Tableau Desktop and Web Authoring Help

Remove what you can

Thoughtfully reducing complexity is key to good performance. A low-impact place to start is to remove elements that aren’t in use.

Workbook

• Delete sheets: right click on the sheet tab along the bottom of the workbook and select Delete.
• Hide sheets: right click on the sheet tab along the bottom of the workbook and select Hide.

Worksheets

• Remove parameters, sets, groups: right click on the item in the Data pane and select Delete.
• Delete calculations: right click on the calculation in the Data pane and select Delete.
• Remove filters: right click on the field on the filter shelf and select Remove. Note that removing the quick filter interface (open the filter menu and select Hide Card) will not delete the filter itself.

Dashboards

• Remove layout containers: open the Layout pane and expand the Item hierarchy. Right click on each layout container (tiled, horizontal, or vertical) and select Remove Container.
• Remove filters or legends: select a filter or legend and open the dropdown menu and select Remove from Dashboard.
• Remove device layouts: on the Dashboard pane, open the menu for the device layout and select Delete Layout.

Data sources

• Close data sources: right click on the data source’s name at the top of the Data pane and select Close.
• Hide unused fields: open the dropdown menu at the top of the Data pane and select Hide All Unused Fields.
• Use data source filters: right click on the data source’s name at the top of the Data pane and select Edit Data Source Filters > Add
• Configure the extract: right click on the data source’s name at the top of the Data pane and select Extract Data. In the dialog, you can:
  • Use extract filters to limit how much data is pulled into the extract
  • Aggregate data for visible dimensions to reduce unnecessary granularity
  • Hide all unused fields to drop them from the extract

Break up the workbook

If a workbook contains multiple sheets or dashboards for different analytical purposes, consider splitting it into multiple workbooks, each with a more targeted purpose.

• Option 1: save a copy of the workbook and delete unnecessary sheets, dashboards, and data sources from each one. See above for some examples.
• Option 2: copy out specific sheets into a new workbook. This may be more efficient because copying a dashboard into a new workbook carries over only what is needed for that dashboard. However, not all formatting options will be transferred. See Copy Sheets and Data Sources for more information.

General suggestions

These suggestions are pulled from the whitepaper Designing Efficient Production Workbooks.

• Limit the data by adding a data source filter, dropping unnecessary columns, or aggregating to the appropriate level.
• Extracts solve many problems. Changing from a live connection to an extract will make most workbooks run faster. If you’re not running extracts, this is the first place to start, even just as a test to rule out other data issues.
• Simple is fast.
• Move complexity to the data layer.
• Use an extract
• Use a fixed dashboard size
• Upgrade to the latest version of Tableau
• Limit the data. Data volume is the single most significant factor in performance.