--- schema_version: "1" id: eef7635fb6633f59246c06401d729ab90a36c71e0242c30728e7c762ba5e392f title: Continuous Dates collection: tableau version: current locale: en-gb portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/current/en-gb/pro/desktop/dates_continuous.md canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/dates_continuous.htm source_site: help.tableau.com content_type: documentation content_hash: b4b90c1da97a30bd58bb677b7e91a647b9d78d5715a56401c1957f8af3a955ab description: Understand continuous dates that create an axis, versus discrete date parts that create labels. --- [Skip to main content](#main-content) # Continuous Dates By default, dates come into the view as a discrete field. Date parts (such as year or month) can be used like any other discrete field and create labels in the view. However, you can change dates to continuous if you choose. Select one of the Continuous date options on the field’s context menu to use date truncations (such as March 2020 or 25/03/2022) instead of date parts. Continuous dates create an axis in the view.

Discrete date part	Continuous date truncation

## Change the default To make a given date field continuous by default, right-click (control-click on Mac) the field in the Data pane and select Convert to Continuous. The field turns green and defaults to a continuous date when used in the view. To revert to discrete again, right-click (control-click on Mac) the field in the Data pane and select Convert to Discrete. ## See also For more information on the impact of using a continuous or discrete field, refer to [Dimensions and Measures, Blue and Green](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/datafields_typesandroles.htm).