--- schema_version: "1" id: 96d614a675419cc0eb1cda4a02e8f64033f7701ac46b2c5fab0e22e184373e9c title: Continuous Dates collection: tableau version: next locale: en-gb portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/dates_continuous.md canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/dates_continuous.htm source_site: help.tableau.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 255118d9fb8c69b3111f5fa4d0d9831da20e76b8a2a34a6e9ff24e7754862a4b 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/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/datafields_typesandroles.htm).