---
schema_version: "1"
id: e376cf270354c97db2288ddd4201a080f0e68f3ceeb7af5de7c8b60e862729fc
title: Create a Data Source or Add a New Connection with Clipboard Data
collection: tableau
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/current/en-us/public/desktop/clipboard_datasource.md
canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/current/public/desktop/en-us/clipboard_datasource.htm
source_site: help.tableau.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: dfbdd8518bd1b7c220bac8de25cbe2a392cbbc1f8659bfcbd6b61664cf5027ca
description: Copy and paste data directly into Tableau to create a data source for quick analysis.
---
[Skip to main content](#main-content)

# Create a Data Source or Add a New Connection with Clipboard Data

Sometimes you want to pull in data from an outside source for some quick analysis. Rather than create a whole data source and then connect in Tableau, you can copy and paste the data directly into your workbook. Tableau automatically creates a data source that you can begin analyzing.

When you paste data on the data source page, Tableau creates a new connection in the existing data source.

When you paste data on the sheet, Tableau creates a new data source that you can begin analyzing.

You can copy and paste data from a variety of office applications including Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. You can also copy and paste HTML tables from web pages. Tables that are copied as comma separated values or tab delimited can be pasted into Tableau.

Note: Not all applications use these formats when copying.

1. Select the data you want and copy it to the clipboard.
2. Open Tableau Desktop and do one of the following:
    
    1. On the data source page, select Data > Paste Data as Connection or Paste Data as Data Source.
        
        ![The Data dropdown menu showing the Paste Data as Connection and Paste Data as Data Source menu options.](/tableau/current/en-us/public/desktop/en-us/Img/clipboard_datasource_datasourcepage.png)
    2. On the sheet, select Data > Paste to paste the data as a data source.
        
        ![The Data dropdown menu showing the Paste menu option.](/tableau/current/en-us/public/desktop/en-us/Img/clipboard_datasource2.png)