Step and Jump Line charts in Tableau are new in the 2018.x version.

In this blog, I will discuss the difference between Line, Step and Jump Line charts in Tableau.

Line Chart is a good way to display, how a measure progressed over time. Line chart draws a straight line between two time period without showing what happened to the measure in between the two time periods.

Step and Jump charts are an enhancement over Line chart.

Let us understand this using an example.

Creating a Line Chart

1. Connect to Sample-Superstore.xls. This dataset is in your My Tableau repository folder.
2. Place Order Date on the Columns. Click on it and select Week_Number.

1. Place Sales on the Rows. Create a Line chart.
2. Click on Order Date on the Dimensions and select Show Filter and select a specific Year like 2018.
3. To understand more clearly, let’s see the line chart for a specific month. Left-click on the Order Date on Dimensions and place it on the Filters. From Filter Field select Months.
   
4. Select January month in the filter selection.
5. The Line chart will appear like
6. From this line chart, you will see that there is an increase in Sales from Dec31 to Jan14. It does not show what happened in between.

Creating Step Line chart

Step line is useful to show when the change actually occurred.

1. Create a duplicate of the previous Line chart.
2. Step line is created by using the Path option under Marks.
3. Click on the Step option.
4. Place Week(Order Date) on the Label under Marks.Now it shows you how Sales gradually moved to reach the highest point in Jan14.

Creating a Jump line Chart

Jump line chart shows the same data but does not show the lines. It shows the duration of time before the change occurred.

Jump line is the third option under Path.

Create the duplicate of the previously created Step line Chart.

1.  From the Path under Marks, select the third option.
2. The jump chart will appear like below

Line,Step and Jump chart are very useful in showing the progress of a measure.

You can display all three in the same visualization, by creating the copy of Sum(Sales) in the rows and changing the display option from the Path.

The three line charts will appear like below,