Innovative Tableau

Chapter 47. 3 Innovative Ways to Use Text: Tip 1

One of the consistent challenges I face as a data visualization evangelist is to help my stakeholders evolve from viewing data in the Excel spreadsheets they have become accustomed to. Perhaps they want to do their own calculations on the data. Or, maybe they feel more comfortable seeing the exact numbers. Or worse, maybe “that’s just the way they’ve always done it.”

Beyond the walls of numbers I find myself battling against, I have come to realize that text really does play a critical role in the practice of data visualization. Although I strongly believe that visualization is the most effective way to understand data, text can complement your analyses, provide context, add branding, and much more.

So I thought what better way to begin Part III than to provide some ideas to help you get the most out of text in Tableau. Over the next three chapters, I share how to incorporate custom fonts, conditionally format text, align table text like traditional financial reporting, and more.

How to Install Custom Fonts

Even though Tableau comes out of the box with tens of dozens of fonts, you can add your own within both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server. This is a very easy way to set your visualizations apart and/or create your Tableau dashboards within your company’s brand guidelines.

To install custom fonts in Tableau, download and install them onto every computer at your company on which Tableau Desktop is installed. The next time you ...