# Dynamic image resizing in Tableau using Cloudinary

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2022-07-28
- **Format:** Video · 20 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation, Tool strategy
- **Tools:** Excel; Tableau (calculated fields, dashboards, data modelling, extensions, relationships)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/dynamic-image-resizing-in-tableau-using-cloudinary
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSRzNi-_u5g

I show you how to use Cloudinary, a cloud-based image platform, to dynamically resize and transform images for use inside Tableau. Using a mock Excel data set, I walk through setting up a data model relationship, building a URL action to feed images into a web object, and constructing calculated fields that append Cloudinary transformation parameters to resize images on demand.

## Key takeaways

- Cloudinary lets you transform images on request by appending parameters to a URL, handling resizing, cropping, watermarks, face detection and background removal without pre-processing every asset
- In Tableau you can use a 'go to URL' dashboard action to pass a dynamically built image URL into a web object, changing the displayed image when you click a mark
- Use the data model and relationships rather than physical joins, since relationships only bring data together at query level and reduce computational load
- You can build the image URL with a calculated field by splitting it into the base URL, the 'upload' transformation segment and the file path, then injecting parameters like a 300x300 resize
- Cloudinary's free tier offers 25 monthly credits (1,000 transformations each), making it viable for tactical or small-scale dashboard deployments, while the API scales for larger embedded solutions

## Chapters

- 0:00 Why images are painful in Tableau
- 0:21 Setting up the data with relationships
- 2:07 Breaking down the Cloudinary URL
- 3:00 Building the URL dashboard action
- 5:31 How Cloudinary transformations work
- 8:31 Building the resize calculation in Tableau
- 13:38 Troubleshooting and finishing the action
- 14:47 Other Cloudinary capabilities
- 16:42 Pricing and use cases

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/dynamic-image-resizing-in-tableau-using-cloudinary

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena