How to Merge Header Cells in Tableau
This guide covers how to merge header cells, a common challenge when moving Excel-based documents into Tableau.
![How to Merge Header Cells in Tableau](/content/images/size/w2000/2024/09/Merging-Header-Cells-1.png)
In Tableau, Dimensions are merged automatically based on their values, but there’s no feature to merge cells for measures, except by pivoting the data. This trick uses a Placeholder as a workaround.
Step-by-Step: Merging Header Cells
- Connect Placeholder data to your data source by following the provided guide.
How to Add a Placeholder to Your Tableau Data Source
This method explains how to connect Placeholder data, giving you more flexibility—similar to Excel—and enabling a broader range of visualizations.
- Create two calculated fields to use as headers.
![](https://www.vizney.com/content/images/2024/09/Level-1.png)
![](https://www.vizney.com/content/images/2024/09/Level-2.png)
- Set the appropriate values for each header using the calculated fields.
![](https://www.vizney.com/content/images/2024/09/Value.png)
![](https://www.vizney.com/content/images/2024/09/Proportion.png)
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Since you can only apply one format per measure, if you need different formats, you'll need to split the measure and create separate calculated fields for each one.
- Place the calculated fields in the appropriate positions on the screen.
![](https://www.vizney.com/content/images/2024/09/Place-calculated-fields.png)