TABLEAU DESKTOP CERTIFICATION
ACTUAL TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS COMPLETE STUDY GUIDE
●● What is Tableau Public?
Answer: A free platform to publish and share visualizations publicly;
data/workbooks are public.
●● What is Tableau Server/Online?
Answer: Secure platforms to publish, share, and collaborate on Tableau
content within an organization (Server self-hosted; Online SaaS).
●● Difference between .twb and .twbx?
Answer: .twb is XML instructions (no data); .twbx packages workbook
with data, images, and assets.
●● What does .hyper represent?
Answer: Extract file format used by Tableau for fast query performance.
●● Where is the Show Me pane and what does it do?
Answer: Right side by default; suggests chart types based on selected
fields.
,●● What is the Data pane?
Answer: Left panel listing fields (dimensions, measures) and data
sources.
●● What is the Marks card?
Answer: Controls encoding: color, size, label, detail, tooltip, shape.
●● What are shelves?
Answer: Rows, Columns, Filters, Pages, etc., where you place fields to
build the view.
●● What is the Status Bar useful for?
Answer: Shows marks count, filter status, and summary of selection.
●● What is a data source in Tableau?
Answer: A defined connection to data (schema, fields, connection type,
extract/live settings).
●● How do you add a second data source to a workbook?
Answer: Data menu --> New Data Source; or connect via the Data
Source page.
●● How do you rename a data source or field?
,Answer: Right-click the data source/field --> Rename.
●● How do you hide unused fields?
Answer: Data Source page --> Hide All Unused Fields; or right-click
field --> Hide.
●● How do you replace a field used across the workbook?
Answer: Right-click field --> Replace References...
●● What is a data source filter?
Answer: A filter applied at the data source level affecting all sheets using
that source.
●● How do you create an extract?
Answer: On Data Source page --> Extract radio button --> Create
Extract; or Data menu --> Extract.
●● When should you refresh an extract?
Answer: When underlying source data changes and you need updated
results.
●● Live vs. Extract‚Äîkey tradeoff?
, Answer: Live: real-time, can be slower, source load; Extract: snapshot,
faster, offline capable.
●● When to use an extract?
Answer: For performance, offline analysis, complex calculations, or to
isolate a subset of data.
●● What is a join?
Answer: Combines tables horizontally by matching key fields (inner,
left, right, full).
●● What is a union?
Answer: Stacks tables vertically (same structure/columns) to add rows.
●● What are relationships?
Answer: Logical connections between tables that preserve their native
levels of detail and join only when needed in the viz.
●● When are relationships preferred over physical joins?
Answer: When combining fact tables with different grains or when
avoiding row duplication/incorrect aggregations.
●● What is data blending?
ACTUAL TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS COMPLETE STUDY GUIDE
●● What is Tableau Public?
Answer: A free platform to publish and share visualizations publicly;
data/workbooks are public.
●● What is Tableau Server/Online?
Answer: Secure platforms to publish, share, and collaborate on Tableau
content within an organization (Server self-hosted; Online SaaS).
●● Difference between .twb and .twbx?
Answer: .twb is XML instructions (no data); .twbx packages workbook
with data, images, and assets.
●● What does .hyper represent?
Answer: Extract file format used by Tableau for fast query performance.
●● Where is the Show Me pane and what does it do?
Answer: Right side by default; suggests chart types based on selected
fields.
,●● What is the Data pane?
Answer: Left panel listing fields (dimensions, measures) and data
sources.
●● What is the Marks card?
Answer: Controls encoding: color, size, label, detail, tooltip, shape.
●● What are shelves?
Answer: Rows, Columns, Filters, Pages, etc., where you place fields to
build the view.
●● What is the Status Bar useful for?
Answer: Shows marks count, filter status, and summary of selection.
●● What is a data source in Tableau?
Answer: A defined connection to data (schema, fields, connection type,
extract/live settings).
●● How do you add a second data source to a workbook?
Answer: Data menu --> New Data Source; or connect via the Data
Source page.
●● How do you rename a data source or field?
,Answer: Right-click the data source/field --> Rename.
●● How do you hide unused fields?
Answer: Data Source page --> Hide All Unused Fields; or right-click
field --> Hide.
●● How do you replace a field used across the workbook?
Answer: Right-click field --> Replace References...
●● What is a data source filter?
Answer: A filter applied at the data source level affecting all sheets using
that source.
●● How do you create an extract?
Answer: On Data Source page --> Extract radio button --> Create
Extract; or Data menu --> Extract.
●● When should you refresh an extract?
Answer: When underlying source data changes and you need updated
results.
●● Live vs. Extract‚Äîkey tradeoff?
, Answer: Live: real-time, can be slower, source load; Extract: snapshot,
faster, offline capable.
●● When to use an extract?
Answer: For performance, offline analysis, complex calculations, or to
isolate a subset of data.
●● What is a join?
Answer: Combines tables horizontally by matching key fields (inner,
left, right, full).
●● What is a union?
Answer: Stacks tables vertically (same structure/columns) to add rows.
●● What are relationships?
Answer: Logical connections between tables that preserve their native
levels of detail and join only when needed in the viz.
●● When are relationships preferred over physical joins?
Answer: When combining fact tables with different grains or when
avoiding row duplication/incorrect aggregations.
●● What is data blending?
