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Building chart types on the Marks card
Build Gantt charts, box plots, histograms, treemaps, packed bubbles, pie and area charts from scratch by knowing which shelf and Marks card property defines each one, and fix the views that go wrong when a measure lands on the wrong property or stays aggregated.
Create charts: Create basic charts from scratch (bar, line, pie, highlight table, scatter plot, histogram, tree map, bubbles, data tables, Gantt, box plots, area, dual axis, combo); Sort data (including custom sort).
~7 min read · 12 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Pick the chart type from the question asked: duration, distribution, magnitude or part-to-whole.
- Build Gantt charts, box plots, histograms, treemaps, packed bubbles, pies and area charts from the shelves and Marks card properties that define them.
- Diagnose a broken chart: a measure on the wrong property, an aggregation hiding the spread, a field blocking Show Me, or Stack Marks off.
Key terms:
- Mark type: the Marks card drop-down (Automatic, Bar, Line, Area, Square, Circle, Pie, Gantt Bar and others).
- Gantt Bar: a mark whose length is proportional to the measure on Size.
- Disaggregation: Analysis > Aggregate Measures off, one mark per data source row.
- Angle: the Marks card property that appears only for the Pie mark.
- Stack Marks: drawing marks cumulatively along an axis instead of overlapping.
Key facts
Gantt bar length
- Detail
- Proportional to the measure on Size
Gantt duration on Size
- Detail
- Defaults to Sum; the official example changes it to Average
Flat box plots
- Detail
- Caused by one mark per box; fix with Analysis > Aggregate Measures
Whiskers
- Detail
- 1.5 times the IQR (schematic) or maximum extent (skeletal)
Box plot reference line on the web
- Detail
- Not available; Tableau Desktop only
Histogram in Show Me
- Detail
- Needs a single measure and no dimensions
Histogram result
- Detail
- Continuous bin on Columns, CNT of the measure on Rows
Treemap measures
- Detail
- Only Size and Color have an effect
Pie requirement
- Detail
- One dimension plus one or two measures; aggregate fields do not count
Stack Marks
- Detail
- Automatic by default; On or Off is manual and persists
Sources for this section (8)
- Mark typeshelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Build a Gantt Charthelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Build a Box Plothelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Reference lineshelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Build a Histogramhelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Build a Treemaphelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Build a Pie Charthelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- Stack Markshelp.tableau.com (opens in a new tab)
- When does Automatic pick the Shape mark?
- Can a box plot be added to a continuous axis in web authoring?
- When does the Angle property appear on the Marks card, and what do 360 degrees represent?
- Which Marks card properties change a treemap when you drop a measure on them?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Tableau Data Analyst pack
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 30 lessons of the Tableau Data Analyst guide, with reading progress
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