Reference: Click Here
Tableau
Desktop comes with a set of color palettes that have been carefully designed to
work well together and effectively apply color to data in many situations, such
as on maps, heat maps, bars, etc.,. Alternatively, you can add your own custom
color palettes to match your corporate identity or to describe common data
better.
In
general, Tableau offers three types of color palettes: categorical, sequential,
and diverging. You can create your own custom color palette by modifying the
Preferences.tps file that comes with Tableau Desktop. The Preferences.tps file
is located in the My Tableau Repository. The preferences file is a basic XML
file that you can open in a text editor to modify. Unedited preferences file
looks like following example:
Important: Tableau does not test or
support custom color palettes, so be sure to back up your workbooks before you
continue. Also, there is no guarantee that your custom color palettes will work
with future Tableau Desktop upgrades.
You
can add as many custom palettes as you like, each with as many colors as you
want. Make sure each palette has a unique name. The colors are indicated using
the standard HTML format. This is the hexadecimal value #RRGGBB or Red Green
Blue format. When you save the workbook, the color information is embedded in
the file, but it is not included as a reusable color encoding. This means that
any colors that are in use are shown for anybody opening the workbook; however,
if they don't have the modified preferences file, they cannot use the color
information for new color encoding.
Step 1: Edit
your preferences file
- Go to the
My Tableau Repository folder in your Documents directory, and open the Preferences.tps file.
- Between the opening and closing "workbook" tags, insert opening and closing "preferences" tags.
- Choose a
color palette option below and follow the procedure to modify the
Preferences.tps file.
Option 1: Create a custom categorical color palette
A
categorical color palette contains several distinct colors that can be assigned
to discrete dimension members. For example, when you put a discrete dimension
such as Region on the Color, the categorical color legend is used. The
following is an example of what to add between the "preferences" tags
to add a categorical color palette. Note that the "type" attribute is
specified as regular, which identifies this palette as a categorical palette.
- In the
Preferences.tps file, between the "preferences" tags, paste the
following:
<color-palette name="My Categorical Palette"
type="regular" >
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#7099a5</color>
<color>#c71f34</color>
<color>#1d437d</color>
<color>#e8762b</color>
<color>#5b6591</color>
<color>#59879b</color>
</color-palette>
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#7099a5</color>
<color>#c71f34</color>
<color>#1d437d</color>
<color>#e8762b</color>
<color>#5b6591</color>
<color>#59879b</color>
</color-palette>
- Save the
Preferences.tps file and then restart Tableau Desktop.
- Open the
Superstore sample data source.
- From the
Dimensions pane, drag the selected discrete dimension (e.g., Region)
to Color.
- Click the
color legend menu arrow and select Edit Colors.
- In the
Edit Colors dialog box, from the palette drop-down list, select your new
custom palette.
- Click the Assign
Palette button to assign the custom colors to each respective field.
- When
finished, click OK.
Option 2: Create a custom sequential color palette
Another
type of palette is the sequential color palette. Typically, this type of
palette shows a single color, varying in intensity. This type of color palette
is used for continuous fields, typically for measures. The following is an
example of what to add between the "preferences" tags to add a
sequential color palette. Note that the "type" attribute is specified
as ordered-sequential, which identifies this palette as a sequential palette.
Also, for sequential palettes you must specify each variant of the color in the
sequential color range.
- In the
Preferences.tps file, between the "preferences" tags, paste the
following:
<color-palette name="My Sequential Palette"
type="ordered-sequential" >
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#eb9c42</color>
<color>#ebad67</color>
<color>#eabb86</color>
<color>#eacba8</color>
<color>#ebd8c2</color>
</color-palette>
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#eb9c42</color>
<color>#ebad67</color>
<color>#eabb86</color>
<color>#eacba8</color>
<color>#ebd8c2</color>
</color-palette>
- Save the
Preferences.tps file and then restart Tableau Desktop.
- Open the
Superstore sample data source.
- From the
Measures pane, drag the measure (e.g., Sales) to Color.
- Click the
color legend menu arrow, and select Edit Colors.
- In the
Edit Colors dialog box, from the palette drop-down list, select your
custom palette.
- If you
want each color gradation to be defined within a box, select the Stepped
Color check box, and in the Steps text box, type the number of
color steps you want to display in the bar.
- Click
the Advanced button.
- Select the Start check
box, and in the text box, type the low end number you want for the
continuum.
- Click the Apply button
to see the result, and make adjustments as needed. The default for
sequential color is to make the high end of the continuum pale and the low
end intense; select the Reversed check box to make the
high end intense and the low end, pale (this is the default when you keep
the Automatic palette selection).
Option 3: Create a custom diverging color palette
The
third type of color palette is a diverging color palette. A diverging palette
shows two ranges of values using color intensity to show the magnitude of the
number and the actual color to show which range the number is from. Diverging
palettes are most commonly used to show the difference between positive and
negative numbers. The following is an example of what to add between the
"preferences" tags to add a diverging color palette. Note that the
"type" attribute is specified as ordered-diverging, which identifies
this palette as a diverging palette.
- In the
Preferences.tps file, between the "preferences" tags, paste the
following:
<color-palette name="My Diverging Palette"
type="ordered-diverging" >
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#59879b</color>
</color-palette>
<color>#eb912b</color>
<color>#59879b</color>
</color-palette>
- Save the
Preferences.tps file and then restart Tableau Desktop.
- Open the
Superstore sample data source.
- Click the Assign
Palette button. The colors in the palette are used in the order
they appear in the Preferences file.
If
you add a sequential or diverging palette, remember to change the
"type" attribute from "regular" to one of the following:
- ordered-sequential
- ordered-diverging
Step 2: Assign
a default custom palette to dimensions and measures and publish as a data
source (optional)
After
you save the workbook, the custom color palette information is embedded in the
workbook (for Excel and text file-based workbooks, in the .twbx) and therefore
only available for that workbook. This means that colors that are in use are
shown for anybody opening that particular workbook. If they don't have the
modified preferences file, they cannot use the color information for any new
color encoding. To allow new color encoding using the custom color palette or
to standardize a custom color palette for the Tableau workbooks in your
organization, you can create the custom color palette using one of the options
above, and then publish it as a Tableau Server data source.
- On the
same computer from which you modified the Preferences.tps file, open
Tableau Desktop.
- Open the
Superstore sample data source.
- Right-click
a field in the Data pane, and select Default Properties > Color.
- In the
Edit Colors dialog box, associate the field values with the custom color
palette, and then click OK when finished.
- From the
Data menu, select the data source, select Publish to Server,
and then complete process to publish the data source.
After
publishing the data source to Tableau Server, connect any new workbooks to this
data source to use the custom color palette.