How to import custom Tableau color palettes

Importing custom color palettes can completely transform the look and feel of your dashboard. It’s amazing how much of a difference formatting can make!

Step 1: Choose Your Color Scheme

For custom colors, I use the ColorPick Eyedropper extension from the Chrome Store. Alternatively, you can visit brandcolors.net to find the official colors of popular brands.

Step 2: Locate and Open Your Preferences.tps File in HTML

Find the file in this location:
Tableau Repository Location

When you open the file in Notepad++, it will look like this:
preferences html

Step 3: Copy and Paste Your Chosen Colors into the Preferences Tags

Replace the highlighted text with your palette name and color codes. Here’s an example using colors from the Dota 2 website:

<color-palette name="DOTA 2" type="regular">
  <color>#A44325</color>
  <color>#716C6A</color>
  <color>#171717</color>
  <color>#2057A9</color>
  <color>#2057A9</color>
  <color>#3C0502</color>
  <color>#9E4229</color>
</color-palette>

Step 4: Save the File and Restart Tableau

Your new preferences will appear only after you restart Tableau.

Step 5: Create a Chart and Apply a Categorical Variable to Color

Step 6: Adjust the Color Marks to Use Your Imported Palette

Step 7: Enjoy Your Newly Customized Chart!