Tableau Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield Tableau facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. What is the effect of placing a measure on the Size shelf of a symbol map? → Marks are sized proportionally to the measure (proportional symbol map)
2. Which option lets viewers download a dashboard as an image, PDF, or crosstab when published? → The Download/Export button (when enabled by permissions)
3. What happens in the Data pane when you assign a geographic role to a dimension field in Tableau? → Tableau generates Latitude and Longitude fields in the Measures section
4. What is the function of the Pages shelf in Tableau? → Break a view into a sequence of pages you can flip or animate through
5. What is the primary purpose of device-specific layouts in Tableau dashboards? → To optimize dashboard appearance for phone, tablet, or desktop
6. What is the purpose of a dashboard 'Layout Container' set to vertical? → It stacks contained objects top to bottom and resizes them together
7. A user wants to connect to a Google Sheets file in Tableau Desktop. Which authentication method is required? → Google account OAuth sign-in
8. A Tableau user needs to connect to a REST API that has no native Tableau connector. What is the recommended approach? → Build or use a Web Data Connector (WDC) to fetch and pass data to Tableau
9. What does a left join return when there is no matching row in the right table? → The unmatched left rows with null values for right columns
10. In Tableau, what is the primary purpose of the 'Custom Territories' feature when working with geographic fields? → To group individual geographic locations into user-defined regional boundaries
11. Which data role does Tableau assign to a field shown with a globe icon? → Geographic role
12. Which dashboard object provides a collapsible area to hide and reveal other objects via a button? → Show/Hide button on a floating container
13. Which Tableau formatting option controls the line style and color of grid lines in a view? → Format > Lines
14. What is the significance of documentation in Data Connections? → It provides a record for accountability, quality assurance, and legal compliance
15. Which is true about aggregate and non-aggregate fields in a single calculation? → They cannot be mixed directly
16. Which keyword in a calculated field creates conditional logic with multiple branches? → CASE / WHEN
17. Which chart type would be most appropriate for showing the trend of sales over time? → Line Chart
18. What role do 'Addressing' fields play in a Tableau table calculation? → They define the direction the calculation traverses within each partition
19. In Tableau, what is a 'cross-database join' and when would you use it? → A join that combines tables from two different data sources of different types
20. What kind of filter is applied before aggregation and limits the data brought into the view by a dimension's top members? → Top N filter
21. What does CASE [Region] WHEN 'East' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END return for a West row? → 0
22. Is it allowed to utilize the same measure in various views (for example, SUM and AVG)? → A) Yes
23. True/False: Two fixed points cannot be used to create a Reference Band. → B) False
24. Which function returns the running total of a measure across a partition? → RUNNING_SUM
25. Which operation reshapes columns into rows in Tableau? → Pivot
26. What does a FIXED level-of-detail (LOD) expression do? → Computes a value at a specified dimension level regardless of view detail
27. Which geographic role aggregates data by U.S. metropolitan statistical areas? → CBSA/MSA
28. Which map type in Tableau uses color intensity across geographic regions to show a measure? → Filled (choropleth) map
29. What is the profitably moving average for November 2013, including the four months before and after? → $8,441
30. To highlight values above a threshold automatically, which Analytics pane object should you drag in? → Reference line