Field sort (alphabetic, data source) in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Field sort (alphabetic, data source)

Dashboard Goal

Understand how to sort product categories alphabetically and by sales amount in Tableau to see which products sell best and organize data clearly.

Sample Data

Product Category	Sales
Furniture	300
Office Supplies	450
Technology	700
Books	150
Art	200

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 1800
• Bar Chart 1: Product Categories Sorted Alphabetically
  Sort: Alphabetic ascending on [Product Category]
  Shows sales bars for Art, Books, Furniture, Office Supplies, Technology in that order.
• Bar Chart 2: Product Categories Sorted by Sales Descending
  Sort: SUM([Sales]) descending
  Shows sales bars for Technology, Office Supplies, Furniture, Art, Books in that order.
• Data Table: Product Sales Details
  Columns: [Product Category], [Sales]
  Sorted alphabetically by [Product Category]

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+---------------------------+
|      Total Sales      | Product Categories Sorted  |
|       (KPI Card)      |     Alphabetically (Bar)   |
+----------------------+---------------------------+
| Product Categories Sorted by Sales (Bar)           |
+----------------------------------------------------+
|               Product Sales Details (Table)        |
+----------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

Adding a filter for Product Category will update both bar charts and the data table to show only selected categories. The Total Sales KPI will recalculate the sum for the filtered categories.

Sorting options are fixed per chart but can be changed by editing the sort settings in Tableau:

• Bar Chart 1 uses alphabetic sort on [Product Category].
• Bar Chart 2 uses sort by SUM([Sales]) descending.

Self Check

If you add a filter to show only Furniture and Technology, which components update and what changes occur?

• Total Sales KPI: Updates to show 1000 (300 + 700).
• Bar Chart 1 (Alphabetic): Shows bars for Furniture and Technology only, sorted alphabetically.
• Bar Chart 2 (Sales Descending): Shows bars for Technology and Furniture only, sorted by sales descending.
• Data Table: Shows only Furniture and Technology rows, sorted alphabetically.

Key Result

Dashboard showing product sales sorted alphabetically and by sales amount with total sales KPI.