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Tableau | Data visualisation

How to use Dashboard Zones in Tableau Desktop 2019.1 and newer

Renaming dashboard zones in Tableau 2019.1 turns that never-ending tree of mystery containers into something you can actually make sense of.

Tim Ngwena •11 January 2020 •1 min read •2 min watch •939

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2019.1

Watch on YouTube

Zones are the layout containers on a Tableau dashboard, visible as the blue border around selected sheets
The item hierarchy on the layout tab shows the nested tiled containers that make up a dashboard
Tableau 2019.1 lets you rename zones so containers like 'charts' or 'whole dashboard' are self-explanatory
Naming zones makes it much easier to navigate and make sense of complex dashboards built by others

0:00In Tableau 2019.1 Tableau have added the

0:05ability to rename zones on a dashboard. Now

0:08initially

0:09when I heard about this feature I didn't

0:10actually know what zones on a dashboard

0:12were. Essentially

0:13these are the layout containers that we

0:16have so if I just select this sheet you'll

0:18see

0:19this sort of blue border around these two

0:22sheets. Well if I go to the layout tab next

0:25to the dashboard and then I focus in here

0:27on the bottom hand side you'll see that

0:30this

0:30is this item hierarchy and if I click the t

0:33iled container and expand that out you'll

0:36see that I get the hierarchy of the

0:38dashboard and if I zoom back out again as I

0:41click through

0:42these you'll actually see it highlighting

0:45the different zones. What they've done in

0:462019.1 is add the ability to name these and

0:49this is actually going to make it much

0:51easier

0:51to understand what's going on inside of a

0:53dashboard. Imagine you've opened up someone

0:55else's dashboard assume they're actually

0:57you know diligent and they actually name

0:59these

1:00you can actually start to name these in a

1:02way that makes it easy for someone to

1:04understand

1:05what's going on where. So in this

1:09horizontal one I'll rename this to charts

1:13maybe and so

1:14now this sort of hierarchy actually makes

1:19sense. I can even rename this top one to

1:23just

1:23say whole dashboard. You've probably worked

1:30on a dashboard with lots and lots of

1:31sections

1:32and open these up and you just get this

1:34sort of never-ending tree of this is a good

1:36example

1:37here never-ending tree of containers that

1:39is just sprout out of nowhere. I'm actually

1:42going to be doing a video on layout

1:43containers at some point soon. I've already

1:45done one

1:45in the past but I'm going to be doing a new

1:47one on how to sort of stay on top of this.

1:49Well this naming makes it a little bit

1:52easier to stay on top of the top level

1:55areas and

1:55you can start to actually make sense of

1:58this. If you found this video useful hit

2:00subscribe

2:01drop a like or drop a comment. If you don't

2:03like it well leave us a comment of what you

2:06'd

2:06like to see on the channel.

2:07[BLANK_AUDIO]

Rollup

Tableau 2019.1 lets you rename the layout containers (zones) on a dashboard, turning an unreadable tree of nested containers into something you can actually navigate and understand.

Dashboards are built from tiled layout containers, visible as the item hierarchy on the layout tab. On complex dashboards, especially ones built by someone else, this hierarchy can become a confusing, never-ending tree of unnamed containers.

The Breakdown

Understand what a zone is 0:00

A zone is a layout container on your dashboard. Selecting a sheet shows a blue border around it and any container it sits inside, which is the visual cue for a zone.
Find the item hierarchy 0:22

On the layout tab, the item hierarchy at the bottom shows the nested tiled containers that structure your dashboard. Clicking through entries in this list highlights the corresponding zone on the canvas, which helps you see how the layout is actually built.
Rename zones to describe their contents 0:42

You can now give each container a meaningful name instead of a generic label. For example, rename a horizontal container holding your visualisations to something like 'charts' so the hierarchy reads sensibly.
Name the top-level container too 1:23

You can rename the outermost container as well, for instance to 'whole dashboard', giving you a clear anchor point at the top of the hierarchy.
Use naming to tame complex dashboards 1:42

On dashboards with many sections, the container tree can sprawl into an unreadable mess. Naming at least the top-level areas makes it far easier to stay oriented and make sense of the structure, particularly when opening a dashboard someone else built.

Worth Knowing

This relies on whoever built the dashboard actually taking the time to name zones sensibly aure only helps if people use it.

Use It When

Reach for this whenever you're inheriting or revisiting a dashboard with a deep or messy container hierarchy and need to quickly understand how it's laid out.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

A Rollup is drafted by AI from the video's transcript, then reviewed and edited by Tim. Everything used to produce this one is listed below — the model, the exact prompt, and the source video — so the process is transparent and reproducible.

Transcription: On-device — NVIDIA Parakeet v3 for recent videos, OpenAI Whisper large-v3 for earlier ones. The transcript never leaves the machine or gets published.
Drafting: Claude Sonnet 5 in the cloud, from that transcript.
Prompt: The exact Rollup prompt (v2) — the full system prompt, unedited.
Source video: Watch on YouTube
Drafted: 5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited: 5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

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