20+ Mac Tableau Desktop shortcuts you should know.
More than 20 Mac Tableau shortcuts that let you build, navigate and resize without ever reaching for the mouse.
- Command N opens a new Tableau instance, Command T creates a new worksheet, and Command W closes a workbook back to the launch screen without quitting Tableau entirely.
- Command E opens an auto-generated sheet description that documents marks, shelves, filters, calculations and data source, useful for handing over documentation.
- Command F switches focus to the data search pane mid-calculation, but only works when no modal calculation window is stealing focus.
- Option Shift plus a letter assigns a selected field to a shelf (O for colour, X/Y for axes, T for text, S for shape, P for pages, C for columns) entirely by keyboard.
- Control Command plus arrows resizes rows and columns, Control Command W swaps rows and columns, and on Mac the Help menu search bar finds any function and reveals its shortcut.
- Why use keyboard shortcuts0:00
- New workbooks and worksheets0:45
- Sheet description and navigation1:42
- Closing and saving workbooks3:07
- Switching focus to the data pane3:52
- Refreshing the data source5:38
- Resizing rows and columns in tables6:00
- Assigning fields to shelves7:33
- Swapping rows and columns9:23
- Mac Help menu search trick10:08
- Shortcuts for Tableau Online and Server11:55
0:00Hey, it's Tim here, and I'm going to be
0:01showing you through some of the most
0:02important Tableau keyboard shortcuts that
0:05you should be using today in the product.
0:07Now, the thing about keyboard shortcuts is
0:10we all know they help things go faster.
0:12Keyboard shortcuts are designed to make
0:14certain functions easier to reach and
0:16easier to use.
0:17But not many people actually go to
0:19documentation like I have done here and
0:21actually look at the keyboard shortcuts
0:22that are available to you.
0:24So what I'm going to do is I'm going to
0:26summarize some of the key shortcuts you
0:27need to use.
0:28Now, this video is focused on the Mac.
0:30I have another video focused on Windows
0:33popping up in your screen above and also in
0:34the description below.
0:36Check that out. Otherwise, let's get stuck
0:38in.
0:38And by the way, at the end, let me know
0:40which is your favorite shortcut having
0:41watched this video.
0:42OK, let's get stuck in.
0:44OK, so we're inside of Tableau desktop and
0:46I'm going to show you the first shortcut.
0:48Haven't even opened any workbook.
0:50And if I hit Command N, it opens up a new
0:52instance of Tableau straight away.
0:55So let's say I want to work on three things
0:57at the same time.
0:58No one can multitask, but if you wanted to,
1:00you can open up multiple workbooks at the
1:02same time and it takes you right into the
1:04first sheet.
1:05So you don't even have to connect to data
1:07to get this to work.
1:08It opens up straight away.
1:09Now, we've still got this open before I
1:11open any other workbook to show you some
1:13worksheet shortcuts.
1:15Hit Command T and this actually opens up
1:17new worksheets for you.
1:19This is much faster than going to the same
1:21menu up here to the top and selecting works
1:23heet.
1:24It's also much faster than moving your
1:25mouse all the way down to the bottom here
1:27and finding the new worksheet options just
1:31available here for you to see.
1:33Now, for this next one, I'm actually going
1:34to close this new workbook and I'm going to
1:37open up one of the sample Superstore work
1:39books because we need a worksheet that's
1:41already been built.
1:42So here we are. We're inside of a worksheet
1:44.
1:44I'm just going to go on to this chart over
1:46here on the right hand side.
1:47Let's open that up.
1:49And now I'm inside this worksheet.
1:50Let's say I'd like some information about
1:53this worksheet.
1:53Maybe even have a description of how this
1:55worksheet is built.
1:56Hit Command E on a Mac and it actually
1:58opens up the sheet description.
2:01Now, this is a shortcut that when I first
2:02discovered it, I just couldn't believe it'd
2:04been there the whole time.
2:05It pretty much tells you what's on the
2:08sheet.
2:08It's a pretty computer built sort of
2:10description, but it's actually pretty
2:12accurate.
2:12If you read it from line to line, it even
2:15tells you what's on the marks, pains,
2:17what's on the shelves, rows, columns,
2:18filters, the dimensions, any sort of
2:21calculations that are being
2:22brought through, whether they're measures
2:24or dimensions.
2:25It pretty much covers everything, including
2:27even the data source.
2:29Super handy when you need to get some
2:31information or maybe even send someone
2:32some documentation on a particular sheet to
2:35tell them how exactly you build it.
2:37Let's say I want to navigate to some of the
2:39other sheets really, really quickly.
2:40If you hold shift command and then bracket,
2:44it actually goes backwards.
2:45And if I go bracket forward, it actually
2:47goes bracket forward there.
2:49So this is a really handy way of navigating
2:52through sheets really, really quickly.
2:54Again, without having to grab your mouse,
2:56find your way to the right tab only to
2:58realize it's the wrong one.
2:59You can just very, very quickly sort of
3:01shift through sheets and get through them
3:04much, much faster.
3:06Now, another one is obviously command S.
3:08Everyone should know that that saves your
3:10workbook.
3:11Here's a couple you might not know.
3:12Let me just cancel this.
3:14And instead, if I hit command Q,
3:16on a Mac that normally closes the workbook
3:19and closes Tableau.
3:20But if I hit command W, it asks me, do I
3:23want to save this workbook?
3:24I'll hit don't save because this is a
3:25sample workbook.
3:26And actually it takes me back to the launch
3:28screen.
3:29Now, I know lots of people are trying to do
3:31this.
3:31Well, actually, most people do is they quit
3:33Tableau, then they open it again.
3:35Well, if you don't have to do that,
3:36you just close the workbook and it brings
3:38you back to the starting point.
3:40You can just start working on the next
3:41thing or even use this quick open access
3:44menu here to get to the next workbook that
3:46you want to work on.
3:47It's a really handy time saver and I hope
3:49you're going to use it as much as I do.
3:51OK, for this next one, I'm going to need
3:53you to pay a lot of attention because I'm
3:55going to be switching from an ad hoc
3:57calculation to the data search pane.
3:59So let's go ahead and double click in the
4:01row shelf here.
4:02This opens up an ad hoc calculation.
4:04I type my calculation, so cells and I hit
4:08enter to autocomplete that.
4:09Close the brackets.
4:10Then I go to add some of something else
4:13and I forget what the field I want is. I
4:14can't remember which version I'm supposed
4:16to be using. So what's this?
4:18As I hit command F, this actually changes
4:21the focus to the data search pane.
4:23I can then use some of the new search
4:24parameters and colon to search for a
4:27measure called profit.
4:29And then you see here that there's only one
4:31that I actually need.
4:32And it's this one over here, profit.
4:34So I can drag that in.
4:35And that's another little tip here.
4:37You can always drag these comments straight
4:38into the calculation window.
4:39And boom, we have a calculation and it's
4:41finished.
4:42So the key focus there is that we're
4:44actually able to change the cursor's focus
4:47from my ad hoc calculation to the data
4:50search pane search function and then
4:52finish my calculation back in the ad hoc
4:54space.
4:55Now, one thing to note, this doesn't work
4:58if you've already got
4:58the calculation window open because this
5:00calculation window is almost stealing
5:02the focus of whatever you're doing.
5:04So if your cursor is in here, it's not
5:05going to work.
5:06So if I just type in something here, hit
5:08command F, you'll see nothing changes or
5:10just continue typing in here.
5:12But if you leave this calculation window
5:14open, you go back to your ad hoc
5:16calculation, you start typing something
5:18there, hit command F, it does change.
5:21So you need to make sure that the main
5:23focus of what you're working on is
5:25actually the workbook and not some other
5:27modal window like this calculation window
5:29that's sort of stealing your focus.
5:31OK, that's pretty much the feature in a
5:32nutshell.
5:33Let's go ahead and clean this up so we
5:35don't have this broken calculation in our
5:37view.
5:37Now, this next one's so cheeky,
5:39you'd be surprised if you've never even
5:41tried it before.
5:42Command R, what does that do?
5:43It simply refreshes the data source.
5:45Let's say you're connected live to a
5:46database and you just need a fresh set
5:48of data or you need to make sure you're
5:50seeing the latest data in the database.
5:52Hit command R and you'll get a nice live
5:55little pool of data from your database
5:57or whatever live data source you're
5:59connected to.
6:00OK, for this next one, we're going to need
6:01to go to a table.
6:03And here we are.
6:03I'm using the what if forecast in the
6:06sample workbook now.
6:07I actually think the documentation is
6:09slightly wrong here because if I if I show
6:10you this, it says make the rows
6:13narrower control command left arrow, let's
6:16go ahead and use that a second.
6:18So let's go ahead and hit back inside the
6:20tableau control command left arrow.
6:23Now, to me, that made the columns narrower.
6:27But they've actually said the rows narrower
6:29.
6:29That to me is not right.
6:30So this should actually say make the
6:32columns narrower and it should say make
6:36the rows taller or shorter, but in the
6:38documentation they've sort
6:39of got it slightly the wrong way around.
6:41So if that catches you out, that's just
6:42something to be aware of.
6:43But the shortcut is pretty much the same.
6:46So we're using control command left, right,
6:49down, up and
6:51that's everything, actually.
6:52Yeah. So let's go ahead and try that.
6:54So let's hit control command.
6:56Now we're going to make the rows taller,
6:59make the rows shorter, make the columns
7:02narrower, make the columns wider, and I'm
7:05just basically holding control
7:07command and using the up and down arrows to
7:09do this.
7:10It's a really nice, fast way of doing this
7:12in a uniform way and making sure
7:14everything's working.
7:15And don't forget, command B to make
7:18everything smaller uniformly,
7:20command shift B to make everything larger
7:22in a uniform way.
7:24That's a great shortcut.
7:25If you're working with tables a lot and you
7:26shouldn't be building tables,
7:27but if you have to, well, this might just
7:30help it make it less painful.
7:32OK, for this next one, I'm in a blank works
7:35heet because I want to show you
7:36something really cool, but you've never
7:37tried this before.
7:38Let's go ahead and bring category onto rows
7:40and sales onto column.
7:43If I select subcategory, then I hit option
7:46shift and then O.
7:47I added it to the color pane without using
7:50my mouse.
7:50That's some pretty freaky cool stuff.
7:52So I select the field, then I hit the
7:54shortcut option shift and O is
7:57the identifier for the color section here
8:00in the marks pane.
8:01If I go ahead and remove that select sub
8:04category again and I hit option shift
8:07X, surprise, surprise, it puts subcategory
8:09on the X axis,
8:10which in this case is the row shelf.
8:12If I hit option shift Y, it adds it to the
8:16to the column shelf,
8:17which is obviously the Y axis and this
8:20chart is obviously now broken.
8:21It doesn't make sense if I remove sub
8:23category from the X axis.
8:25In fact, if I just remove it from there at
8:27all, it doesn't make sense
8:28in this format, then it works a lot better.
8:31Now, I've shown you the most important ones
8:34.
8:34But of course, if you head to the tablet
8:35documentation, let me bring it back in view
8:37here.
8:38You can see that there's actually quite a
8:40few.
8:40So every single shelf has its own shortcut
8:43and it all starts with option shift.
8:44And honestly, where it makes sense,
8:47it makes absolute sense what the shortcuts
8:50are.
8:50X and Y for the rows and shelf, T for the
8:54text and labels.
8:54That makes absolute sense.
8:55S for the shape, R for rows, shelf, P for
9:00pages.
9:01And it makes absolute sense.
9:03And C for columns.
9:04So you can do things in multiple ways.
9:06You don't just have to hit X and Y.
9:08The most obvious ones and also the sort
9:11of phonetic ones also work in this
9:12particular case.
9:13So really great set of shortcuts to be
9:16aware of.
9:17Once you once you know these shortcuts,
9:19it gets so, so, so easy to start to use
9:21them more often.
9:22The last one while we're here is swapping
9:25columns and rows.
9:26Now, typically there's the shortcut here
9:29where you can just go ahead and click on
9:30that and it actually does this for you
9:32here in the top toolbar, but one you can
9:35just use yourself is control command W.
9:40Now control command W.
9:42Boom. And we're done.
9:44OK, so hit that again and we're done.
9:46So if you're just in the flow of analysis,
9:48you don't touch your mouse.
9:49You can just keep doing that.
9:50And it's actually much faster.
9:52I think I can do it
9:53three times before I find the cursor, go up
9:57, hit the wrong thing,
9:59switch it.
10:00You can see I completely maligned that.
10:02It just shows you an perfect example of why
10:04you should be using this.
10:05It's just much, much, much faster once you
10:07have them.
10:07OK, now the other thing is if you're
10:10on a Mac, there is one thing that Windows
10:12users just don't have.
10:13It's nothing specific to Tableau.
10:14It's in fact just a Mac feature that you
10:16get with every application.
10:18That is, if you go to the help bar,
10:20you can actually search for functions here.
10:22OK, so let's say I want to open a new works
10:25heet.
10:26OK, if I go over here and hover over it
10:29actually shows me where that thing is.
10:31And whilst it's there,
10:33if there's a shortcut, it actually shows me
10:35the shortcut in the menu option.
10:37So this is something that, you know,
10:38Windows users just don't get. Mac users
10:40have this day in, day out.
10:42So if you're a Mac user, absolutely use
10:44this.
10:44Let's say you can't find something and it's
10:46relating to dashboards.
10:47Well, just type dashboards.
10:48You need to be able to spell.
10:50I can't seem to do that today.
10:51But you see it highlights the location in
10:54the menu.
10:54This makes it so much easier to get to
10:57certain things and understand where they
10:59are.
10:59One thing I can never find are the settings
11:02for tables.
11:03So if I just type in table and I can go
11:06here and it actually gives me all the table
11:08layout options.
11:09So these options, I never remember where
11:11they are.
11:11I'm always sort of hunting for them down
11:14below.
11:14And again, you can see some of these
11:16shortcuts
11:17are highlighted in the menu as we navigate
11:19through these.
11:20So this is a bit of a trippy thing to sort
11:21of move your cursor through.
11:23But again, it's an absolute lifesaver if
11:25you're a Mac user.
11:26Now, to finish off this video, I'm just
11:28going to remind you again,
11:29head on over to the shortcuts page and you
11:31'll find a list of really cool shortcuts.
11:33I couldn't possibly cover every single one
11:35of them.
11:35I'm going to be doing another shortcut
11:37video,
11:37this time focused on interface shortcuts.
11:40So these aren't keyboard shortcuts.
11:41They're shortcuts and little hacks almost
11:44you can use to make building certain
11:46things faster by clicking and dragging or
11:48doing things you wouldn't think are
11:49possible to make it easier to manipulate
11:51certain aspects in Tableau.
11:53So be sure to check that video out.
11:55Now, the last set of shortcuts I want to
11:57show you are for Tableau Online and Tableau
11:59Server, you can't get away with shortcuts
12:02just in desktop.
12:03You're going to have to implement them
12:04online as well, because Tableau Online and
12:06Tableau Server are quickly becoming one of
12:08the easiest places to create new
12:10workbooks straight from the data sources
12:12already available to you in Tableau Server.
12:14So let's go through some shortcuts for this
12:16too.
12:17Now, earlier on, I showed you how to do new
12:19worksheets.
12:19Now on Tableau Online, it's slightly
12:21different because the browser shortcuts
12:23can kind of intersect some of the desktop
12:25shortcuts we were using.
12:26So for this one, command option or alt T
12:31opens a new sheet.
12:32So you can see here I now have sheet two.
12:34Let's do that again. Command option TTT.
12:36I'm going to hit that a little bit more.
12:38And you can see it's not as fast as desktop
12:40, but it does actually open up new
12:41tabs and you can see that changing in front
12:44of you.
12:44With Tableau Online, it doesn't make as
12:46much sense because you
12:48think that this is saving all the time.
12:49But if you hit command S, it actually gives
12:51you the option to save the workbook.
12:53Now, in real terms, it's not really going
12:56to lose your work.
12:57But actually, when you hit command S for
12:58the first time, what you're actually doing
13:00is putting your workbook in a particular
13:02project.
13:03So it's really handy shortcut to know,
13:05because what I personally do is open
13:07the workbook and immediately save it so
13:10that I make sure that it's in the right
13:11place.
13:12And for some reason, it just gives me
13:13confidence.
13:14I smash command S all the time in Tableau
13:16Desktop.
13:17It does do some auto saving in the
13:18background,
13:19but I just hit command S out of habit all
13:21the time.
13:22So this is great to know also the Tableau
13:24Online.
13:25Now, I'm not going to save this workbook.
13:26I'm going to go ahead and hit cancel.
13:28But the other shortcut you might want to
13:30know, let's say you've built something out.
13:31Let's just say we bring a category onto
13:34rows, cells, onto columns.
13:37I did it again. I built them the wrong way
13:38around.
13:39I know, I know.
13:40So let's rotate this round 90 degrees.
13:43And let's say I want to go into full screen
13:44mode.
13:45Well, for this one, you just need to hit
13:47command control F.
13:48So command control F that puts you into
13:51full screen mode and it takes up the whole
13:53screen.
13:54Now, my full screen just chops off the
13:56bottom of the screen.
13:56So you actually can't see the access
13:58correctly.
13:59But actually, if you hit the same shortcuts
14:01again, actually exits the full screen.
14:03So hit command control F again and now you
14:05're back to the view.
14:07Now, this is handy in the Web Editor
14:08because you've got all the space here at
14:10the top that can kind of get in the way.
14:12So it's actually quite handy to be able
14:13to go full screen mode and just edit your
14:16view using the whole entire browser.
14:18You can almost forget that you're in the
14:20browser version of Tableau
14:21desktop or Tableau online and then hit
14:24command control F,
14:25come out of this world and back into the
14:27browser and carry on as you are.
14:29Now, one of the last shortcuts I'll show
14:31you here is that obviously holding command
14:33still works when you click and drag
14:34something.
14:35So if you hit command, then drag category
14:37onto color.
14:38It actually copies the field and in this
14:40case creates a copy that goes onto the
14:42color pane.
14:42And then we have the bars colored by
14:46category.
14:47So that's, again, a really nice, short,
14:49handy feature.
14:49Now, the key thing to remember with these
14:51shortcuts, especially on Web Editor, is
14:53browser shortcuts can sometimes clash.
14:55An example is command D.
14:57That's actually a documented shortcut for
14:59opening up the data pane.
15:00But in Chrome, it actually clashes with the
15:03ability to add a bookmark.
15:04So you can actually see it on screen here
15:05because it's in another window.
15:07But you have to make sure that some of
15:10these
15:10shortcuts actually work in your particular
15:12setup, depending on the browser you're
15:14using and or depending on how you set up
15:17other applications to use those shortcuts
15:19if they're application wide or OS wide
15:22shortcuts.
15:23So that's pretty much it.
15:24That's all the shortcuts that I could
15:25possibly show you in one video.
15:27I hope you find some of them useful.
15:28Let me know some of the most useful
15:30shortcuts in the comments below.
15:32And I hope you start to get your fingers
15:34used to these shortcuts and I hope it
15:36makes you work a little bit faster. Let me
15:38know in the comments below.
15:39If you like the video, you know what to do.
15:40If you don't like the video, let me know in
15:42the comments below and we'll try and
15:44improve the quality of the content that we
15:45're producing.
15:46Thank you very much. I'll catch you in the
15:47next one.
15:48[BLANK_AUDIO]
In this video, I walk you through nearly 30 keyboard shortcuts that you should consider adding to your workflow. There’s something for everyone from the ability to describe a worksheet all the way to nudging content around a dashboard. 0:00 Intro0:10 Tableau documentation on Shortcuts https://j.mp/3hsRXaP0:30 Windows version of this video https://youtu.be/xRTzYyfSyDo0:45 Open a new workbook 1:12 Open a new worksheet1:36 Describe a worksheet 2:39 Navigate through tabs or views3:15 Close workbook but keep tableau open3:52 Switch to the data pane search field5:38 Refresh the data source6:02 Resize rows and columns in a table7:35 Place selected field onto one of the panes, columns or rows.9:23 Switch columns and rows 10:10 Mac-based menu search feature12:01 Clear the sheet.13:58 Web edit shortcutsView the full list here: https://j.mp/3hsRXaP on the @Tableau Software support website. -------Join my Discord Server. https://discord.gg/shBuxXr it’s a little sparse at the moment but hang in there.