# Step Line Chart in Tableau: Quick Tip

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2017-01-31
- **Format:** Article · 1 min read
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/step-line-chart-tableau-quick-tip

## Article

![](/legacy/5ff25656518c51a90ce379e5_Step-Line-Chart_lgm1zo.webp)

In this quick video, I summarise how to create a step line chart in Tableau.

A step line chart is similar to a line chart except it uses horizontal lines to connect two points unlike a traditional line chart where the line follows the most direct route. In this particular case, We use the fixed level of detail calculation in order to simulate this effect by aggregating at a higher level than what we have on the axis, i.e. aggregate to the week with day on the x axis.

_A comparison of a step line chart against a normal line chart below._

![](/legacy/5ff25656b6409314cbc96247_step-line-chart-tableau-tim_k3zi6b.webp)

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena