How to use Tableau viewers

Some remarks and tips on how to use and to get the most information out of Tableau viewers.

The typical layout of a Tableau viewer is usually composed of three sections:

  • the ‘filter‘ section: allows you to select the data to be displayed according to your search criteria.
  • the ‘menu‘ section: allows you to select the view you want to see for the data you have selected.
  • the ‘view‘ section: displays the data you have selected according to the menu item you have chosen.

You can select the data you want to display by using the filters. For each filter, the possible values appear either directly  or in a drop down box. There are two types of filter:

  • those allowing to select only one value (‘single value’) and
  • those allowing to select several values (‘multiple values’).

They are displayed either as a dropdown box (to be activated by clicking on the small arrow on the side of the input box) or as a list. In case of ‘multiple values’ filter, a box indicating “apply” might appears at the end of the dropdown or at the end of the list: the filter will be applied only when this “apply” box will be clicked.

All the filters are grouped in the filter section. This section is either directly displayed or can be displayed by clicking on the ‘funnel’ icon or by clicking on the button indicating “Filters” (acting as toggle on/off).

Important: it might happen that once all the filters are set, the ‘view’ section remains blank not showing any results. This is because there are no results corresponding to the combinaison of values selected in the filters or incoherent selection criteria (e.g. selecting a pollutant and selecting an aggregation which does not exist for that pollutant). However this might also happen in some extreme cases when different filters have been used several times consecutively: filters might be conflicting leading to an absence of results. In this case, the coherence of the values chosen for the different filters sould be verified. However, it is advised in a such a case to re-upload the viewer.

 

The menu allows to access different alternative views of the data set. There are two types of menu:

  • tabs appearing in the upper part of the viewer window or
  • buttons appearing in the viewer window.
Clicking a tab or a “Go to …” button will open a new window presenting a different view of the data. The filters chosen in the initial viewer window might or might not apply to this new view. If not,  the filters and/or additional filters are also displayed. To go back to the initial view, click on the corresponding tab or click on the button “Back” usually displayed at the top left of the alternative view.
 
There is another type of buttons: the “See …” or “Show …” buttons. They have a similar effect except that the alternate view is now embedded in the existing view. They operate like toggles on/off. The “Filters” button or the ‘funnel’ icon is a kind of  “See …” button.
 
Another way to access alternative views is through the tooltip as described in the viewer section.
 
Remark: in case of single and unique view, there are neither tabs nor buttons, except in some cases the “Filters” or ‘funnel’ button.
 
 

The viewers are of three types:

  • maps,
  • graphs or
  • tables.
The three types behave in a similar. A toolti appears when hovering over a dot (maps and graphs) or a result (table). This tooltip displays data associated to the dot or result (e.g. country, station name etc…).
 
A specific dot (map and graph) or result (table) can be selected by clicking on it. Depending on the viewer and the selected view, the tooltip may now include some additional lines which allows to access alternate views or to run specific action (e.g. download raw data for the specific dot or access Goggle map).
 
Specific to maps: a cluster of dots can be chosen by using the tools accessible in the bar appearing in the upper left corner of the map.
 
Results display in a table or used to build the map or the graphs can be download in XL files from the ‘download’ icon appearing in the tableau bar. PDF view can be generated using the same icon.