When I was creating a sales dashboard for Tableau, the sales team told me the charts looked plain and were difficult to read. The numbers and sales figures were there on the chart, but it was difficult to figure out the different measures.
As a solution, I added colors to the bar charts. By adding colors to the bars, it was easy to highlight important information, such as the top-performing category or regions with low sales.
In this Tableau tutorial, I will explain the various methods to add colors to a bar chart in Tableau.
Add Colors to Bar Charts in Tableau
In Tableau, there are multiple methods to add color in bar charts according to the specific requirements. In the examples that follow, we will discuss the methods for coloring bar charts in Tableau.
- Add colors to bar charts in Tableau with the color shelf
- Add color to only one bar in a Tableau bar chart
- Add shaded colors in the Tableau bar chart
Add Colors to Bar Charts in Tableau With Color Shelf
The first option for easily adding colors to a Tableau bar chart is to use the color shelf directly.
In the chart below, we will use the Tableau superstore dataset to create the view, and then we will add colors to it.
Now, connect the Tableau with the superstore dataset and follow the steps below to add colors to bars in the Tableau chart using the color shelf.
To create the view, add a measure, such as Sales, to the Rows and dimensions, such as Region, to the Columns.
Now, there are three scenarios to add colors to the bars: adding color for the same bar dimension, adding color to different dimensions, and using a measure to color the dimension bars.
- Adding color for the same bar dimension: For example, if the dimension is Region and we add Region to the Color card, then all bars will be displayed in different colors.
- If we use a dimension different from the one we used in Columns, it will create a stacked bar chart. For example, in the chart dimension is region, and you add a Category to the color card, then the category color will be stacked in each region bar.