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Tableau | Data visualisation

How to create custom reference line tooltips in Tableau Desktop 2019.2 and newer

Tableau 2019.2 finally lets you customise reference line tooltips, something we've asked for for a long, long time.

Tim Ngwena •10 January 2020 •1 min read •2 min watch •4.1K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2019.2

Watch on YouTube

Tableau 2019.2 added a dedicated tooltip option in the edit reference line dialogue, separate from the label.
You can insert dynamic, computed values such as the field name and value into the reference line tooltip.
A clean approach is to set the label to just the value and let the tooltip carry the full description on hover.
Get into the habit of naming your sheets as you build them.

0:00In Tableau 2019.2 Tableau have added the

0:05ability to customize a reference line in

0:07tooltips.

0:09So let's have a go at doing that.

0:10Let me just name this sheet.

0:11It's always good to get into a habit of

0:13doing that.

0:13So reference line tooltips.

0:17Great.

0:18So I'm going to drag product name onto

0:22detail, sales onto rows, profit onto

0:26columns.

0:27Then I'm going to rotate that 90 degrees

0:30just by hitting that icon here at the top.

0:33The next thing I'm going to do is I'm going

0:35to add a reference line.

0:36So let's add reference line by right

0:38clicking on the profit axis.

0:41And what I'd like to do is add the average.

0:43And if I hit OK, you can see that the

0:46average pops up.

0:47And so what I'd like to do is not only

0:48customize the label here, where it says

0:50average, but

0:51you see this tooltip that kind of sticks

0:53with the mouse cursor.

0:54I'd like that to be customized.

0:56Instead of equals, I'd like to add layer,

0:59maybe a semicolon or a colon.

1:01So let's right click on that reference line

1:02and hit edit.

1:03When I do that, this interface pops back up

1:07.

1:07And what Tableau have done is they've

1:09actually added this new option here where

1:10it says tooltip.

1:11So let's have a go at doing that.

1:13Let's add custom.

1:15Maybe I have a star guide that dictates how

1:18tooltips should be labeled.

1:21And you can actually add dynamic values

1:23from your visualization.

1:24So computed values can actually go in here

1:26as well.

1:27And you can add other things.

1:29So I could say average and then the field

1:33name and then the value and click OK.

1:37So it says average over there.

1:38But now when I hover over this, it says

1:41average profit 150.

1:44And so in exactly the same way as we've

1:46always been able to edit the label, maybe

1:50the label

1:50can just be the value to keep it nice and

1:52clean.

1:53And when the user hovers over it, they

1:54actually get the full description of what's

1:55going on.

1:58This is a really, really powerful feature.

2:00I think we've asked for this for a long,

2:02long, long time.

2:03And it's great that it's finally here.

2:05If you enjoyed the video, hit subscribe.

2:07If not, drop a comment.

2:08Let us know what kind of content you'd like

2:10to see more of.

2:11[ silent Move Me Annoying ]

Rollup

Tableau 2019.2 added a dedicated tooltip field for reference lines, separate from the label, letting you show a full dynamic description on hover while keeping the on-chart label minimal.

Tim builds a quick scatter plot (product detail, sales on rows, profit on columns) and adds an average reference line to profit, then customises how it displays.

The Breakdown

Name the sheet as you go 0:00

As a habit, name your sheet as soon as you start building rather than leaving it until later — it keeps your workbook organised from the start.
Build the view and add a reference line 0:23

Set up your visualisation, then right-click the axis you want to annotate and add a reference line, for example an average. This must be in place before you can edit its label or tooltip.
Open the edit reference line dialogue 1:01

Right-click the reference line and choose edit to bring back the same interface used to add it. From 2019.2 onwards this dialogue includes a new tooltip option alongside the existing label option.
Customise the tooltip with dynamic values 1:21

In the tooltip field you can add custom text plus computed values pulled straight from the visualisation, such as the field name and its value, not just static text.
Keep the label minimal, put detail in the tooltip 1:42

One approach: set the on-chart label to just the value so the chart stays clean, and let the tooltip carry the fuller dynamic description for anyone who hovers over the line.

Use It When

Reach for this when a reference line's on-chart label needs to stay short for readability, but you still want viewers to get full context — field name, computed value, custom wording — on hover.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

A Rollup is drafted by AI from the video's transcript, then reviewed and edited by Tim. Everything used to produce this one is listed below — the model, the exact prompt, and the source video — so the process is transparent and reproducible.

Transcription: On-device — NVIDIA Parakeet v3 for recent videos, OpenAI Whisper large-v3 for earlier ones. The transcript never leaves the machine or gets published.
Drafting: Claude Sonnet 5 in the cloud, from that transcript.
Prompt: The exact Rollup prompt (v2) — the full system prompt, unedited.
Source video: Watch on YouTube
Drafted: 5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited: 5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

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