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Color, size and shape on the Marks card
How the Color, Size and Shape buttons on the Marks card either restyle every mark or encode a field: one fixed color versus a palette, Edit Colors options such as Stepped Color, the Size slider versus a field on Size, shape palettes and custom shapes.
Format view for presentation: Use color from the marks card; Configure fonts; Format marks as shapes; Configure viz animations; Change size of marks; Show and hide legends.
~8 min read · 6 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Give every mark one fixed color from the Color button, or encode a field on Color, and tell which of the two a requirement needs.
- Change colors with Edit Colors: pick a categorical palette for unordered members, and use Stepped Color, Reversed or Use Full Color Range on a continuous field.
- Resize marks with the Size slider without encoding data, and decide when a field on Size helps or misleads.
- Show a dimension's members as different symbols with Shape, change shape palettes, and add custom shapes that travel with the workbook.
Key terms:
- Categorical palette: distinct colors for a discrete field whose values have no inherent order.
- Quantitative palette: a continuous color range for a continuous field, either sequential (one range) or diverging (two ranges).
- Stepped Color: an Edit Colors option that groups a continuous field's values into a set number of uniform bins, one color per bin.
- Custom shapes: your own image files, placed in a folder under My Tableau Repository\Shapes, that appear as a shape palette.
Key facts
Default mark color
- Detail
- Blue for most marks, black for text, even with no field on Color
Continuous field with negative and positive values
- Detail
- Diverging palette by default; one-sign values get sequential
Stepped Color
- Detail
- Uniform bins, number set with the spin control
Custom palettes in 2022.3
- Detail
- Edit Preferences.tps; built-in dialog only from 2025.3
Size slider on bars
- Detail
- Wider or narrower bars; polygons cannot be resized
Discrete field on Size
- Detail
- Separates marks like Detail; best for ordered data such as years
Default shapes
- Detail
- Ten unique shapes; they repeat after 10 members
Custom shape location
- Detail
- New folder in My Tableau Repository\Shapes; folder name = palette name
Custom shape formats
- Detail
- .png, .gif, .jpg, .bmp, .tiff; not .emf
- Why does a field with only positive values get one color range instead of two?
- When would you click Reset in the Edit Colors dialog?
- Why can the Size slider not help a map built from polygon marks?
- What does a transparent background (GIF or PNG) change for a color-encoded custom shape?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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