How to Create a Table of Contents to Navigate to Other Dashboards in Tableau

The exercise in this article shows you how to create controls that enable viewers of your Tableau dashboards to navigate easily from one dashboard to another. You can download the attached workbook to follow along.

Create the worksheet

Step 1

Open a new workbook and select Analysis > Create Calculated Field.

Step 2

In the Calculated Field dialog box, complete the following steps.
  1. For Name, type something simple, for example, Table of Contents.
  2. In the Formula box, type the message that you want your users to see to prompt them to take an action. For example, “Right-click here to view the next dashboard.”
  3. Click OK.

Step 3

From the Dimensions pane, drag your new Table of Contents field to the Rows shelf.

Step 4

On the Marks card, do the following:
  1. In the list of view types, select Shape.
  2. Click Shape and select More Shapes.

Step 5

In the Edit Shape dialog box, complete the following steps.
  1. Under Select Shape Palette, select Arrows.
  2. In the Arrows palette, select one of the right-pointing arrows.
  3. Click Apply to see how it looks in your view. Then click OK if you approve, or try different arrows until you find the one you like best.

Step 6

On the Marks card, move the Size slider to adjust the arrow size as needed.

Step 7

Right-click the worksheet tab, select Rename Sheet, and rename it Table of Contents.

Create the dashboard action

Step 1

Start a new dashboard, and drag the Table of Contents sheet to the view.

Step 2

Select Dashboard > Actions.

Step 3

In the Actions dialog box, click Add Action button, and select Filter.

Step 4

In the Add Filter Action dialog box, complete the following steps:
  1. For Name, type the name that you want to appear as a command on a shortcut menu that appears when a user right-clicks the right-pointing arrow shape you chose earlier.For example, View the Orders Dashboard.
  2. In the Source Sheets section, make sure Table of Contents is selected.
  3. Under Run action on, select the action that you want to run from the Table of Contents.This example uses Menu.
  4. Under Target Sheets, select the destination dashboard.
  5. Under Target Filters select Selected Fields with no fields selected. This keeps the Table of Contents control from passing any filters when users navigate to the new dashboard.
  6. Click OK.

Step 5

Formatting can improve the user experience of your dashboard. For this example, complete the following steps to hide the title and headers.
  1. Right-click the larger Table of Contents title, and select Hide Title.
  2. Right-click the remaining Table of Contents, which is the name of the field, and select Hide Field Labels for Rows.
This cleans up the view and makes only the relevant information visible.

The action in action

Test the action by right-clicking the arrow on the Table of Contents sheet.
The new menu action you created appears at the bottom.

Further applications

You can create additional filter actions, all named appropriately with the various target dashboards, using the Table of Contents you just created.
Repeat the earlier steps to create an action that adds a shortcut menu command, using a different name and target sheet as the destination dashboard. Then when you right-click the Table of Contents, all of the destinations you created appear on the menu.
Tip: In the original worksheet, you can edit the calculated field that you created for Table of Contents, so that the text that appears better reflects the choices in your dashboard. In the Dimensions pane, right-click the field and select Edit. The dashboard that contains this field automatically shows the update.

URL action to more destinations

In the example below, the data was brought in specifically to create a directory of URLs to various training topics. The user, upon selection will be guided to an external URL. 
To learn how to use field values in URL actions, see the article Adding Actions to Dashboards.