(Originally posted on my own blog here, on January 18, 2023.)
Let’s get in shape today! * * ***
* to insert images
** on Tableau, not in real life
** Get it, because to use images in your dashboard, you have to get the images into Shapes on the Marks Card?
Or maybe you don’t, which is why you’re here, my bad! I’ll be going over how to insert images in Tableau today. I generally like to keep images to a minimum for my dashboards/presentations because too much will overwhelm, so please use this power for good. Anyway, onward!
The Process
1. If you want to add an image to a dashboard: Go to your dashboard tab and drag Image from Objects to your dashboard.
2. Then, customize the image as you see fit (I like to center the image as well) and click OK. Ta-da, you’re done!
Now, what if you want to do something similar to what I did for my dashboard?
The (Other) Process
1. First, in a new worksheet, create a dummy (blank) field with just “” in it.
2. Drag the blank calculated field to Label on the Marks Card. Also, select Shape from the drop-down.
3. For this step, we’re going to leave Tableau for a moment to find an image or icon (make sure you’re allowed to use it!). The icon I used for this dashboard is from Google’s Material Symbols and Icons. Another place I like to look for icons is FlatIcon.
Download/save the image. Also – and this is very important! – note down the image source, so you can attribute the author later.
4. Now, we need to put the image somewhere Tableau can pull from (i.e., the My Tableau Repository folder). The pathway may vary, but the folder can generally be accessed from your Documents folder.
From My Tableau Repository, navigate to the Shapes folder.
5. Once you’re in the Shapes folder, I recommend creating a new folder for every project with images. For example, my folder is called Into the HIPAA Breach to match the name of my project, making it easy to find later.
6. Let’s return to Tableau. Click on Shape on the Marks Card, then More Shapes…
7. A window will pop up. Select the pertinent folder from the drop-down.
If you don’t see the folder you’re looking for, click Reload Shapes, and try again.
8. Once you’ve selected the folder, you’ll see the images you put in there earlier. I only needed one image for this dashboard, which is why only one is available for me to pick from.
Click on the image you want to work with, and then hit OK.
9. After the window closes, you’ll see your image in the view. But wait! As you’ve probably noticed, the image is tiny.
If you’ve guessed that the next step is to change the view from Standard to Entire View, you’d be 100% correct!
(I know, I know – the image looks horrendous blown up. Remember, Entire View just makes the image take up the whole worksheet, and the worksheet will be resized to be much smaller when it’s time to add it to the dashboard.)
10. Time to format the icon! You can play around with size and color, for example. For adjusting size, I suggest seeing how it looks on your dashboard first and resizing accordingly.
11. Want to add a tooltip? Make sure to be concise. You can also insert another image in the tooltip (just repeat these steps, and embed the other worksheet via the menu in this worksheet’s tooltip window). Here’s an example (hover over the rock).
Make sure to also indicate somewhere that the user can mouse over the image to see the tooltip – otherwise, they won’t know, and you’ll have spent all this time working on it for no one to see it, which would be a shame.
12. Finally, as you’re putting everything together, don’t forget to attribute the image/icon owner somewhere on your dashboard!!!
That’s all for this week! And remember, use this power for good!