Sorting Segments Within Stacked Bars by Value

Published: 13 Mar 2014
Last Modified Date: 18 Apr 2019

Question

How to sort color segments by value within the stacked bars rather than by value across all the stacked bars.

For example, chart A is a regular stacked bar chart, and chart B is sorted by values within the stacked bar.

Chart A	Chart B

Environment

Tableau Desktop

Answer

Step 1: Create the View

In Tableau Desktop, connect to Superstore sample data.
Drag Category to Columns.
Drag Sales to Rows.
Drag Region to Color.
Drag Sales to Label.

Step 2: Sort the Bar Segments

On Color, right-click Region, and then select Attribute.
In the Dimensions pane, hold down the CTRL key, click Category, and then click Region.
With the dimensions highlighted, right-click Region, and then select Create > Combined Field.
Drag Category & Region (Combined) from Dimensions to Detail.
On Detail, right-click Category & Region (Combined), and then select Sort.
In the Sort dialog box, do the following, and then click OK:
- For Sort Order, select Descending.
- For Field, select Sales.
- For Aggregation, select Sum.