Creating line charts

Although line charts are best used for time-series data to observe trends by various time units, such as day, week, month, quarter, and year, they could be used for other types of data as well; however, the ups and downs in the lines themselves are less important in such cases.

Getting ready

Let's use the sample file, Sample – Superstore Sales (Excel). Open a new worksheet and select Sample – Superstore Sales (Excel) as the data source.

How to do it...

Once the data is loaded, perform the following steps to create a line chart:

  1. Drag-and-drop Order Date into the Columns shelf. Tableau, by default, will show YEAR(Order Date).
  2. Drag-and-drop Sales into the Rows shelf.
  3. To observe the trends by month of orders, click on YEAR(Order Date) ...

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