Where is the authoritative Tableau reference guide???

As you are likely aware, we wrote the first book on Tableau, “Rapid Graphs with Tableau Software“. It is intended to guide people through the overall capabilities, product flow and key features of Tableau. At 160 pages, it is an intentionally light and quick-flowing introduction to using Tableau for typical data analysis and visualization needs. A new version of the book for version 6 of Tableau will be out soon.

However, we occasionally hear from advanced users seeking an authoritative reference guide on Tableau. Given the breadth of Tableau capabilities and many possible applications, our book was never intended as an authoritative reference manual in a lean 160 pages.

While our Complete Tableau Training covers most of the product functionality, it is presented in a course format encompassing about 650 slides with multiple exercises and case studies over four days. Our best estimate is that to produce a comprehensive Tableau reference guide would likely end up in the 3,000-4,000 page range. No such reference guide exists today!

Now, the good news; Tableau does have a free 1,100 page reference guide available at http://www.tableausoftware.com/currentpdf. Download this guide for the most comprehensive reference manual on Tableau. It covers a wide array of topics with approximately 800 items listed in the index. Some topics are covered in more depth than others. Many topics have a primary focus on function rather than application.

If you still find this wonderful resource lacking for specialized questions, give the knowledge base or support forums a try. In the meantime, if you would benefit from a comprehensive review of the vast majority of Tableau capabilities in a live, hands-on course, please consider joining us for live public training sometime this year!