An area chart is a line chart with the area beneath the line shaded. Tableau has a variety of options for area charts that are dependent on the dimensions and measures you use.
10.1 Basic Area Charts
A basic area chart uses ordinal data and a measure, for example, continuous dates and sales. This is very similar to a continuous line chart, but with the area shaded.
Problem
You want to see an area chart for sales by continuous months.
Solution
On a new worksheet, double-click Sales, which automatically adds the Sum of Sales field to Rows.
Right-click and drag (Option-drag on Mac) Order Date to Columns and select continuous months:
The final step is to change the mark type from Automatic to Area. Click the drop-down menu on the Marks card (1) and select Area (2):
Your final view should look like this:
Discussion
A continuous area chart is exactly like a line chart but with the shaded area beneath the line. When creating this type of chart, I like to add a border on the area chart to make the marks easier to see.
To add a border, click Color ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
