title (you can recreate it later on by dragging a text box. Last step is to drag at the bottom of the same vertical container your bar chart sheet, again hiding the title once in place (if your parameter is set to “map” then you should only see the title of your sheet before deselecting it, and not see your actual bar chart).

You should now be able to switch between the two charts using the parameter drop down:

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Sylvie Imbert

Thu 21 Nov 2019

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