Dynamic Usernames

Hey Tableau Community! Did you know that you include dynamic usernames in your dashboards?

You may have seen dashboards like this on Tableau public and wondered – how is it showing my name?! Well, this is actually a very simple trick, if you know where to look for the solution!

To include a user's name on a dashboard which will update when they log in, we need to create a field that will return their name or ID, and add this as text on a single sheet, to include in our dashboard.

We have two options of syntax to use:

1. USERNAME() which will return the username for the current user.

2. FULLNAME() which will return the full name for the user. On Tableau Public this will return your full name as defined in your Tableau Public profile.

So – how to include these on a dashboard on Tableau Public?

For this example, we want to use the FULLNAME syntax, but we don’t have to use it in a calculated field, or even type it out ourselves! We can go straight into a dashboard and bring in the field in a text box, without doing any work.

Drag a text box into your dashboard, navigate to the ‘Insert’ tab at the top right of the box, and select ‘Full Name’.

This will bring the field directly into the text box:

Hit OK and you should see your name appear in the text box on your dashboard!

Use this trick in your dashboards to give them a personalised touch! I hope you find this tip useful and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!