--- schema_version: "1" id: ee2a3c353cc1cc76bb41cc392e5c44f80d4385a0046b60a046ad636c4cc67b15 title: Continuous Dates collection: tableau version: current locale: en-gb portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/current/en-gb/public/desktop/dates_continuous.md canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/current/public/desktop/en-gb/dates_continuous.htm source_site: help.tableau.com content_type: documentation content_hash: f86e256ee55b2fadbe57fc45b39e9269dc08858f4de11a6d9f43acd803cff5c8 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/public/desktop/en-gb/datafields_typesandroles.htm).