Sometimes a client wants to see a table in Tableau. After you stress that Tableau is not meant to be an excel spreadsheet with multiple columns and rows, they still want to see a simple table. Here are a couple of questions I have received regarding common table views.
In this Tableau Public Dashboard here, I have the below tricks displayed.
Please note I created the headers with the following Min calculations;
//Sales
Min(0)
//Quantity
Min(0)
//Profit Ratio
Min(0)
//Profit
Min(0)
The // gives the column the custom name at the bottom of the worksheet.
The reason I designed this dashboard this way is that this allows me to have separate Marks cards for each Metric.
How Do I Bold Some Text But Not Others?
I created two separate calculations for the fields I wanted bold. In the example below, I have Sales that I want to Bold and the ones I want to keep formatted with normal text.
SalesBOLD
IF SUM([Sales]) > 15000 then SUM([Sales])
END
SalesNormal
IF SUM([Sales]) <= 15000 then SUM([Sales])
END
I place these two calculations side by side on the Text card of the Sales Marks card. I highlight the SalesBold calculated field and make it a darker text. I leave the SalesNormal alone.
This makes the sales that are over 15000 Bold as shown below;
How Do I Put Parenthesis Around Negative Percentages?
If you format a field as currency, Tableau will automatically put parenthesis around the fields that are negative. It does not do this for negative percentages or regular number formats. You will have to specify the custom format for those fields.
Right-click on the pill for the metric. In my example above, I selected Profit Ratio.
For the Format, I selected Custom and then entered 0%;(0%)
How Do I Make The Text Color Red for Negative Numbers?
Similar to having two calculations for Bold text, you will need to have two calculated fields for the negative and positive/normal values.
Here are the calculations I used for Profit Ratio;
Profit Ratio Neg
IF [Profit Ratio] <= 0 then [Profit Ratio]
END
Profit Ratio Normal
IF [Profit Ratio] > 0 then [Profit Ratio]
END
Then I put these two fields in the Text card of the Profit Ratio Marks card.
I made the Profit Ratio Neg calculation Tableau Bold font and made the text color red.
This makes any negative percentages Red as shown below;
