How to add more interactivity in your view using Drop Lines in Tableau – Skill Pill Friday

Data analysis has become in recent years one of the most advanced technological processes for identifying relevant conclusions in the information we have in our company. Data analysis and exploration have changed the way companies used the classic business intelligence and reporting software solutions until recently. Tableau Software is one of the most advanced data analysis and exploration tools. With its help, users have access to advanced analysis and real-time information on situations that impact the efficiency of a company’s strategy. In today’s post we will discuss about Drop Lines in Tableau Software and the situations in which they are most frequently used.

Massive volumes of data always contain large volumes of information that can be identified through coherent analysis. Although the analysis of such data sets can often seem overwhelming, Tableau offers us all the tools we need for a correct and accurate interpretation of our data.

Drop Lines in Tableau

Drop Lines is a feature in Tableau Desktop that is used in line, area, or scatter charts. The specificity of this feature is that it adds an extra interactivity to the created analysis, allowing the user to select and highlight certain areas of his chart. For example, in a chart in which data gives us a large volume of information with close values, identifying a single value can be complicated. Drop Lines gives us the opportunity to select a single point in our analysis and to observe how its value is related to the others. Basically, Drop Lines gives us the opportunity to explore data at a much more detailed level.

Also, Drop Lines feature helps us to identify the position of a dimension or a measure in our visualization. When we add Drop Lines in our chart and depending on the point we select, a line is built from the selected value to the axes in the graph. In this way, the information we are interested in is explored more easily and accurately.

Remember, this feature can only be used in Tableau Desktop, not Tableau Online or Tableau Server. Next, we will build a view that will include Drop Lines.

Step 1: Connect to data

→ In Tableau Desktop, connect to Superstore sample data provided by  Tableau.

Step 2: Create the visualization

→ Drag Sales on Columns and Profit on Rows.

→ Add Sub-Category dimension into detail mark

→ Right click on the canvas, select Drop Lines and enable Show Drop Lines

→ To enable labels, right click on the canvas, Edit drop lines, and select Automatic option in the labels section

→ To remove any drop line, right click on the canvas, select Edit Drop Lines and untick the axis you want removed

→ For formatting, right click on the canvas, select Format, select Lines, then select Drop Lines and adjust the formatting accordingly

By Andrei Stan

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