Connecting to data
As mentioned in Chapter 1, Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification Overview, you can connect to the data via a server (Tableau or another) or a file and can also connect to one or multiple data sources. On Tableau Desktop, you should try to connect with the same type of data source to get the highest performance. For example, if you’re using Microsoft Excel, other Excel files will work more effectively.
For the basic connection, I will connect to Sample – Superstore (see Figure 2.4), which is the default sample dataset from Tableau. It is what many tutorials and help guides from Tableau and the community are based on:
Figure 2.4 – Sample – Superstore default saved data source from Tableau Desktop
Simply select Sample – Superstore. Once connected, you will be taken to Sheet 1, where you can see all the tables and fields it contains (unless other data sources were added to the data pane before this...