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Tableau | Data visualisation | Tool strategy

Tableau 10: Visualisation Enhancements

Tableau 10's highlighter finally lets you spotlight a product range without filtering everything else out of view.

Tim Ngwena •10 August 2016 •1 min read •9 min watch •4.9K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 10

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The highlighter lets you emphasise a subset of data, such as a product range, while keeping the full dataset visible, making outliers and trends easier to spot than with a filter
The non-modal table calculation window lets you edit calculated fields and adjust Compute Using simultaneously, and it visually highlights the direction and order of the calculation
Mark sizing control with the fixed option sizes bars to match their continuous axis range, enabling Marimekko charts
You can group states and countries into custom sales regions and have Tableau redraw map boundaries to reflect those groups
Parameters and filters received a visual facelift with compact list options, easier styling and faster performance

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. In today's video I'm

0:03going to be taking you through new features

0:05in Tableau 10.

0:07In this particular video I'm going to be

0:08focusing on the changes to the ways in

0:11which you can design visualizations.

0:14I have a workbook prepared which takes you

0:16through some of these new features and the

0:19first feature I want to focus on is the

0:20highlighter.

0:22Now in previous versions of Tableau, if I

0:25wanted to maybe look for a particular

0:27product in a very busy dataset, I would

0:30have normally used the wildcard search as I

0:33am now.

0:34And what that would have done is it would

0:36have filtered out the rest of the dataset.

0:38So I wouldn't be able to see all my

0:40products in the Acme range in the context

0:43of all my data.

0:45Now there would be other ways in which you

0:46could have done this.

0:47You could have done this possibly using a

0:48blend, but that would have only really

0:50worked in situations where you needed to

0:52aggregate the data.

0:54It would have been quite tricky to do the

0:56same effect as you could if you could just

0:58highlight particular sets of data.

1:01And so the way highlighting works is like

1:03so.

1:04But how do I highlight a particular group

1:06of products using a filter?

1:09Now that wasn't possible until in Tableau

1:1110 they introduced the highlighter.

1:14And so if I show the highlighter and I go

1:16in here, you can see that here I've already

1:19searched for Nokia.

1:21If I come back, I can search for a

1:22different product range.

1:24And this is quite nice because this allows

1:26for a much more interactive sort of search

1:28experience within your dataset.

1:31And secondly, it allows you to see trends

1:33within a very, very busy dataset and see

1:36what subsets of that particular product

1:38range are doing.

1:40So here I can immediately see that these

1:43two products are well above the norm for

1:47Nokia.

1:48If I go to another range like Xerox, I can

1:51see that there's an outlier here that I

1:54would never have been able to see if I was

1:55just looking at the whole dataset.

1:58And equally, if I search for it, it would

2:00have been distorted somewhat.

2:03The axis would have been distorted.

2:05I wouldn't have been able to easily see

2:07that this particular item was an outlier.

2:10So I think it's a really, really great

2:12feature and it's going to help make for

2:14much, much better dashboards.

2:16OK, the other feature is parameters and

2:18filters in Tableau 10.

2:20Now, these have just had a facelift,

2:22essentially.

2:23So if I change this to a compact list, you

2:25'll see that the design is more or less in

2:28line with Tableau 10.

2:30And the other thing about these is that I

2:31sort of feel like they're performing a lot

2:33quicker.

2:34If I just show you now, this might be

2:36because I've cached some of these, but if I

2:38just keep clicking through, it's still very

2:40, very, very fast.

2:42And so these are working really, really

2:44nice.

2:45And parameters too have this sort of change

2:47and it sits a little bit better on the

2:49dashboard as well.

2:51And you can style them a lot easier as well

2:52, which is great.

2:54Now, this next feature is the non-modal

2:57table calculation window.

2:59And this is a difficult feature to explain.

3:02So I'll just show it to you.

3:03So in previous versions of Tableau, when

3:05you wanted to use table calculations that

3:08were a little bit more complex,

3:10then basically you used to have to go to

3:11Quick Table calculation, choose the one you

3:14'd like.

3:15In this case, I've chosen the percent of

3:17total.

3:18And then following that, I would then go to

3:20Compute Using and I'd choose the way in

3:22which I wanted the calculation to be done.

3:25But there was no real feedback to let me

3:27know that it was being done in the correct

3:29way.

3:30Now, if you select Edit Table Calculation,

3:32you get this new window.

3:34And this new window is great for two

3:36reasons.

3:37Firstly, it's non-modal.

3:39So I can still interact with my

3:40visualization and I can even bring up the

3:43calculated field option.

3:45So these are normally two things you want

3:46to do at the same time, but for whatever

3:48reason, you can't up until Tableau 10.

3:51So now I can edit my calculation and

3:53simultaneously change the way in which my

3:55table calculation is working.

3:58I think that's such a powerful feature.

4:00Number two, it now highlights the table to

4:03show me the direction and order in which it

4:06's doing the calculation.

4:09And again, this is absolutely phenomenal

4:11because it very, very clearly shows the

4:13user or the developer what is happening

4:15with their calculation.

4:17And this was so hard to explain in the past

4:19, although Tableau have some great

4:21documentation on this.

4:23When you're in the flow of visual analysis,

4:25it was very, very hard sometimes to fully

4:27understand what was going on very, very

4:29quickly.

4:30And even when you choose specific

4:32dimensions, Tableau allows you to sort of

4:34build this out and select the areas that

4:37you want to be using for your calculation.

4:40And again, you still have your typical

4:42options here and you can sort in different

4:44ways.

4:45So I think that's a really, really neat

4:48addition to Tableau 10.

4:51This next feature is called mark sizing

4:53control, and I've used the profit bin

4:55example here, but it's a very subtle change

4:57.

4:58So let me just try and explain this.

5:00Profit bins are essentially like buckets.

5:03You're putting different sales or different

5:05profits or different items with certain

5:08profits in certain profit buckets.

5:11So here I have my 0 to 141, my 141 to 282,

5:16and it looks like the binomial curve.

5:19Now, if I change this to a continuous scale

5:21, I get a continuous scale along the bottom.

5:25But when I change the sizing, you can see

5:27that all I'm really doing is changing the

5:29size of the bar.

5:30It's not really reflecting the continuous

5:33nature of the axes.

5:35This bar should really take up the 0 to 141

5:39range.

5:40And that is what this new option is about.

5:43When I select fixed, note that I no longer

5:46have the slider and I have this ability to

5:50basically make the bar fit that particular

5:54bucket.

5:55So from here to here is actually 141.

5:59And as soon as it hits 141, it changes to

6:01the next one.

6:03Now, this is a great feature for two

6:05reasons.

6:06It allows you to build something called a

6:08Marameko chart.

6:09This is a new type of chart that you can

6:10now achieve using this functionality.

6:13There's some great blog posts on the Table

6:14au blog about that.

6:16And the second thing is you have a little

6:17bit more control about what's happening.

6:20You can even align your visualization or

6:22your bars to a particular position.

6:25And so I'm looking forward to seeing the

6:26interesting ways in which this can be

6:28manipulated.

6:29Normally, these sort of very subtle

6:31features allow you to do some very

6:33interesting hacks to much bigger, much more

6:36flexible datasets.

6:37And so I'm looking forward to seeing what

6:40we can build with that.

6:42Now, the last feature here is mapping.

6:44And you can see here Tableau has applied

6:45the default color set.

6:47It looks like all my cells are in the UK.

6:50So I'm actually just going to tell the

6:51sales of color just so that I can see all

6:53my states and countries very clearly.

6:56And you can see here that Tableau has

6:58created a fill map with where I have cells

7:01in particular states.

7:03And that's all the level of detail that

7:04this is in.

7:05If I take states off, then obviously the

7:07fill map becomes a country one.

7:10So let me put state back in.

7:12And what I want to do is create a custom

7:14sales region because my sales region don't

7:17necessarily map to states or countries.

7:20So I'm just going to select a few.

7:23And when I've done that, I'm just going to

7:25group them.

7:26I'm going to group the state and country

7:27together.

7:28And notice that it creates this grouping

7:30here on the right.

7:32And more subtly, it created this item here.

7:35And if I carry on grouping, you'll notice

7:40that all I'm doing is adding to this

7:42particular grouping.

7:44And that's me done.

7:46So those are my four sales regions.

7:48Now, I want to remove the boundary between

7:52the countries and the state.

7:56And with that in mind, I can just start

7:58removing state.

8:00And you can see that the state boundaries

8:02disappear.

8:03But I still have country boundaries in the

8:05background.

8:06So I'm going to remove that again and watch

8:08what happens.

8:10Tableau uses the newly created group to

8:13form the new boundaries.

8:16And I think that's absolutely fantastic

8:17because here you can very, very clearly see

8:21that I've been able to create my custom

8:23sales regions.

8:24And better yet, I can actually use this

8:27custom data in my own data source.

8:30So I can say, OK, here are my sales regions

8:32and here's how the sales were doing across

8:34those regions.

8:36So this is a really, really nice change to

8:38mapping.

8:39And I think this is obviously going to

8:41improve over time.

8:43It only really works where Tableau have the

8:45relevant data to be able to do this.

8:48So it might not always work in your country

8:50or region, but in most cases, it should be

8:53fine.

8:53And when you're visualizing on Tableau

8:55Public, I'm sure it's going to enable

8:57people to create much, much more exciting

8:59mapping contexts for their visualization.

9:03So that's it. Those are all the features

9:05that relate to visualizations.

9:08In the next video, I'm going to be focusing

9:10in on mobile dashboard design and how to

9:12design for mobile devices.

9:14And then in my last video, I'm going to be

9:16looking at changes to data and the new ways

9:18in which you can interact with data before

9:20creating your visualization.

9:23Thanks for listening and enjoy.

Rollup

Tableau 10 adds a handful of visualisation features worth knowing individually: a highlighter for spotlighting subsets without filtering, a redesigned non-modal table calculation editor, fixed mark sizing for building charts like Marimekko, and custom map region grouping with redrawn boundaries.

Demonstrated using a prepared workbook with a sales dataset containing multiple product ranges, profit bins, and geographic sales data across states and countries.

The Breakdown

Highlight instead of filter 0:21

When you want to spotlight a product or category within a busy view, use the highlighter rather than a wildcard search filter. Filtering removes everything else from view and can distort the axis, whereas highlighting keeps the full dataset visible so you can spot outliers and trends within a subset in the context of everything else.
Parameters and filters facelift 2:16

Parameters and filters have a refreshed look, including a compact list option, and are easier to style on a dashboard. They also feel noticeably faster to interact with.
Edit calculations without leaving the view 2:54

The new table calculation editing window is non-modal, so you can adjust a calculated field and change its Compute Using setting at the same time without losing sight of your visualisation. It also highlights directly on the table which direction and order the calculation is running in, making it much easier to understand what's happening than in earlier versions.
Fixed mark sizing for continuous axes 4:51

When sizing bars along a continuous axis, the default sizing option only scales the bar's visual size rather than reflecting its actual width on the axis. Switching to the fixed sizing option makes each bar's width genuinely match its range on the continuous axis, which is what enables building a Marimekko-style chart and gives finer control over alignment.
Group geography into custom sales regions 6:42

On a filled map, you can select multiple states or countries and group them together to form a custom region that doesn't match standard geographic boundaries. Repeating this for other selections builds out a full set of custom regions, and this custom grouping can then be used in your own data source for reporting.
Redraw map boundaries from your groups 8:00

Once you've built a custom region group, removing the underlying state or country field from the level of detail makes Tableau redraw the map using your new group boundaries instead of the original geographic ones. This only works where Tableau holds the underlying geographic data needed to do it, so it may not work for every country or region.

Worth Knowing

The highlighter avoids the axis distortion that filtering can cause, which is what makes outliers visible that a filtered view would hide.
Custom map region grouping depends on Tableau having the relevant geographic boundary data, so it won't work everywhere.

Use It When

Reach for the highlighter when you need to draw attention to a subset of a busy dataset without losing the surrounding context; use fixed mark sizing when you need bar widths to genuinely represent a continuous range, such as for a Marimekko chart; and use custom map grouping when your real-world sales or reporting regions don't align with standard state or country boundaries.

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

Model + prompt + video is everything you'd need to recreate a Rollup like this yourself. The one thing we don't share is the transcript.

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