Now we’ll turn on subtotals which you can do by navigating to Analysis > Totals > Add All Subtotals. 

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Then move the subtotals to the top of each row. This setting is under the same Totals menu, listed as Column Totals to Top. 

Finally, resize your rows as needed and update the border formatting. At this point, your rounded bar charts should look similar to this:

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Separate bullet chart reference lines

Adding subtotals to this bullet chart creates separation between the reference lines.

Tableau doesn’t have a way to control the size of a reference line, so the reference lines for each bar fill the entire row height, meeting when they share values. This isn’t necessarily an issue, but sometimes we want the bars to stand out independently.

When we want visual separation between rows, subtotals create space between reference lines.

Start the tutorial by creating a horizontal bar chart with a reference line. Set the reference line scope to ‘Per Cell’.

Bring a second copy of your row dimension to the Rows shelf.

Navigate to Analysis > Totals > Add All Subtotals to turn on subtotals.

In the same Totals menu, select Column Totals to Top to shift the subtotals to the top of each row.

Then adjust row height, mark size, and formatting to finalize the view. Now we have reference lines that don’t extend to the entire height of the cells and we didn’t need to use the dual axis for this formatting trick!

Show totals without overwhelming the axis

There is a way to show the totals label without showing a totals bar!

Totals and subtotals add helpful context to bar charts, but the longer bar length for the totals row can overwhelm the axis. The problem with this default behavior is that when the grand total is on a drastically different scale than the dimension members that make up the total, the rest of the chart can be harder to analyze.

Fortunately, my third and final new hack is a way to show the totals label without showing a totals bar!

First, create a horizontal bar chart and turn on totals. Click on the measure pill on your Columns shelf and look at the Total Using settings. Change the value to hide; this will make the totals bar disappear.

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Next, move your measure from the Columns shelf to the Size property of the Marks card. This creates a slightly different bar chart, one with no axis and with a mark in the totals row. Bring a new copy of the measure onto the Label property of the Marks card to add a label to the totals mark.

Finally, hide the totals mark. Add the dimension from the Rows shelf to the Color property, and set the color of ‘Total’ to the chart background color.

Now the totals label appears below the bar chart in its row, with no bar. The axis length is set by the longest bar, not the total value.

Even after 10 years of using Tableau, I’m still picking up new tricks! This year has transformed how I use totals and subtotals, and the tricks they enable. I hope this tutorial inspires you to try something new with these features!

Thanks for reading,
Felicia