We'll focus on worksheet-level formatting in this chapter, as we've already covered metadata and we will cover dashboards and stories. However, it is beneficial to see the big picture of formatting in Tableau.
Tableau employs default formatting that includes default fonts, colors, shading, and alignment. Additionally, there are several levels of formatting you can customize, as shown in this diagram:
- Data Source level: We've already seen how you can set default formats for numeric and date fields. Other defaults, such as colors and shapes, can also be set using the Default Properties menu on the drop-down menu in the data pane.
- Workbook level: Various global formatting options may be set. From the menu, select Format | Workbook.
- Story level: Navigate to a story tab and select Format | Story (or Story | Format) to edit formatting for story-specific elements. These include options for customizing shading, title, navigator, and description.
- Dashboard level: Dashboard-specific elements can be formatted. When viewing a dashboard, select Format | Dashboard (or Dashboard | Format) to specify the formatting for dashboard titles, subtitles, shading, and text objects.
- Worksheet level: We'll consider the various options. The following types of formatting are available for a worksheet:
- Sheet formatting: This formatting includes font, alignment, shading, borders, and lines. You may override the formatting for the entire sheet for row and column-specific formatting.
- Field-level formatting: This formatting includes fonts, alignment, shading, and number and date formats. This formatting is specific to how a field is displayed in the current view. The options you set at field level override defaults set at a worksheet level. Number and date formats will also override the default field formatting.
- Additional formatting: Additional formatting can be applied to titles, captions, tooltips, labels, annotations, reference lines, field labels, and more.
- Rich-text formatting: Titles, captions, annotations, labels, and tooltips all contain text that can be formatted with varying fonts, colors, and alignment. This formatting is specific to the individual text element.