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Once you have connected to a source table, an input step will be created in the white area known as the flow pane (see below). One key difference between Tableau Prep and Tableau Desktop is that you don’t get a preview of rows in your data-set right after connecting to the data.
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Clicking on the ‘+’ button allows you to navigate to your data. When you open Tableau Prep there is a similar look and feel to that of Tableau Desktop, with a navy Connections pane on the left. In the example below, I’m connecting to data from the International Organisation for Migration, which has been made available for the latest project on the Viz for Social Good site. I absolutely love the overview it provides and it’s almost effortless. Tableau Prep tells you how many columns you have as soon as you connect to your data, which makes me happy, and needless to say it offers a whole lot more in terms of letting you ‘see and understand’ your data. Tableau Desktop doesn’t allow you to instantly see how many columns your data-set contains, and as someone who has spent years using Excel, this used to irk me slightly as you can do it in Excel with one click. With Tableau Desktop, you can drag the measure Number of records to a view and see how many rows are present. Checking how many rows and columns is a good place to start. When I’m first presented with a data-set, I want to get a feel for what I’m dealing with. Tableau Prep – Giving your data the once over I’m going to outline a few ‘quick wins’ below to get you started.
#Tableau prep tableau desktop trial
If you haven’t had an opportunity to have a look yet, you can download a trial here. Getting started is very easy and there are plenty of training videos available. I’ve been spending time getting familiar with Tableau Prep since I attended a virtual training course and I can immediately see the value it offers to those working with data. Tableau’s Chief Product Officer Francois Ajenstat, Tableau Prep Product Manager Maraki Ketema and Senior Manager Ashley Bass delivered a webinar summarising the highlights, which you can tune into here. The last few weeks have seen the arrival of Tableau 2018.1, new offerings and the much awaited Tableau Prep, the topic of this blog post. To say there have been a few minor announcements from Tableau in recent times would be an understatement. If you’re not already a firm fan of Tableau Desktop, do yourself a favour and check it out! The team at Perception have long been convinced of the power of Tableau and we are passionate about spreading the word. Just like Ronseal Quick Drying Wood-stain, Tableau ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’. If you have heard of Tableau, you might be familiar with their mission, which is to ‘help people see and understand data’.