Learn Tableau in an hour


Well, 72 minutes but lets not split hairs...


New to Tableau, or maybe you are transitioning from an alternate tool. Sure there are plenty of training sites and materials, all designed to teach you to death!

The following videos will teach you everything you need so you can get on with your work in the quickest time.

Once you have covered these basics, head on over to the Recipes page, to see how the majority of charts can be put together in under 60 seconds.

You can watch the videos here, though I would recommend you to download for offline viewing (and sharing if you think they're good enough (wink))


1. An Introduction to Tableau (00:09:23)

Here I shall demonstrate:

  • How to connect to data
  • Creating bar and multi-measure line charts
  • Applying sorting
  • Applying a filter
  • Formatting

2. An Explanation of Aggregate vs Non-Aggregate Calculations (00:07:45)

The bread and butter of Tableau, knowing how (and why) Tableau aggregates data will help you to better understand calculations, and the most likely use cases for each type.

3. Calculations (00:15:30)

Demonstrates the three calculation types with use-cases:

  • Calculated field
  • Table calculation
  • Level-of-detail expression (LODx)

4. Other Major Objects (00:10:52)

A general overview of the vastly overlooked yet equally powerful (and arguably more important):

  • Groups
  • Sets
  • Bins
  • Aliases

By using these built-in functions, you can vastly improve overall performance without the need to execute (often poorly) formulated calculations

5. Series Conclusion: Your First Dashboard (00:28:53)

Walk-through building your first dynamic dashboard (the one below) using the following skills covered in this series:

  • Calculated fields
  • Table calculations
  • Level-of-detail expressions
  • Parameters

Also demonstrates:

  • Dashboard design and layout
  • Formatting
  • Tooltip design
  • Tooltip visuals
  • Advanced charting

Did you like these tutorials?

Are you looking for a bigger challenge?

Take a look at this dashboard, see if you can replicate it without downloading or peeking at the build videos

Series Conclusion Companion Workbook:

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Download the workbook here: Companion Workbook