Source row number in Tableau Prep | New in Tableau 2023.1

0:00Fresh in 23.1 in Tableau Prep, when you

0:03open an excel or CSV file, when you bring

0:05it in,

0:06there's something a little bit new here.

0:08When you load it up, you'll notice that the

0:10first item

0:11says source row number and it's actually

0:13crossed out. If we go over to the changes

0:16tab, you'll also

0:16see that Tableau has already applied a

0:18change. And in essence, this new feature

0:21means that Tableau

0:22remembers the sort order for an excel file

0:24or a CSV file when it loads the data. And

0:27then it gives

0:28you the option to preserve that as a column

0:30. So essentially right here where it says

0:32source row

0:32number, if I right click on that, I can

0:35include the field and now it's part of my

0:37data set,

0:37which means when I go to the next step, I'm

0:40then able to start to use it. Why is this

0:42important?

0:42I mean, you can already do row ID and

0:44sorting. Well, in order to understand this,

0:47I had to go

0:47over to the original feature suggestion by

0:50Jonathan Drame almost five years ago. And

0:52it

0:52actually gives a very good example. When

0:54you're collecting data manually, typically

0:56the order in

0:57which you're putting data in has some sort

0:59of significance. Or if you're using a tool

1:01that

1:01generates data in a certain order,

1:03sometimes that order is actually useful to

1:05know. So when you see

1:07new features in the Tableau community,

1:08quite often they've actually been suggested

1:10by someone really

1:11smart in the community. And in this case,

1:13it's Jonathan. If you actually look at the

1:15different

1:15points here, his sort of one post has

1:17spawned multiple features, which is

1:20incredible. And I'm

1:21sure Tableau would have got to them anyway,

1:23but it's really useful to have the color

1:25and the

1:25perspective from other members in the

1:27community. So that's the new feature here

1:29in Tableau prep.

1:30This feature doesn't exist for databases.

1:32And in my head, I sort of asked why that

1:35was. And actually,

1:36again, Jonathan came to the rescue and he

1:38dropped a comment on my 23.1 overview video

1:41, which actually

1:42gives a really good explanation. And

1:44essentially, databases don't necessarily

1:46work in the same way

1:47as a flat file. And so the context is just

1:49a little bit different. And with the

1:50database,

1:51you can actually sort the data the way you

1:53want anyway. So it's not as important. But

1:55that doesn't

1:55mean it can't be done. It's just an

1:57interesting sort of semantic discussion

1:59about why you might

2:01do something. Anyway, that's it for the

2:02video. Thanks for watching, and I'll catch

2:04you in the

2:04next one.

2:05[END]

2:15[ Silence ]