How to Remove ABC Column in Tableau

When I was creating a text table in Tableau, I noticed an “Abc” placeholder column appearing at the end of the table. At first, I thought it was a label I had added, but later I came to know that it’s Tableau’s default placeholder text that appears when no measure is assigned for a dimension.

Later, I was successfully able to remove the ‘ABC’ column from the Tableau text table by customizing the table format.

In this Tableau tutorial, I will explain all possible ways to remove the ABC column in the Tableau text table.

Table of Contents

Remove the ABC Column in Tableau

In the examples below, we will discuss four ways to remove the ABC column in Tableau.

Remove the ABC column in Tableau from the color card
Remove the ABC column in Tableau by formatting columns
Remove the ABC column in Tableau using a calculated field
Remove the ABC column using the Tableau table extension

Remove ABC Column in Tableau From The Color Card

To create the Tableau text table view, I have added the dimensions segment and categories to the Rows. Since there is no measure like sales and profit, the table is showing the ‘ABC’ column.

To remove the ABC column, click on the Color card in the Marks section, then select the Opacity as 0%.

This will not exactly remove the ABC column, but it will hide the ABC values from the column.

Remove ABC Column in Tableau by Formatting Columns

In this method of removing the ABC columns in Tableau, we will format the column settings.

To remove the ABC column, right-click on the table and select Format.

In the Format bar, click on the Border icon at the top, then in the Column Divider select Pane as None.

With this, the column divider will be removed. Now drag the ABC column to the left and make it as small as possible.

Now, the ABC column will be hidden in the chart view. This way, we can remove the ABC column in Tableau by formatting columns.

Remove the ABC Column in Tableau Using a Calculated Field

In this method, we will create a calculated field with a blank value to replace it with the ABC column values.

Now, create a calculated field “Blank” with the value as ” “, then click OK.

Drag the calculated field to the Text card in the Marks section. This will replace all the ABC values with blank(” “) in the ABC column.

This way, we can remove the ABC column in the Tableau text table using the calculated field.

Remove the ABC Column Using Tableau Table Extension

In Tableau, to remove the ABC column, we can use the Tableau table extension. It does not have the “Abc” placeholder that is used to denote where marks are placed.

To install the Tableau table extension, click on the Marks dropdown and select Add Extension.

Tableau table extension to hide ABC column

Search and select the Tableau table extension.

Remove ABC column with Tableau table extension

After successful installation, click on the Open button.

Click the OK button to allow the installed extension.

Install Tableau table extension in Tableau

Now, select the ‘Marks’ type as ‘Tableau Table‘ and add the dimensions to the Detail card.

Use Tableau table extension to remove ABC Column

The Tableau table does not have the “Abc” placeholder, so with this, we create the text table without the ABC column.

This way, we can avoid displaying the ABC column in Tableau by using the Tableau table extension.

Conclusion

In this Tableau tutorial, we learned different ways to remove the “Abc” placeholder column from a Tableau text table. In the above methods, we removed the Abc column using the color card, then customized the table by formatting the columns, created a blank calculated field to replace the placeholder, and at last using the Tableau Table Extension.

To remove the Abc placeholder column, you can choose any of the above methods based on the requirement. If you want to hide the placeholder, then formatting or a blank calculation is enough. But if you want to remove the placeholder column instead of hiding it, then use the Tableau table extension.