How to Insert Image in Tableau

While creating dashboards in Tableau, I often need to add visuals like logos, icons, or background maps to make the reports easy to understand. By adding relevant images, we can make the dashboard more informative with clear visuals.

In this Tableau tutorial, I’ll explain four different ways to add images in Tableau Desktop. In these methods, we will add images, from inserting a static image in the dashboard to using dynamic web images that change based on data.

Insert Image in Tableau

In Tableau, there are the following ways to add images for the different use cases.

• Add image using image object to a Dashboard
• Use custom shapes to add images
• Use the web page object to add images
• Upload images dynamically via URL

Add an Image Object to a Dashboard

In this method, we will add an image to the Tableau Dashboard, using the Image object in the Dashboard. This method is useful when we need to add a logo or an informational image in the dashboard.

1. Create a dashboard, and optionally add worksheets to the canvas of the dashboard. After this, go to the Objects section and drag the Image object to the dashboard.

2. In this window, there are two options: either upload an image or use a web image URL. To upload an image, select Insert Image File -> Browse and select the image -> Select fit/Centre image.

3. If you want to make it a clickable image, then in the field URL Opened when image is clicked, enter the URL that will open on image click.

4. At last, enter the Alt text and click OK.

Now the image will be visible in the dashboard. In the settings, we have selected the option to open a URL when an image is clicked. So, as we click, it will open the selected URL.

This way, we can add an image or a clickable image in a Tableau dashboard using the Image object.

Use Web Page Object to Add Images in Tableau

Another method to add an image to the Tableau dashboard is to use the Web page object. Now, follow the steps below to add web images in Tableau using a web page object.

For this, create a dashboard and navigate to the Objects section in the right-hand navigation bar.

From the Objects, drag the Web Page to the Dashboard. After this, enter the Image URL in the URL input field and click OK.

Now, we can see the image for the entered URL on the dashboard.

This way, we can upload images to the Tableau dashboard using the web page object.

Use Custom Shapes to Add Images

In Tableau, we have built-in shapes and icons that we can use in the table records. To make these shapes more dynamic, we can add images to the shapes and icons.

Follow the steps below to add an image to Tableau worksheets using the custom shapes.

1. To add images, I have created a sample dataset with the Product Name and Price columns.

2. Connect the tableau to the data source. After this, create a view by adding the Product to the Rows and selecting Mark type as Shape.

Now, we can see the circle shape with the product name values.

3. In the Tableau repository, we have a shapes folder. This folder stores the shapes and icons as images. In the Shapes folder, create another folder, such as Image Folder.

4. Inside this folder, add the image that you want to use as a shape. These images should be in PNG format.

5. Now, in the Tableau worksheet, drag the Product dimension to the Shapes card.

6. Again, click on the Shape card to open it in edit mode. In the Shape Palette, select the image folder that we added to the Tableau repository.

7. For the Product Items, select the image according to the product names and click OK.

In the worksheet, we can see the images for each row, which we have selected by replacing shapes.

This way, we can use custom shapes to add an image to a Tableau worksheet.

Upload Images Dynamically via URL in Worksheet

In this method, we need to add an image URL column to the data source file. Follow the steps below to upload images dynamically via URL in the Worksheet.

1. To add images dynamically through URL, I have created a table with Name in and URL column. In the URL column, you have to enter the image url address.

Ensure that the images you use do not exceed 200 KB.

2. Connect the data source to Tableau and add the Name column to the Rows.

3. The URL column’s default data type is Text. Click on the data type icon (ABC) and select Image Role -> URL.

4. Add the URL field to the Rows next to the Name field, and set the view to Entire view.

With this, we can see the URL images in each row in the text table. Here, we have included only dimensions, so it might show the ABC column, which can be removed.

This way, we can upload images dynamically in the Tableau worksheet by using the URL.

Conclusion

In this Tableau tutorial, we have learned different ways to add images in Tableau Desktop. In the above methods, we added a static image using the Image object, then added online images through the Web Page object.

After that, we used custom shapes to replace default icons with our own images, and lastly, displayed images dynamically using URLs. By using these methods, we can make our Tableau dashboards more interactive and add information through images.

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Bijay Kumar

I am Bijay Kumar, the founder of SalesforceFAQs.com. Having over 10 years of experience working in salesforce technologies for clients across the world (Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc.). I am a certified salesforce administrator and expert with experience in developing salesforce applications and projects. My goal is to make it easy for people to learn and use salesforce technologies by providing simple and easy-to-understand solutions. Check out the complete profile on About us.