FIXED [Sub-Category] : MAX([Sales]) Wait, that gives me a number, not a flag.
If you are in doubt, use FIXED . It gives you the most control because it does not try to guess what dimensions are in your view. The Silent Killer: Dimension Filters You must know one danger: Order of Operations . fixed calculation tableau
This is wrong. You need a calculation that ignores the date filter. The FIXED calculation tells Tableau: "Compute this value using these specific dimensions, and ignore all other filters (except context filters and data source filters)." The Syntax FIXED [Customer Name] : MIN([Order Date]) Translation: "Lock onto each unique Customer. Look at all the Order Dates available for that customer (ignoring my current date filters). Give me the very first one." Real-World Example: Customer Retention Imagine you want to know how many new customers you acquired each month. FIXED [Sub-Category] : MAX([Sales]) Wait, that gives me
If you just count Customer Name by Month of Order Date , you are counting transactions , not unique customers. Worse, if someone bought in Jan and Feb, they appear in both months. The Silent Killer: Dimension Filters You must know
You are experiencing the tension between and Aggregate Level calculations.