By: Eric Parker
Eric Parker lives in Seattle and has been teaching Tableau and Alteryx since 2014. He's helped thousands of students solve their most pressing problems. If you have a question, feel free to reach out to him directly via email. You can also sign up for a Tableau Office Hour to work with him directly!
Tableau's default method for relating tables of data on shared columns is now Relationships. The previous default was joins. Despite looking outwardly similar, these approaches have some key differences.
Most resources only talk about one or two components of relationships without diving into much detail. Check out the video below to learn in-depth how these two data preparation approaches differ and which scenarios call for which approach.
If you're using Relationships now instead of Joins, we'll show you a few "gotchas". to look out for. If you're avoiding Relationships and sticking with Joins, we'll show you some scenarios where Relationships are preferable. Either way, we expect you'll learn something!
Want a link to a downloadable copy of the workbook from the webinar?
You can download it on Tableau Public by selecting this link.
Looking to learn more? Here are some encouraged resources for further learning.
Questions about Relationships, the Data Model, and Data Source (Tableau KB Article)
Relationships, Joins and Unions in Tableau 2020.2 (Penguin Analytics YouTube Video)
Comparing Tableau’s New Relationships to Blends and Joins (Interworks Blog Post)
Joins, Unions and Blends in Tableau. What’s the Difference? (OneNumber YouTube Video)
Data Blending in Tableau - How it Works and When You Need It (OneNumber YouTube Video)
Setting Up Row Level Permissions in Tableau (OneNumber Blog Post)