http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/howto/filter-on-last-date-in-the-data-source
The above article is about a nice date filter that defaults to last date in the data source. For example, it allows us to always default to the current month.

The key settings for the filter (assume it's a month/year filter) are:
1.Select Use All the data 
This option allows us to get all the data available, instead of from a specific list. So it is dynamic and always has the most recent data.


2.Go to the TOP tab and select Top 1 of the Maximum of the date field

The "Use All" may not be set as you have expected in certain circumstances. Below will show you the erratic behavior of Date quick filter when "Use All" is concerned. Let's start.

1.Set the MY(Date) filter up with "Use All" and Top 1 of Maximum(Date).
2.Show quick filter and make it a dropdown menu. We see an option (All) in the dropdown menu.

3.Go to the filter menu Customize>Show "All" Value, and uncheck it. Select any other option in the dropdown menu. Then the option (All) disappears from the dropdown menu.
4.Open the Edit Filter, we see that filter is set to "Select from List". Now set it again to "Use All" and Top 1 of Maximum(Date).
5.The option (All) appears again at the selected position in the menu. Select another option and (All) will disappear again from the dropdown.

So here Step 4 to select "Use All" is in vain. The option (All) appears to be selected. But it is not an actual option at all. That's a bug I believe.

The culprit is that Show "All" Value remains unchecked. To remedy the bug, my suggested fix is, when setting filter to "Use All" in Step 4, make "Show All Value" checked as a corollary result! When an author of the dashboard selects "Use All" in filter setting, he may not be aware of or have forgotten whether he checked or not "Show All Value".

The author just wants to have a working filter. So, the "Use All" filter option needs to be able to override the status of "Show All Value" and to set it to be checked. Otherwise, this setting is not working as the author expected.

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Jake and I collaborated on a dashboard. He told me that he learnt a way to create an in-place help page in Tableau. He first saw it at a conference somewhere and couldn't recall who the speaker was. So I am blogging here about it but the credit goes to somebody else. If anyone knows who the original creator is, leave a comment below.

The key idea is to float a semi transparent worksheet on top of the dashboard, where a help text box is strategically placed on top of each chart. This way, we can explain how to view each chart and what data points are important, etc. This worksheet is collapsible by a show/hide button. 

Below I would like to show how this worksheet can be constructed.

1. Sheet with a single data mark.

  • Double click the empty space in Marks panel and add two single quotes. Make the null pill a text label. This creates a single null mark.
  • Set the view as "Entire View"

2. Create an show/hide button

  • Go to the target dashboard
  • Drag a floating vertical container to the dashboard, making it cover all the area of interest.
  • Drag the Single Null Mark sheet and drop it into the above container. Hide the sheet title.
  • Create an open/close button for the container and place the button at the top-right corner.

3. Add annotations

  • Format the sheet background opacity as 70% in the layout manager             
  • Select area annotations and place them anywhere of interest. 
  • Write help text and format it to highlight important messages.  
  • The text can serve as functional guide and/or insight guide.

Here is an example. Feel free to download the workbook and explore. Click the "i" button at the top-right corner to view the in-place help. 

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