Types of Fields in Tableau
This section will walk you through the data types available in Tableau and the ways in which the default behaviors of different field types can be set, as well as their implications.
Data Types
Tableau data types are the methods by which Tableau understands the information stored within a field. Fields can be either the text or string type, numeric, date, date and time, Boolean, or geographic.
Numeric data types can be specified as either whole numbers or decimal numbers. Both have the same symbol in Tableau, and there is no significant difference in functionality. If it is not known whether a numeric field contains details down to the decimal level, it is recommended to set the field to decimal anyway just in case.
By default, Tableau will assign a data type to a field, depending on what is most appropriate. For example, a field with only 1 and 0 values will be assigned as Boolean, whereas a field with values in a format such as 01/01/2024 will...