Automatic Mark

When the Mark menu is set to Automatic, Tableau automatically selects the best mark type for your data view. The mark type that is automatically selected is determined by the inner fields on the Rows and Columns shelves—that is, the fields farthest to the right on the shelves. The icon in the Mark menu indicates which type of mark was automatically selected.The table below describes the type of mark that is selected in each scenario.

Type of fields in the view	Automatic Mark Type	Example
Dimensions as inner fields on both the Rows and Columns shelves.	Text
Measures as inner fields on both the Rows and Columns shelves.	Shape
Dimension and measure as inner fields on Rows and Columns shelves.	Bar
A date field and a measure as the inner fields on the Rows and Columns shelves.	Line

You can override the default selection and use any mark type that provides insight into your data. However, you should exercise some caution when manually selecting a mark type because the resulting view might hide important information about your data.