Folders, Groups & Hierarchies: A Road to Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification

Chapter 7: A comprehensive guide to creating folders, groups, and hierarchies in Tableau with included sample questions from the exam

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Towards AI

5 min readApr 18, 2022

Welcome to the seventh chapter, In this piece, we are going to learn about Folders, Groups, and hierarchies in Tableau.

If you want to navigate through other chapters, visit: Tableau: What it is? Why it is the best?; A road to Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification.

If you want to directly go on Tableau Desktop Specialist notes, access them here → https://dakshtrehan.notion.site/Tableau-Notes-c13fceda97b94bda940edbf6751cf30
Use the link to get access to free Tableau certification dumps (Valid till 6 July 2022):
https://www.udemy.com/course/tableau-desktop-specialist-certification-dumps-2022/?couponCode=E3F08189FA4BAFAE72BC

Table of Content

Creating Folders
Creating Groups
– Creating Groups from Data Pane
– Creating Groups from View
Hierarchies
Sample Question from this topic

Creating Folders

We can group our data either on basis of Data Source or Folders.

Folders are useful options when you have a high load of data and you wish to clear the mess by grouping different fields into folders.

To create a folder, simply choose ‘Group by Folder’ and right-click on any dimension/measure to create a folder.

Folders can be created both for Dimensions as well as Measures.

To add/remove more fields to Folders, simply drag and drop them from Data Pane.

We can also Remove/Rename our folder, by simply right-clicking on the Folder name in Data Pane.

Creating Groups

Groups in Tableau are represented by Paper Clips.

Groups are useful in grouping data that conveys the same meaning but is present with different names. e.g. our Country field contains two rows one for ‘US’ and another for ‘USA’, both depict the same meaning but are adding redundancy to our data, so we will group both of them and give them a single name.

A group lets you combine several members of a single dimension into a single data point or category type, creating a new dimension field that didn’t originally exist in your data.

Grouping can be done on both dimensions & Measures.

We can create a group inside a group.

Grouping can be done in the following ways:

From Data Pane →

Step1: Right Click on Dimension/Measure and choose “Group>>Create”.

Step2: Select all the fields you want to group together and click on “group”.

From Views →

Step1: To create a group from views, choose the required data marks.

Step2: Click on the paper clip icon(Group Members).

While creating groups within the view, the new group field is instantly used in the view.

If we group using labels in the view, a new consolidated mark is created. (if include other is unchecked)

While grouping, we have an option to view other members as “Other” or view them by their labels i.e. we can either add all the other members to the “Others” group or keep them as it is.

When we create a group in marks for the first time(if including others is checked):

The mark colors are updated in the view.
A group called “others” is created.
A group field is created in the data pane.
A group is selected that combines all selected marks.

Creating Hierarchies

Hierarchies in Tableau are created when we want to denote an “above” and “below” structure. A hierarchy preserves the ordering, creates drilling capabilities in the visualization, and can be used over and over. Any type of data can be organized into a hierarchy.

We can have more than one field to more than one hierarchy.

To create a hierarchy, simply put one field over another.

Hierarchies can be accessed via the “+” or “-” icon on the Row/Column shelf.

Date fields are automatically converted to hierarchy in Tableau.

Sample Questions from this Topic

What are the default hierarchies we can find under dimensions?

a. Region>Country>State>City..
b. Year>Quarter>Month..
c. There are no default hierarchies.
d. Head>Manager>Assistant Manager>..

Solution: Year>Quarter>Month..

Groups combine low-level categories using high-level?

a. True
b. False

Solution: False

Tableau behaves differently when we create groups using labels within the views and using labels in the view?

a. True
b. False

Solution: True

Which of the following is used for data drill-down:

a. date
b. hierarchy
c. group
d. set

Solution: hierarchy

Groups in Tableau are represented by?
a. Paper Clip
b. Double Cylinder
c. Venn Diagram
d. Single Cylinder

Solution: Paper Clip

Use the link to get access to free Tableau certification dumps (Valid till 6 July 2022):
https://www.udemy.com/course/tableau-desktop-specialist-certification-dumps-2022/?couponCode=E3F08189FA4BAFAE72BC