Connecting to and Preparing Data – Desktop Specialist Study Guide
This domain accounts for 25% of the exam and covers getting data into Tableau and shaping it for analysis: connection types, combining tables (joins, unions, relationships), and preparing fields. The exam is conceptual and task-recognition based — know when to use a live connection vs an extract, join vs union, and split vs pivot.
Connecting to Data
Tableau connects to a wide range of sources: files (Excel, CSV, JSON), relational databases, and cloud data warehouses.
Live vs Extract:
| Live connection | Extract (.hyper) | |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Queries the source in real time | A saved snapshot |
| Freshness | Always current | As of last refresh |
| Speed / offline | Depends on source; needs it available | Fast, portable, works offline |
Choose an extract for speed and offline use when up-to-the-second freshness isn't required; choose live when you need real-time data.
Saved (published) data sources let multiple workbooks reuse a cleaned, well-labeled connection consistently.
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3 more sections (about 319 words) continue below. The first domain's study guide is free for every TDS-C01 learner with a free account.