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Automatic Show Me!™

Sometimes you have an idea of how you want to view your data but you have no idea how to create it in Tableau. Let Tableau help you with the Show Me! command. Tableau offers a suite of tools designed to help you quickly create useful views and navigate alternate views.

Here's how it works.

1. Select the fields in the Data window that you want to include in the view. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard to select multiple fields.
The Data window is shown here with several dimensions and measures selected.
2.Click Show Me! on the toolbar.
The standard toolbar with the Show Me! button highlighted.
3. View the result. The view below shows the total sales vs. discount by region and product category using color and shape encodings.
The resulting view.
If the result is not exactly the view you were thinking of, you can use the Show Me! Alternatives command to select a different style.
1. With a view open in Tableau, click Show Me! Alternatives on the toolbar.
The standard toolbar wiht the Show Me! Alternatives button highlighted.
2. In the Show Me! Alternatives dialog box select a new kind of analysis. This example uses stacked bars.

Hint: If you don't know which one to select, roll over each option with your mouse to learn more about it. Try them all and see what you can find in your data.
The Show Me! Alternatives dialog box.
3. Click OK to transform your data into a completely different view. The view below uses the same fields as above except this time we see stacked bars instead of a scatter plot.
The result.
 

To Learn More

  • Learn more about Show Me! and Show Me! Alternatives tools by searching for Show Me! in the Tableau Online Help.
  • Contact Tableau Technical Support at: 206.633.3400 x2
  • Learn this trick and many more at the Tips and Tricks index. Don't forget to bookmark it.