Using a Tableau Dashboard

Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating Tableau Dashboards

All Components

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move focus to next major component Tab
Move focus to previous component, including supporting elements of major components Shift + Tab
Button activation Space or Enter

Sheet Tabs

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move focus to next tab or
Move focus to previous tab or
Navigate to the focused tab Enter

Legends

Tip: To view legend item text with more contrast, select individual legend items, and then toggle highlighting on and off.

The action of selecting items within the legend and toggling the highlighting on and off is the keyboard equivalent of the Highlight Selected Items feature available to mouse users.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move focus to next item
Move focus to previous item
Move focus to next column or item
Move focus to previous column or item
Move focus to the first item Home
Move focus to the last item End
Toggle item selection Space
Toggle highlighting Enter
Clear all item selections Esc

Data Highlighters

Data Highlighters are a combination of 3 elements: search edit box, Search/Clear button, and list.

Tableau search edit displays a text box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are listed within the remaining results. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down Space, or activate Search
With focus on the list, move focus to next item
With focus on the list, move focus to previous item

Margin Navigation

Another way to bring a visual focus to a set of data that is displayed, is by using the keyboard navigation of margins. With keyboard focus on the data visualization, press Enter to navigation within the visualization. Focus will now be on the inner visualization.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open the View Data Windows Enter
Move focus to a margin or or or
Move focus within a margin Enter
Move focus to a specific data set or or or
Toggle item selection Space

Filters

Radio or Checkbox Groups

Also referred to as single or multiple value filters.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move focus to next item or
Move focus to previous item or
Move focus to the first item Home
Move focus to the last item End
Toggle item selection Space
Revert changes to default settings Esc
Delayed update

If enabled, Cancel and Apply buttons are positioned just below the list of choices. Both buttons become active once a change to the list selection has been made. When active, the Cancel and Apply buttons are added to the Tab and Shift + Tab order of controls on the page. Updates to the Tableau dashboard are only made after activating the Apply button. Where Enter has no effect on a radio or checkbox item, if delayed update is enabled Enter will activate the Apply button. However, Esc is not equal to Cancel. The only way to return the filter selection to the currently shown data is to activate the Cancel button.

Search

If enabled, a Search button is added as a Filter Control. With focus within the radio or checkbox group, Shift + Tab will move focus to the Filter Control buttons. Space or Enter will activate the Search button. Once activated the Search edit box will be included in the Tab and Shift + Tab order until closed, or the filter is restored to default.

Tableau filter search displays an edit box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are automatically selected. You can use the asterisk character as a wildcard character. For example, you can type “tab*” to select all values that begin with the letters “tab”. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

With focus within the Search edit box:

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move to list Tab or
Clear search results Esc
Close search Esc, Esc

Drop-Down Filter

Single value or multiple value drop-down filters

With focus on an unopened drop-down filter, Esc will restore the default state of the filter.

With the drop-down filter open, Tab and Shift + Tab are restricted to the controls within the filter. If the only actionable control within the drop-down filter is the list element, Tab and Shift + Tab will have no effect. Closing the drop-down filter will resume Tab and Shift + Tab between actionable elements within the Tableau dashboard and page.

Single Value Drop-Down Filter
What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down filter Space or Enter
Move focus to next item or
Move focus to previous item or
Move focus to the first item Home
Move focus to the last item End
With focus on a list item, activate selection Space or Enter
Close drop-down filter, without changing or making a selection Esc
Multiple Value Drop-Down Filter
What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down filter Space or Enter
Move focus to next item or
Move focus to previous item or
Move focus to the first item Home
Move focus to the last item End
With focus on a list item, toggle selection Space
Activate the Apply button, if present Enter
Close drop-down filter, keeping the existing selection Esc
Delayed Update of a Multiple Value Drop-Down Filter

Note: Delayed update is not an option for a single selection drop down filter.

If enabled, Cancel and Apply buttons are positioned just below the list of choices within the drop-down. Both buttons become active once a change to the list selection has been made. When active, the Cancel and Apply buttons are added to the Tab and Shift + Tab order of the drop-down filter. With the drop-down filter open, Tab and Shift + Tab are restricted to the controls within the drop-down filter.

Updates to the Tableau graph/table are only made after activating the Apply button. Where a list without delayed updates has no effect on Enter, here it will activate the Apply button. However, Esc is not equal to Cancel. The only way to return the list selection to the currently shown data is to activate the Cancel button.

Search with a Drop-Down Filter

After opening, focus will move to the search edit box, Tab or will move to the list element. With the drop-down filter open, Tab and Shift + Tab, are restricted to the controls within the drop-down filter, and can be used to return to the search edit box.

Tableau filter search displays a text box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are automatically selected. You can use the asterisk character as a wildcard character. For example, you can type “tab*” to select all values that begin with the letters “tab”. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

With focus within the Search edit box

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move to list Tab or
Clear search results Esc
Search and Delayed Update of a Multiple Value Drop-Down Filter

This filter is a combination of 4 elements: search edit box, list, Cancel button, and Apply button. After opening, focus will move to the search edit box, Tab or will move to the list element. When searching, press Esc once to clear input. Press Esc again to close the drop-down filter.

Tableau filter search displays a text box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are automatically selected. You can use the asterisk character as a wildcard character. For example, you can type “tab*” to select all values that begin with the letters “tab”. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down filter Space or Enter
Move focus to next control within the filter Tab or Shift + Tab
Close drop-down filter Esc
With focus on the list, move focus to next item or
With focus on the list, move focus to previous item or
With focus on the list, move focus to the first item Home
With focus on the list, move focus to the last item End
With focus on the list, toggle list item selection Space
With focus on the Cancel or Apply buttons, activate selection Space or Enter
To clear search results Esc

Filter Control Buttons

Click to Show all Values, Search, All values in Database/Only relevant values, Show Quick Filter Context Menu are all filter control buttons. Tableau authors define which are available, but they always appear in the same order. With focus on a filter, Shift + Tab can be used to move keyboard focus to these supporting elements, allowing a faster forward tab experience between Tableau controls. With focus on a filter control button, Space or Enter can be used for activation. When activated, Search toggles an edit box, which is added to the tab cycle.

Show Quick Filter Context Menu and All values in Database/Only relevant values filter control buttons are drop-down menu buttons. They support or , and Space or Enter to make a menu selection.

Sets

Radio or Checkbox Groups

Also referred to as single or multiple value sets.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move focus to next item or
Move focus to previous item or
Move focus to the first item Home
Move focus to the last item End
Toggle item selection Space
Revert changes to default settings Esc
Search

If enabled, a Search button is added as a Filter Control. With focus within the radio or checkbox group Shift + Tab will move focus to the Filter Control buttons. Space or Enter will activate the Search button. Once activated, the Search edit box will be included in the application’s Tab and Shift + Tab order until closed, or the filter is restored to default.

Tableau filter search displays an edit box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are automatically selected. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

With focus within the Search edit box:

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move to list Tab or
Clear search results Esc
Close search Esc, Esc

Drop-Down Sets

With focus on an unopened drop-down set, Esc will restore the default state of the set.

After opening, focus will move to the search edit box. Tab or will move to the list element. With the drop-down set open, Tab and Shift + Tab are restricted to the controls within the drop-down filter, and can be used to return to the search edit box. Closing the drop-down filter will resume Tab and Shift + Tab between actionable elements within the Tableau dashboard and page.

Tableau search displays a text box where you can type a few characters. All values that match those characters are automatically selected. Pattern match is not case sensitive.

Single Value Drop-Down Set
What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down set Space or Enter
With focus on the list, move focus to next item or
With focus on the list, move focus to previous item or
With focus on the list, move focus to the first item Home
With focus on the list, move focus to the last item End
With focus on a list item, activate selection Space or Enter
Close drop-down filter, without changing or making a selection Esc
With focus within the search edit, clear search results Esc
Multiple Value Drop-Down Set
What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down filter Space or Enter
With focus on the list, move focus to next item or
With focus on the list, move focus to previous item or
With focus on the list, move focus to the first item Home
With focus on the list, move focus to the last item End
With focus on a list item, toggle selection Space
Activate the Apply button, if present Enter
Close drop-down filter, keeping the existing selection Esc
With focus within the search edit, clear search results Esc

Filter Control Buttons

Click to Include All Set Values, Search, Show Quick Filter Context Menu are all filter control buttons. Tableau authors define which are available, but they always appear in the same order. With focus on a set control, Shift + Tab can be used to move keyboard focus to these supporting elements, allowing a faster forward tab experience between Tableau controls. With focus on a filter control button, Space or Enter can be used for activation. When activated Search toggles an edit box, which is added to the tab cycle.

Show Quick Filter Context Menu is a drop-down menu button, which supports or , and Space or Enter to make a menu selection.

Parameters

Compact List

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Open drop-down filter Space
Change current selection or

Note: The drop-down does not need to be opened to change selection.

Slider

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Decrease value or
Increase value or

Type-In (Float – All Values, String, Date and Time, Integer – All Values and with a Range of Values)

With focus within the input, anything can be typed, but the value will only be accepted if it meets the input’s requirements. If the input is not acceptable, the entered information will be discarded and the previous value will be displayed.

Type-In Parameter controls with a Date Range will round accepted inputs. Values below the minimum will be rounded to the minimum value, while values above the maximum will be rounded to the maximum value.

View Data Window

When a Tableau visualization graph has keyboard focus, press Enter twice. First to enter the visualization and the second time, with focus on the inner visualization, to to open the View Data window to view the underlying data for the graph in a table. View Data launches as a new browser window, which can be closed or navigated away from like any other window. However if you filter the data after opening the View Data window, you must close and reopen the View Data window to view the updated filtered data.

Tab or Shift + Tab are used to move focus to actionable elements on the View Data page, Download all rows as a text file links, Summary/Full data tab control, and Show all columns checkbox.

Tableau Toolbar

The first element on the Tableau toolbar is always the Tableau button. Other buttons will vary based on how the Tableau visualization was authored and by the current state of the visualization. Inactive, grayed-out buttons, are not keyboard focusable.

What to Do Keyboard Shortcut
Move between active buttons on the toolbar or
Activate the selected toolbar button Space or Enter
Return focus to the Tableau button within the toolbar Shift + Tab
Return focus to the first actionable element within the Tableau visualization Tab

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) Instructions

Because Tableau embeds are HTML applications, we have found that some additional navigation instructions are helpful.

Reading text within a Tableau dashboard

With focus on the Tableau Tab control (in this case “SAT Performance of admitted Students”, “Percentage of Students by SAT Decile”, and “Number of Students by SAT Score”), ensure that you are in Browse Mode and then arrow down to read any text included in the dashboard.

Using the Elements List dialog

NVDA’s Elements List dialog is context sensitive. When focus is outside of the Tableau embed, it will expose information about the web page itself. While focus is within the Tableau embedded web application, it will show information pertaining only to the Tableau application.

Approval to reuse

Note: This page has been created with Tableau’s explicit approval and is based off of Tableau’s help documentation Keyboard access for embedded views.

Tableau customers are free to point to this page or use any parts of it as a starting point for their own documentation for their embedded dashboards.

For an example of how to reuse this content, review Equal Entry’s Using SAT Performance of Admitted Students documentation.