Where is Analysis in Tableau?

You’ve connected your data and dragged a few fields onto a new sheet in Tableau, creating your first basic visualization. Now what? The next step is to move beyond simple plots and start a real analysis - adding context, finding trends, and calculating new metrics. That often leads to the million-dollar question for new users: exactly where do you go to do analysis in Tableau?

This tutorial will show you precisely where to find the Analysis menu in Tableau’s interface. We’ll also break down its most powerful features and explain how to use them with simple, practical examples to start uncovering meaningful insights from your data right now.

Locating the Analysis Menu in Tableau

The shortest answer is that the “Analysis” features live in a dropdown menu in the main toolbar at the very top of the Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public application. You can find it nestled between “Format” and “Map.”

This menu is the classic, central command post for applying analytical overlays and functions to your worksheet. Think of it as a toolkit for adding layers of meaning to your charts. While some of its functions are also available in other parts of the interface (like the Analytics Pane), the top menu provides a comprehensive list of all your options.

Now, let's explore what’s inside and how you can use its features to get more from your visualizations.

A Breakdown of Key Features in the Analysis Menu

While the menu has quite a few options, most day-to-day analysis hinges on a few core features. Here’s a look at the most useful tools and a simple walkthrough of how to apply them.

1. Adding Totals and Grand Totals

One of the first things you’ll often want to do with a table of numbers is to see the totals. The Analysis menu makes this simple.

• What it does: This feature adds summary rows and columns that calculate the sum, average, or other aggregation of your data points. It’s perfect for seeing the big picture alongside the detailed breakdown.
• Example: Imagine you have a table showing product sales broken down by region and quarter. Adding grand totals would give you the total sales for each region across all quarters (Row Grand Totals) and the total company sales for each quarter across all regions (Column Grand Totals).

How to Add Totals:

1. Navigate to the top menu and click Analysis > Totals.
2. From here, you'll see a range of options:

Totals instantly add context by showing how the parts contribute to the whole without requiring you to write a separate calculation.

2. Calculating Percentages

Raw numbers are helpful, but percentages often tell a clearer story about contribution and proportion. Instead of creating a calculated field, you can add percentages dynamically.

• What it does: This function quickly recalculates the numbers in your view as percentages of a total - be it the column total, row total, or the overall total.
• Example: You have a bar chart showing website traffic from different sources (Google, Social Media, Email). Instead of showing absolute session counts, you can display each source’s contribution as a percentage of the total website traffic.

How to Add Percentages:

1. Click Analysis > Percentage Of.
2. Choose how you want the percentage to be calculated:

This simple switch is one of the fastest ways to reframe your data and understand relative importance.

3. Showing Trend Lines and Forecasts

When you're looking at data over time, two of the most valuable insights are discerning the historical trend and forecasting where that trend is heading.

• Trend Lines: These show the general direction or pattern of your data over time, helping you see whether your metrics are generally increasing, decreasing, or staying flat. It essentially draws a line of best fit through your data points.
• Forecasts: This feature uses Tableau's exponential smoothing models to predict future values based on past data. It will project the trend forward and give you an estimate of future performance along with a confidence interval.

How to Add a Trend Line or Forecast:

1. To show trend lines, simply go to Analysis > Trend Lines > Show Trend Lines. Tableau will analyze your data and automatically add a linear, logarithmic, exponential, or polynomial trend line to your viz.
2. For forecasting, navigate to Analysis > Forecast > Show Forecast. Tableau will project future data points for your time series. You can customize the forecast length and model by right-clicking the forecast and selecting "Forecast Options."

These two tools turn a static historical chart into a dynamic forward-looking analytical tool.

4. Creating Calculated Fields

While almost everything else in the Analysis menu applies a preset model or aggregation to your chart, Calculated Fields give you a blank canvas. This is arguably the most powerful feature for deep, custom analysis.

• What it does: It opens an editor allowing you to create new data fields by writing formulas. You can perform mathematical operations, manipulate strings, apply logical statements, and much more. You're creating a new dimension or measure that doesn't exist in your original dataset.
• Example: Your dataset contains Sales and Profit, but you want to analyze Profit Margin. You can create a calculated field named Profit Margin with the formula:

How to Create a Calculated Field:

1. Go to Analysis > Create Calculated Field…
2. Give your field a name.
3. Enter your formula in the calculation editor.
4. Click OK. Your new calculated field will appear in the Data pane, ready to be dragged and dropped into your view like any other field.

Mastering calculated fields is what separates casual Tableau users from power users. It lets you answer business-specific questions by shaping the data precisely how you need it.

Going Beyond the Menu: Meet the Analytics Pane

While the Analysis dropdown menu is the traditional home of these features, Tableau has also made many of them easier to access through a drag-and-drop interface: the Analytics Pane.

You can find the Analytics tab right next to the Data pane where you usually pick your dimensions and measures. Clicking on it reveals objects like "Reference Line", "Constant Line", "Average Line", "Clusters", and "Forecast" that you can drag and drop directly onto your chart.

For example, if you want an average line in your view, you could drag the "Average Line" from the Analytics Pane and onto your chart. This pane is often a faster, more intuitive method for many users, particularly those who are visually-driven, as it lets you visually position analytical elements as you build your dashboard. It’s worth getting in the habit of checking it as a faster route than navigating the dropdown menu.

Final Thoughts

The Analysis menu in Tableau is the gateway to elevating your charts from simple data reports into powerful analytical assets. By learning to use totals, percentages, trend lines, and custom calculations, you can start asking much deeper questions of your data. These tools help you extract more insights and make informed decisions directly within Tableau.

Learning how to navigate tools like Tableau takes time, but discovering insights from your data doesn’t have to be difficult. At Graphed you can automate the process entirely. Instead of hunting through menus and writing formulas, our platform lets you connect your data sources—like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Facebook Ads—and simply ask in plain English for the dashboards you need. You can even ask follow-up questions to uncover insights without having to manually build complex reports. Our team builds the visualizations you need, allowing you to focus on interpreting the results.