How to create a custom color palette in Tableau

Custom color palettes in Tableau are fast and easy to set up. It is one the many features of Tableau that makes it fun to use as you can play around with a lot of color options once you have custom color palettes set up.

Did you know you can create a custom color palette in Tableau and save it in your preferences for future use? This is how you can do it with Sample Superstore data:

Step 1: Open Preferences in Tableau Repository

Before opening Tableau, go to the folder called My Tableau Repository. This is a folder that is created when you install Tableau and it usually resides in your Documents folder. Here, locate a file called Preferences. This is the place where your color preferences are stored.

Open it with a text editor such as Notepad.  Make sure to open it with a text editor and not in Tableau! Once you have opened Preferences in Notepad, type:

<preferences>

</preferences>

Keep this file as it is and move on to the next step.

Step 2: Get hex codes in xml script

We will be adding our xml script for our colour palette in the Preferences file in the section we just created. If you don’t know how to write in xml, don’t worry, you can use a great tool available for this purpose. Click on https://gentlygently.github.io/

Now click on Create Standalone palette. A window appears. This is our canvas for pasting images from which we can pick up hex codes for our palette.

Step 3: Drop image

Drop an image of your choosing on this canvas. I am using this image of a hot air balloon from Pixabay by Jill Wellington.

Step 5: Select color palette

Select the type of palette you want: Regular, Sequential or Diverging.

Step 6: Select your colors

Use the tool’s various functions to select the colors of your liking. The tool has features to zoom into the image and select multiple colors.

Step 7: Get your xml code

Once you have added all the colors you want, use the </> button on the bottom center to get your xml code. Now copy this code to your preferences file opened in text editor from Step 1.

Step 8:  Open Tableau and connect to Sample Superstore dataset

Open Tableau and locate the “Connect to Data” option. Click on Connect to Data to open a new window. In this new Window, click on the Sample – Superstore data on the Saved Data Sources option.

 

Step 9: Make a chart

Drag Profit to columns and Sub-category to rows. Drag Sales to the color marks card.

Step 10: Click on the Sum(Sales) and choose Edit Colors.

Step 11. Choose the custom palette you just created. It will show up towards the bottom of the dropdown list. And viola!

The color palette is stored in your Preferences file and can be used in your future Tableau work as well.