How to change Data Type in Tableau

In this article, we discuss three methods of how to change the data type in Tableau step by step with an examples.

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss how to change the data type in Tableau.

In the previous article, we discussed the data types in Tableau and as mentioned tableau automatically detects the type of data. 

But what if tableau didn’t recognize the data stored as the problem mentioned in the Cluster or mixed data type.

Table of Content

Change Data Type in

• Data Source Page
• Data Pane
• View

Tableau supports 7 types of data types: String values, Date values, Date & Time values, Numeric values, Boolean values, Geographical values, Cluster or mixed values.

We can change the data type for a field either on the Data Source page or in the Data Pane.

Data Source Page

Tableau sometimes incorrectly interprets the data type of fields.

Example: Interpret the date as an integer

Steps to Change:

• Click on the data type icon of the field
• From the drop-down choose the new data type

Here, the data type is a number, now we will change it into a string data type.

Now, the data type is changed to string.

Note: Change the data type from you create an extract, otherwise data may not be accurate.

Data Pane

If you want to change the data type without changing from the source, then you can easily modify it from the pane of the tableau.

Steps to change:

• Click on the fields data type icon
• Choose a new data type from the drop-down

Here, the data type of Name field is a string, now we will change it into the Boolean.

Here, the data type of the name field is changed to Boolean.

View

The third and last option to change the data type is through the view.

Steps to change:

• Right-click on the field
• Choose the drop down from the list

In the above image, the data type of Location is a string, now change it to Date and time.

Here, the data type of location is changed to Date & Time.

Conclusion

In this article, we discuss three methods of how to change the data type in Tableau step by step with an examples.

Hope this article will help you in your data analyst journey.

This article is a part of a complete tutorial of Tableau, focusing on Tableau certified data analysts and tableau desktop specialists. 

Through a series of articles, we will cover all the topics in-depth with examples.

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