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What the F%$! Tableau, I Just Want to See My Data!

1/25/2015

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You can also put a data item on the view and view underlying data. What's nifty is that if you really wanted to, you could copy and export the underlying data table to excel. The one use case that I like (especially if you're using two monitors), is to see the data in excel and work with the data in Tableau. 
Over the last month or two, I've had a couple of people talk to me about difficult it is to see the data in Tableau.  [Brakes screeching]. Say what??? That's Tableau's thing. What do you mean? 

What I've learned from talking with folks is that one thing that they like about Excel is that they can see what data they have and then go and build charts, graphs, or pivot tables from it. And it's not so apparent in Tableau.  While Tableau is all about the data, it seems to be more about data discovery while putting the data on the view. That works for a lot of folks.  But there are others that are bridging the gap from another tool to Tableau or they want to know what they're working with before they actually build something. 

So, I found five easy peasy ways to see the data (and there are others, I'm sure). 

1) The data connection window

Once you Go to Worksheet, you'll have all the data right at your fingertips. But what if you want to see it again before putting something on the view? No problem! There are a few ways to get at your data.  

2) Click the table icon
3) Right click on the data source to view underlying data

4) Right click on the data item.

You can also view the data at the data item level. Right click and select describe (this is actually the one I use the most).  Once you put the data item in the view, you can also right click on the data item and view underlying data.  

5) Copy and paste into excel.

The one use case I like for copying and pasting into excel (especially when I have two monitors available) is to see the data in excel and then work with the data in Tableau.
So there ya go. Several different ways so that you can see and work with your data and produce an awesome viz. 


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Oh Hey, I Totally Gave a Tableau Talk (Last Year)

1/25/2015

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I've been meaning to post this talk I gave at [redacted]. It was a lot of fun and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Since my agency has robust ethics rules, I redacted some information out but I thought I would share what I presented.  The talk was about 30-45 minutes and there was a great group with some senior leadership in the room which was really nice.  I love seeing management take an interest in visual analytics.  

I'm trying to clear a backlog of things that I've been meaning to do. And this is just one of them.  Going through the slide deck again made me remember how awesome it felt to talk to folks who are just getting started.  Did I mention that I LOVED LOVED LOVED it? 

There's nothing earth shattering in the deck but it led to some good discussion during and after the talk. Click the pic and check it out! 
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Do Something: A Data Viz Call to Action

1/21/2015

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I haven't been shy about talking about my time management concerns. I want to do so much and I have so many ideas but I just don't have the time to tackle them all. I'm not lucky enough to have one of those jobs where I can where I am encouraged to blog or do visualizations...it's not part of my job. In fact, as of December, I think I officially became a tableau hobbyist. I'm no longer directly involved with reporting. So I have work that's full-time, I'm a mom, and I have a strong commitment to fitness.


However I want to make contributions to the Tableau community. It's finding the time to do that and to put out what I think is good work that's a good representation of myself. I have more ideas than time, so I had this thought...I just need to do something, anything. It doesn't have to be the most awesomest viz in the whole entire world. I can't worry about it if it shows up on WTF viz, is a candidate for Makeover Monday, or two people talk about how bad it is on a podcast.. I just need to do something just to feel better about myself and so I'm not on the sidelines looking at others thinking,"Gee, I wish I could..., Wouldn't it be nice if ..." The fact of the matter is I don't have a job where I can blog and put out super awesome content all of the time. So instead of fretting about what I can or can't do as a result of my job and looking at others thinking, "They're so fortunate and they probably don't even realize it", I'm going to do something.

Instead of letting my backlog pile up or to let someone else implement my ideas (which can be kind of frustrating), or worse yet, let the ideas sit somewhere untouched, I'm just going to take action. I'm not going to be able to do everything, but I can do something. And I invite you to do the same. 



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