We’re starting a blog series dedicated to helping you improve the performance of Tableau in your environment. It all starts with the Best Practice Analyzer from Workbook Tools for Tableau. This feature lets you know exactly how you can improve your Tableau workbooks to run faster and smoother.
Each post in the series is related to specific performance issues that are flagged by the Best Practice Analyzer. If you don’t have it yet, get it. You can also check out more guidelines found on our Tableau Performance Checklist.
Too Many Worksheets Slow You Down
Has your dashboard been flagged because it has more than four (4) worksheets on a single dashboard? Here’s why: Having more than four (4) worksheets can cause slow load times. Each sheet generates at least one query on the dashboard. The more queries you have, the slower your load time. 
The solution is simple. Consider optimizing this dashboard by combining worksheets where possible, reducing the number of generated queries. In the example screenshots, the Sales and Profit charts were combined into a dual axis chart to make one less sheet on the dashboard.
Hidden Worksheets
Many Tableau dashboards use hidden worksheets, which also increase the number of views on a dashboard. Consider if building a separate dashboard with a targeting action is a better design than hiding multiple sheets within the current dashboard.
Curious about other Tableau workbook performance best practices? We have a growing list of posts to help you out. Here are the topics we’ve covered so far:
- Custom SQL Connections
- Automatic Dashboard Sizing
- Limit Calculated Field Length
- Context Filters
- Conditional Filter Logic
- Images & Shapes
- Word Clouds
- Mixed Data Connections
- Quick Filter Cardinality
- Relevant Value Filters
- Row-Level Parameters
- Table Calculation in Level of Detail
- Teradata Initial SQL
- Unused Data Sources
- Blending Calculations
- Unused Columns