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Connecting to Your DataIn any analytics project, preparing your data for analysis is just as important as the analysis itself. Beginning with Tableau 8.2, improvements have been made to make it easier for you to connect and bring data into Tableau, combine, and quickly review the data before you build your view and begin analysis.

Connect to the data sourceOn the Connect to Data page, select a file or database type, and then type the authentication information to connect.

1 Combine data sets (joins)Select the file or database or schema. Then click and drag associated sheets, tables, and/or stored procedures to combine data sets. Click Go to Worksheet if you don’t want to join your data. Otherwise, click the join icon to define the join type and clause. Choose from inner, left, right, and full outer.

2

Preview data and change data typesClick Update Now to preview the first 10,000 rows of the data source. You can then change the data type or rename a column. Every time you make changes to the joins, click Update Now. If you want changes in the joins to be automatically reflected in the preview area, click Automatically Update.

3 Connect live or use an extract and add data source filters

At the top of the data source page, select a live or extract connection to the data source. You can also edit your extract and add data source filters. Click Go to Worksheet to start building your view.

4

If your data source has more than 10,000 rows, type the number you want to see in the Rows text box, and then click the arrow icon to update.

Creating a Tableau 8.2 workbook that uses Microsoft Excel or text file data sources has the following advantages: • Better automatic detection of field data types• Support for files that contain more than 255 columns• Recognizes the time data type at the fractional second level• Support for COUNT DISTINCT, MEDIAN, PERCENTILES, and DATEPARSE functions

The data that you drag into the join area will be the data source from which you will build your view. Tableau never changes the underlying data.