Connecting to Excel Files in Tableau

In this article we will show you, How to connect Tableau to Microsoft Excel Files and how to use the excel sheets as Tableau Data Source with example.

Steps involved in Connecting to Excel Files in Tableau

Before we start, Let us see the data present in the Excel file. If you observe the below screenshot, it’s just a normal .xlsx file holding two sheets or two tables.

Below screenshot will show you the Data present in Customers sheet

Below screenshot will show you the Data present in Department sheet

If you haven’t started the Tableau yet, Double click on the Tableau desktop to open. Once it is open, it looks like below screenshot

First, Under the Connect section, Please select the Excel Option

Once you selected the Excel Option, a new window will be opened to select the Excel file from our file system. For now, we are selecting the CustomersAndDept.xlsx file as shown below

Once you are done, below screenshot will be appeared. Please understand the following option before you start creating report

1. Workbook: Excel File we selected from our file system.
2. Sheets: This section will display the Sheets or Tables present in the Excel source. We have two tables so, it is displaying those two sheets (Customers and Department). We have the search bar under this section and it is very useful for large number of sheets. For instance, If you have 30 or 40 sheets then you can use this to search for specific table
3. Drag Sheets Here: You have to Drag Table(s) from Sheets to this Section. Tableau will only use the tables present in this area. This is something like Dataset.
4. This region will show the data present in our Dataset

NOTE: CustomersAndDept is the default data source name (Excel File name) assigned by the Tableau. Please change this default name to more meaningful unique name as per your requirements

We can add the sheets to Region 3 in Multiple Ways: As the Name suggest, Either we can Drag the Customers Table from Sheets region to 3rd region or else simply double-click on the required table will automatically add

TIP: Tableau allows us to add multiple tables using Joins

Once you dragged the Customers sheet, Preview region will display the data present in that sheet.

If you observe the below screenshot, there is a message showing Data Interpreter is On

Data Interpreter: If Tableau discovers the format of any column data in our selected sheet is difficult to analyze, Tableau will pop up a message asking us to Turn On Data Interpreter. By turning Data Interpreter on, we can normalize the data

Once you finished, Click on the Sheet 1 tab to design the report.

1. Data: This will display the list of currently connected data Sources. We have only at this time otherwise, it will display all the data sources available.
2. Dimensions: Columns with string data will be placed under the Dimensions section
3. Measures: Columns with Numeric data or Metric values will be placed under the Measures section
4. This is the region where we design our Tableau reports by dragging Measures and Dimensions

From the above screenshot you can observe that, We are only seeing the data present in Customers table though we have Customers and Department tables in our Excel file. If you want to add Department table, Click back button on Top and Join the Department table with Customers table

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