Tableau 2023.2’s Dotted Lines – Where Should We Use Them?

Here, Kevin Flerlage of The Flerlage Twins provides a simple guide on how to use this feature, suggesting that dotted lines should not be used to highlight or draw attention to certain lines, as they tend to portray an idea of something being missing, incomplete, or uncertain. He suggests that most solid use cases for dotted lines fall into one of two categories: Uncertainty or Reference. For example, dotted lines can be used effectively in comparisons of a value to a target, average, previous year value, etc., or in projections, forecasts, confidence intervals, and more.