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Bernard K

Adding drop lines in Tableau


adding drop lines in Tableau

Introduction

Drop lines are interactive features that call out the position of marks in the view. This feature comes in handy when presenting views packed with a lot of marks. For example, when you create a scatter plot densely packed with marks, you can turn on the drop lines feature to show the position of each mark when highlighted.

example of drop lines in tableau

(Note: This feature works only on Tableau Desktop.)

Adding drop lines

Let’s say using the sample-superstore data set, you’ve created a scatter plot showing Profit and Sales for each Order ID. See the view below.

sample scatter plot

To enable users, easily identify the position of each mark on the view (through highlighting), you can add drop lines by simply,

  • Right-clicking anywhere on the view.

  • Select ‘Show Drop Lines’ under ‘Drop Lines’ option.

show drop lines in tableau

Notice, when you highlight any mark on the view, the drop lines appear without labels.

Let’s add the labels by.

  • Right-clicking on the view.

  • Under Drop Lines >> choose ‘Edit Drop Lines…’

  • On the pop-up dialog box, choose Automatic under labels.

showing labels in tableau drop lines

Notice, the drop lines appear with labels (which is more interpretable).

Formatting drop lines

You can format drop lines by selecting Drop Lines…. Under Format menu.

formatting drop lines in tableau

And customize the line, font, alignment, and shading as per your needs.

formatting drop line font, alignment, shading and lines

Resulting to…

Conclusion

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About Me

More About the Author

Bernard K

Analytics Consultant | 3X Tableau Certified

Bernard is a data analytics consultant helping businesses reveal the true power of their data and bring clarity to their reporting dashboards. He loves building things and sharing knowledge on how to build dashboards that drive better outcomes.

Let’s discuss your data challenges! Let’s work together!

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