Tableau Desktop Specialist · Free Practice Question Medium
Question 5
A retail analyst is preparing a sales report in Tableau Desktop using a dataset from a MySQL database table named "StoreSales." The table includes fields such as "StoreID", "Category", "SalesDate", and "Revenue". The analyst starts with a basic horizontal bar chart showing total revenue by category but needs to modify it to highlight regional differences and emphasize the top-performing category visually.
Time is limited, so the analyst prefers to leverage Tableau’s quick chart-building features. Which of the following actions can the analyst take to achieve these goals effectively?
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A
Drag "StoreID" to the Rows shelf alongside "Category" to create a nested bar chart showing revenue by category within each store, then sort "Category" by revenue descending to emphasize the top performer.
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B
Drag "Revenue" to Size and "StoreID" to Color, modifying the bar chart into a variable-width stacked bar chart where the top category’s larger size stands out across stores.
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C
Place "StoreID" on the Columns shelf, creating side-by-side bars for each store by category, then click the "Sort" button on the toolbar to order categories by total revenue, highlighting the top category.
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D
Use "Show Me" to switch to a bar chart with "Category" on Rows, "Revenue" on Columns, and "StoreID" on Detail, then apply a reference line to mark the average revenue and bold the top category manually.
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E
Add "StoreID" to the Color shelf to stack revenue by store within each category bar, then use the "Highlight" toolbar option to manually select and emphasize the category with the highest revenue.
Reveal correct answer
Correct answer: C
A.
Adding "StoreID" to Rows with "Category" creates a nested bar chart, showing revenue by category within each store. While it shows regional differences, sorting "Category" descending applies within each store, not across the whole view, so the top category isn’t emphasized globally. It’s also less intuitive for quick comparison.
B.
"Revenue" on Size and "StoreID" on Color creates a variable-width stacked bar chart, where bar width reflects revenue and segments show stores.
While creative, it’s not a standard Tableau quick feature, and size differences don’t specifically emphasize the top category—comparison becomes cluttered and unclear.
C.
Placing "StoreID" on Columns creates a side-by-side bar chart (https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/buildexamples_bar.htm) with bars for each category grouped by store, showing regional differences clearly.
Clicking the "Sort" button on the toolbar (https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/sort.htm) sorts "Category" by SUM([Revenue]) descending, placing the top-performing category first, emphasizing it visually in a quick, native way - meeting all goals efficiently.
D.
"Show Me" with "Category" on Rows, "Revenue" on Columns, and "StoreID" on Detail keeps it a basic bar chart, ignoring regional differences (Detail adds granularity, not visual separation).
A reference line (https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/reference_lines.htm) shows average revenue, but there’s no way to "bold the top category manually" in Tableau’s native tools - misleading and incomplete.
E.
"StoreID" on Color stacks revenue by store within each category bar (https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/buildexamples_bar.htm#stacked), but stacking obscures direct comparison.
The "Highlight" toolbar option (https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/highlighter.htm) isn’t for manual emphasis, it’s for dynamic interaction and it can’t bold a category, making this impractical.
Discussion
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