Improved Data Connectivity
Data is at the core of what you do, and now we help you do it even better. Even if your data is in one database, it often exists in multiple tables. Now you can use Tableau Desktop to connect to joined tables. Quickly add and remove tables, or even change how joins are performed on the fly.
But what if you're offline and not connected to your database? Tableau can now create extracts of your data, letting you take your work offline. You can even work with just a subset of your data. In some cases, extracting data also adds additional features, such as distinct counts and medians.
Ultimately, this gives you flexibility in working with your data. You're free to maintain a live connection to your database, extract the data to work offline, or seamlessly switch between the two.
New Visual Encodings
There are many ways to encode your data to make rapid comparisons. Color came with our initial release version, and now we've added size. Just drag any field to the size shelf, and watch as your marks are sized according to the category they belong to or the relative numerical amount of that point.
Also new is the Pages shelf, which allows you to flip between data from different categorical fields, such as date. It can also be animated to automatically show how data changes, often highlighting very impactful occurrences in your data set as you watch.
Don't forget to try one-click reference and trend lines too. These make for simple and easy ways to compare data points against set benchmarks or even see the strength of a regression.
New Calculations
Calculations and math functions are the foundation of manipulating your data. New calculated fields allow you to augment your data in Tableau, whether you want to modify dates, use trigonometric functions, and much more. We've even added custom SQL expressions and cube database calculations using MDX queries.
In the spirit of fast analytical insight, table calculations are just one-click away. This is an easy way to perform running totals, various types of percent calculations, moving calculations and much more.