Highlight tables in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Highlight tables

Dashboard Goal

Understand sales performance by product category and region using color shading to quickly spot high and low values.

Sample Data

Region	Category	Sales
East	Furniture	200
East	Technology	450
East	Office Supplies	150
West	Furniture	300
West	Technology	500
West	Office Supplies	100
Central	Furniture	250
Central	Technology	400
Central	Office Supplies	120

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 2470
• Highlight Table: Sales by Region and Category
  Rows: [Region]
  Columns: [Category]
  Values: SUM([Sales])
  Color shading: Green for higher sales, red for lower sales, gradient in between
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Region]
  Shows total sales per region as bars

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------------+
|      Total Sales      |    Sales by Region (Bar)   |
|      (KPI Card)       |                            |
+----------------------+----------------------------+
|                                                      |
|              Sales by Region and Category             |
|                   (Highlight Table)                   |
|                                                      |
+------------------------------------------------------+ 

Interactivity

A filter for Region allows users to select one or multiple regions. When a region is selected:

• The Highlight Table updates to show sales only for the selected region(s).
• The Bar Chart updates to show total sales for the selected region(s).
• The Total Sales KPI updates to reflect the sum of sales for the selected region(s).

This helps users focus on specific areas and compare sales performance easily.

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only the East region, which components update and what changes occur?

• Total Sales KPI: Updates to show 800 (200 + 450 + 150).
• Highlight Table: Shows sales only for East region categories with color shading reflecting those values.
• Bar Chart: Shows a single bar for East region with height representing 800 sales.

Key Result

A dashboard showing total sales, sales by region as bars, and a highlight table of sales by region and category with color shading.