Mark types (automatic, bar, line, circle) in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Monthly sales data for four months

Cell	Value
A1	Month
B1	Sales
A2	Jan
B2	100
A3	Feb
B3	150
A4	Mar
B4	130
A5	Apr
B5	170

Formula Trace

Mark Type = Automatic (Tableau default) or Bar or Line or Circle

Step 1: Data loaded with Month and Sales columns

Step 2: Mark Type set to Automatic

Step 3: Mark Type changed to Bar

Step 4: Mark Type changed to Line

Step 5: Mark Type changed to Circle

Cell Reference Map

    A       B
1 | Month | Sales |
2 |  Jan  | 100   |
3 |  Feb  | 150   |
4 |  Mar  | 130   |
5 |  Apr  | 170   |

References: Column A (Month) and Column B (Sales) used for marks

The Month and Sales columns are the data fields used to create the marks

Result

Month | Sales | Mark Type | Visual
-----------------------------------
Jan   | 100   | Bar       | ████
Feb   | 150   | Bar       | ███████
Mar   | 130   | Bar       | █████
Apr   | 170   | Bar       | ████████

Jan   | 100   | Line      | •
Feb   | 150   | Line      |  •
Mar   | 130   | Line      |   •
Apr   | 170   | Line      |    •

Jan   | 100   | Circle    | ○
Feb   | 150   | Circle    | ○
Mar   | 130   | Circle    | ○
Apr   | 170   | Circle    | ○

Shows how the same data looks with different mark types: bars, connected lines, and circles

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What mark type does Tableau choose by default for discrete Month and measure Sales?

A Circle

B Line

C Bar

D Automatic chooses Pie

Key Result

Mark types in Tableau control how data points are visually represented: Automatic picks best, Bar shows bars, Line connects points, Circle shows points only