Although adding labels to data points is sometimes redundant, Tableau makes it very easy to add labels to your graphs. With the help of data labels, readers of the graph are able to read the exact value of the data point instead of speculating about the values by gauging the heights of bars or sizes of shapes. However, as a designer of a visualization, you must ask this question to yourself: if data labels are important to your graph, can you replace the graph with a simple table to provide all the details?
Let's use the sample file Sample – Superstore Sales (Excel)
. Open a new worksheet and select Sample – Superstore Sales (Excel) as the data source.
Once the data is loaded on the worksheet, perform the following steps to add the data labels to your graph:
In the simple cases, as we have seen in this recipe, Tableau places the value next to the marks. In overlapping data points cases, Tableau will hide some of the labels to increase the clarity of the graphic. Instead of repeating the value encoded in a mark, it is possible to show a completely different measure as a label. This could be misleading, however, and could confuse readers.