A quick walkthrough on how to create combine a blended axis into a dual axis in Tableau.

Last week I came across a #WorkoutWednesday Challenge from 2017 (week 35), which required me to combine a Blended axis with a dual axis, allowing you to visualise three measures (an Average, MIN and MAX) in on one chart.

Interactive viz

I find this a quite cool feature so I figured why not quickly write it up, so the next time you want to neatly combine 3 or more measures  and don’t want to limit yourself to just a blended axis you know what to try!

1. Blended axis

For the sake of ease, I will walkthrough an example using the: Sample – Superstore data set of Tableau.

1. I have both Min and Max Profit on the row shelf (right click drag profit onto rows, select min/max).
2. Add your Month Order date to the columns to split up the view (right click drag, select month order date)
3. Drag the Min or Max pill into the axis of the other measure, note you will see the dual ruler for blended axis show up.
4. Change your month order date to discrete (right click, select discrete).
5. Place Measure Names on Path. (if you have a continuous axis for your date, it will connect the measure values independently first, prior to connecting the Min with the Max, a discrete order date prevents this!)

2. Dual Axis your Measure Values

The last step is to bring in your measure to dual axis.

1. Add Average Profit to the rows (right click drag, select AVG).
2. Remove Measure Names from Path to reveal the line.
3. Right click on AVG(Profit), select Dual Axis.
4. Right click on the AVG(Profit) Axis, select synchronise axis.
5. Format to your preference and all done!

That’s it for now. Feel free to contact me about any of the content on Linkedin or Twitter @RobbinVernooij