Salesforce Tableau Data Analyst/Specialist Desktop Cert Prep (Udemy.com)
From beginners to skills needed for Tableau Data Analyst or Desktop Specialist certifications.
Created by: Phillip Burton
Last updated February 2026
Our take
Based on the ratings of 15,238 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in February 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.
Phillip Burton's course starts with zero Tableau knowledge and climbs through eight levels, from a first chart to dashboards, maps, calculations, level of detail expressions and data connections. It runs 15.7 hours across 182 lectures and is aimed squarely at the Desktop Specialist and Data Analyst exams, though it works as a plain introduction too. The work is done in Tableau Public, which is free. About 73,000 students have enrolled, and the last update was in February 2026, so the material is current rather than dusty.
Reviewers like the steady pace and the practice at the end of each section, and two say the practice tests helped them judge exam readiness. A couple report passing with no prior Tableau use. Burton's teaching is described as clear and easy to follow. The complaints are small. One reviewer found some sections too fast, and another passed but wanted more time on individual functions in calculated fields, since the exam threw in tougher examples. Of 15,238 ratings, about 9 percent are three stars or below.
Listed alongside a crash course and a separate exam prep course, this one covers the full syllabus across 15.7 hours. It suits someone who wants to understand Tableau, not just cram for a test. It is a paid course, but the hours, quizzes and practice tests make the value easy to see. Anyone already comfortable in Tableau should look at the advanced or exam-focused options instead. For people starting out, it is an easy recommendation.
Pros
- Starts from zero and builds in eight levels, from first charts to LOD calculations
- Quizzes and two practice tests help gauge readiness for the certification exam
- Reviewers report passing the Desktop Specialist exam, one with no prior Tableau knowledge
- Updated February 2026, with a 4.7 rating from 15,238 reviews
Cons
- One reviewer found a few sections move too fast
- Calculated field functions get light coverage next to the exam's harder questions
- Tableau Prep gets only two lectures, and the course uses Tableau Public, not paid Desktop
Very well structured course with hands-on practice at the end of each section. The mock tests at the end was very helpful to practice for the Data Associate Exam
Beginner level is accurate: no Tableau or reporting experience needed, just a 64-bit PC or Mac that can install programs.
What you will learn
- Download for free and install and run the full version of Tableau Public, the BI and analysis software.
- Be able to create analyses, such as line charts, stacked bar charts, or geographic analyses using maps.
- You will also be able to show an overview using dashboards, and tell a story using storyboards.
- You will be able to format numbers and dates, and add labels, tooltips and animation.
- You can also become used to more advanced features, such as Calculated Fields, Parameters and Hierarchies.
- By the end of the course, you will, with some experience, have the knowledge to take (and pass) the Tableau Qualified Associate certification.
Course content
22 sections · 182 lectures · 16 hours of video 22 quizzes, 2 practice tests, 24 articles
- 1Introduction 5 free previews9 lectures · 24 min
- 2Level 1: Creating our first visualizations 1 free preview7 lectures · 1 quiz · 50 min
- 3Level 1: Publishing our first visualizations7 lectures · 1 quiz · 22 min
- 4Level 2 Section 1: Developing the Marks card11 lectures · 1 quiz · 56 min
- 5Level 2 Section 2: Scatter and bubble charts, data highlighter, and Filtering8 lectures · 1 quiz · 43 min
- 6Level 2 Section 3: The Pages shelf, Labels and Annotations9 lectures · 1 quiz · 44 min
- 7Level 3: Dashboards14 lectures · 1 quiz · 1.5 hours
- 8Level 4 Section 1: Maps9 lectures · 1 quiz · 1 hour
- 9Level 4 Section 2: Organizing and simplifying data9 lectures · 1 quiz · 44 min
- 10Level 5 Section 1: Field and Chart Types13 lectures · 1 quiz · 56 min
- 11Level 5 Section 2: Advanced Field and Chart Types with basic Analytics12 lectures · 1 quiz · 54 min
- 12Level 6 Section 1: Gantt Bar Chart, calculations, and date Analytics9 lectures · 1 quiz · 36 min
- 13Level 6 Section 2: Working with data sources3 lectures · 1 quiz · 26 min
- 14Level 6 Section 3: Calculations12 lectures · 1 quiz · 1.3 hours
- 15Level 6 Section 4: Parameters, and showing/hiding vizzes in dashboards5 lectures · 1 quiz · 30 min
- 16Level 7 Section 1: Fixed Level of Detail (LOD) calculations10 lectures · 1 quiz · 1 hour
- 17Level 7 Section 2: Data Connections Part 18 lectures · 1 quiz · 41 min
- 18Level 8 Section 1: Data Connections 26 lectures · 1 quiz · 24 min
- 19Level 8 Section 2: Other aspects of Tableau Desktop and Tableau Online8 lectures · 1 quiz · 34 min
- 20Level 8 Section 3: Creating data flows in Tableau Prep2 lectures · 1 quiz · 16 min
- 21Bonus section8 lectures · 1 quiz · 49 min
- 22Well done3 lectures · 2 quizzes · 3 min
Who it is for
The instructor says it suits
- This reporting course is meant for anyone who has no prior experience of Tableau. It's also for you if you have used it, but never designed a report.
- It's great if you have created analyses in other reporting tools, such as Microsoft Access, WebI, SSRS or Yellowfin, but it not essential. If you have, then it will be another string to your bow.
- No prior experience in reporting tools is required.
- This course is probably not for you if you always know how to use Tableau and know how to create reports, although we will be looking at some more advanced topics.
What you need before you start
- Before you begin this course, you should have a computer with access to the internet, and be able to install programs.
- That's it! The more experience in reporting using other packages, the better, but it is not essential.
- You need to have a 64-bit PC, or a Mac. To be honest, that's most modern computers - you would probably know if you have a 32-bit computer (for which you can't download Tableau).
How it compares
Against the other 59 rated Udemy courses in Tableau on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 79% of them
- Reviews15,238#4 of 60 by number of reviews
- Length15.7 hourslonger than 91% of them
- Last updatedFebruary 2026more recently than 69% of them
Course Description
This course covers all of the content required for the Data Analyst or Desktop Specialist certifications. They are preparation courses for the Salesforce Certified Tableau certifications (previously known as the Tableau certifications).
Please note: This course is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Salesforce or Tableau.
What do students like you say?
"With this course i got certified as a Tableau Desktop Specialist. THANKS Phillip!" - Juan Sebastian Rodriguez Casas
"Adequate knowledge and good understanding I did not have before about Tableau. With this new knowledge and clear understanding of Tableau I truly believe I can now work as a Tableau Developer. " - Clever Atanode
"Very informative. I feel that I could teach someone Tableau based upon what I have learned here. " - Phil Jones
"Just got my qualified associate certificate yesterday with 91%(75% required to pass). I am a graduate student and have 0 experience with Tableau. But this course gave me an in-depth understanding of Tableau which allows me to be very flexible in ways to solve the questions in the exam. This course is excellent! Thank you, Phillip! " - Yifu Yan
"This course has exceed my expectations in all fronts. Very complete, very comprehensive and at the right pace. I like the fact of going into some important details without getting bored or distracted. The pace of talk of demonstrations was perfect for me. It is clearly an outstanding value for money and I truly recommend it to everyone who wants to master Tableau. Well done and thank you. " - Jorge Soares Albergaria
Do you already use reporting software such as Access, SSRS or WebI? Or is this your first reporting software tool? Either way, welcome.
In this course, learn the skills that Tableau want you to know, and add another tool to your CV, and even go for either of the first two official Salesforce Tableau certifications.
Tableau is one of the most requested reporting tools that are requested in the job market, and the ability to being able to use it now could be very useful for your current work, and your next job hunt.
We'll download and install for free Tableau Public, which gives you most of the capabilities of the full-cost Tableau Desktop. We'll start by creating our first visualizations (vizzes) and investigate the Tableau interface.
We'll create dashboards and storyboards, so that you can tell a story. We'll create maps, hierarchies, groups and sets, and all sorts of chart types. We'll enhance our charts with reference lines and bands, and extend our data analysis with trends and forecasting. We'll add formula calculations, quick table calculations, and LOD calculations. Finally, we investigate advanced data connections and mapping.
The course will take around a little more than 15 hours to complete, but completing this will enable you to create vizzes, dashboards and stories of your own, and know how to overcome common problems.
The course increases in difficulty slowly, so you'll create for instance a basic bar chart, then turn it into a stacked bar chart, and adding coloring and information through tooltips and labels, step by step.
Please note: Tableau certifications are currently being tested on versions 2022.3 and 2024.2. There have been very few visual additions to later versions, but where there are, they have been reflected in this course with course updates.
The course is fairly relaxed - there will be a few "wrong turns", so you can see what problems might arise, but every lesson works towards an end goal at a relatively slow pace, so you can follow on your own computer easily. I assume that you know how to use a computer, including installing programs, but the actual analysis will be at a basic level, and I'll introduce every component as we go on.
At the end of the course, you can download a certificate of completion, so you can show everyone your new-found skills, prepare for the official Tableau certifications, and be able to start creating analyses for yourselves.
Instructor Details
- 4.7 Rating
15,238 Reviews
Phillip Burton
Hi. I'm Phillip, and I'm proud to Teach with Udemy as a Udemy Instructor Partner. I have been teaching on Udemy since 2015, and I have over 1,000,000 students and more than 60 video courses, including over a dozen Bestseller courses.
My courses include Microsoft Power BI and Fabric, Tableau, SQL Server, Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, etc.), Azure, Microsoft Office, and more. The majority of my courses align with the requirements for official certifications from Microsoft, Oracle, and Tableau - so with a bit of practice, you could enter the exam or assessment and put it on your CV or resume.
I have been a Computing Consultant providing expert services in the development of computer systems and data analysis. I am one of 9 award winning Experts for Experts Exchange's 11th Annual Expert Awards. My interests are working with data, including Microsoft Power BI, Excel, Access, SQL Server, and the Power Platform.
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Reviews
By Saptarshi Banerjee on 3/12/2024
A very comprehensive and detailed course on Tableau for beginners and amateurs in data analysis/reporting. It starts from the very basics and slowly takes you to the higher levels of difficulty. At the end of this course, I definitely felt that I could now ace my analytics skills with this knowledge. It would give a kickstart to your ride on Tableau and you could further go into advanced learning on this with a solid base. It teaches you almost all the components that are there so that you get a good grip on implementing them and improve your understanding with practice. So it is recommended for anyone who wants to learn Tableau from scratch and add another string to his bow.
By Todd Grenley on 6/2/2023
Fantastic course. Goes through all topics you might need to know. I took Phillip's Power BI one as well and both served me well! Just passed the Tableau examination. The only thing I would suggest is maybe more focus on the individual functions for calculated fields, because they threw in some examples that were definitely challenging. That may just be Tableau though being determined to make their test more difficult :) Other than that, great!
By Robert on 3/6/2023
This is a great course and I recommend it for anyone interested in Tableau whether for certification purposes or simply hands on experience. It helped me get the Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification but I am sure I will keep coming back to it as a reference point on some of the things.
By Mark L on 7/18/2022
I used this course as well as Vivek P's course, studied the Tableau Desktop section of the Tableau Help website, took some free online practice tests, and I was able to do well on the Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification Exam.
By Donna Trautmann on 5/22/2020
I thoroughly enjoyed taking this course. Mr. Burton was engaging and personal and instructed using information that was well coordinated and effectively presented. I would also like to commend him on the short response time in answering questions and providing direction, which was on target.
By Marisse Herman on 10/5/2019
I love the amount of detail in it. It's the first online course I've taken where the instructor has given me more information than I needed. I believe this is where the instructor's passion for teaching has shone through. The video quality and clarity of the speaker is great, I experienced no problems at all understanding him or following the steps in the videos.
By Savithri Boda on 6/15/2019
Sessions are properly structured and got very good understanding of concepts, voice can be better handled as it was a bit low in some videos
By Juan Velasquez on 11/30/2018
I am currently taking the Data Visualization with Tableau from UC Davis via Coursera and am on the final course in the series which is a capstone project. I have found that your course has been extremely helpful as both a review and as a way to fill in a number of gaps as well as providing additional tips. I think this must be about the fourth course I have been taking from you. Great job.
By Ayush Singhal on 11/19/2018
Good course, instructor was very prompt with responses. I would like to see more exercises available during the course, otherwise it's very helpful for beginners.
By Riya Garg on 9/26/2018
had some knowledge of tableau before joining this course but now i can say i have good knowledge on tableau. The instructor actually knows all the topics very very well and i think more exercise will be helpful. But overall very good course. I am happy to invest my time and money in this course.I
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 94 / 100












