# Tracking Reference Lines: Tableau Quick Tip

> 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:** 2016-10-19
- **Format:** Video · 4 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation
- **Tools:** Tableau (dashboards, filters, reference lines)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/tracking-reference-lines-tableau-quick-tip
- **Watch:** https://youtu.be/mQRx-3Pdf9E

I show how to create a tracking reference line effect in Tableau, where hovering over one chart draws a reference line across two synced charts. I walk through the three steps: setting up a dashboard highlight action, adding recalculated minimum reference lines, and hiding the lines behind a fixed axis.

## Key takeaways

- Create a hover-based highlight dashboard action between both sheets, passing date and time fields and ticking both directions so each chart affects the other
- Add a minimum reference line and leave 'show recalculated line for highlighted or selected data points' enabled so the line follows your cursor
- Because the action is hover rather than click, you avoid selecting multiple marks, keeping the minimum tied to a single point
- Hide the resting reference line by fixing the axis start to the earliest date so it tucks behind the axis
- Use the label option to only label highlighted marks, so point labels appear automatically when the highlight action fires

## Chapters

- 0:00 The tracking reference line effect
- 0:40 Step one: dashboard highlight action
- 1:35 Step two: recalculated minimum reference lines
- 2:51 Step three: hiding the line behind the axis
- 3:42 Labelling only highlighted marks

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/tracking-reference-lines-tableau-quick-tip

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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