Tableau Actions
Actions in Tableau connect separate sheets and dashboards together, letting a click, hover, or menu selection on one view affect another.
Types of Actions
- Filter Action - selecting a mark on one sheet filters the data shown on another.
- Highlight Action - selecting a mark highlights matching marks elsewhere without filtering out the rest.
- URL Action - opens a web page, often passing selected values into the URL.
- Go to Sheet/Go to Page - navigates between dashboards or story points.
Creating an Action
Dashboard menu -> Actions -> Add Action -> choose action type
Set source sheet(s), target sheet(s), and the running behavior (Select / Hover / Menu)
Example
Clicking a region on a map could filter a detailed sales table on the same dashboard to show only that region's data - a classic drill-down interaction built entirely with a Filter Action.
Choosing "Hover" instead of "Select" as the running action can make dashboards feel more responsive, but it also means the action fires constantly as the mouse moves - use it deliberately, not by default.