Connecting Tableau to your data

At the time of writing, Tableau’s data connection menu includes more than 90 different connection types. And that’s somewhat of an understatement since some of those types contain multiple options. For example, Other Files includes more than 30 options. Of course, we won’t cover the details for every connection type, but we will cover the basics. The official documentation on all connectors can be found here: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/exampleconnections_overview.htm.

Upon opening a new instance of Tableau Desktop from within Tableau Desktop (File | New), you’ll notice a Connect to Data link in the top-left corner of the workspace. Clicking on that link will enable you to connect to the data. Opening a new instance of Tableau from the application’s location on your computer will bring up the blue Connect pane right away. Alternatively, you can click on the New Data Source icon on the toolbar...