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title: "Step 1: Connect to a sample data source"
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locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/next/en-us/guides/get-started-tutorial/get-started-tutorial-connect.md
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description: "Tutorial step 1: connect to a sample data source in Tableau Desktop."
---
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# Step 1: Connect to your data

Your manager has asked you to look into the overall sales and profitability for the company and to identify key areas for improvement. You have a bunch of data but you aren't sure where to start. You decide to begin by downloading Tableau Desktop Free Edition.

For related resources and videos, see [Connecting to Data with Tableau Desktop](https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/connecting-data-tableau-desktop?playlist=509089).

## Open Tableau Desktop and begin

The first thing you see after you open Tableau Desktop is the [Start page](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/environment_startpage.htm). Here, you select the connector Tableau needs to access your data.

![The Tableau start page](/tableau/next/en-us/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/Img/gs_Connect1.png)

The start page has several options to choose from:

**1.** **Tableau icon**. Click ![An icon of the Tableau logo](/tableau/next/en-us/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/Img/gs_Connect2.png) in the upper left corner of any page to toggle between the start page and the authoring workspace.

**2.** **Connect pane**.

- Connect to data in a file, such as Microsoft Excel, PDF, Spatial files, and more.
- Connect to data in a server-based platform such as Google Drive, Amazon Redshift, Oracle, or a published data source in Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server.
- Connect to a data source you’ve connected to before.

Tableau supports the ability to connect to a wide variety of data stored in a wide variety of places. The Connect pane lists the most common places that you might want to connect to, or click the More links to see more options. For more on connecting to data sources, see the [Learning Library](https://help.tableau.com/current/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/get-started-tutorial-next.htm) for this tutorial.

**3.** Quick Start **Accelerators**: pre-built templates you can connect to your own data.

**4.** Quick Start **Sample Workbooks**: sample workbooks that come with Tableau Desktop.

**5.** **Open**: recently opened workbooks.

**6.** **Discover**: additional resources.

In the Connect pane, under Saved Data Sources, click **Sample - Superstore** to connect to the sample dataset. Superstore contains information about products, customers, and sales that you can use to identify key areas for improvement within this fictitious retail company.

If you need to download the Superstore dataset it can be found on the [Tableau Public Sample Data](https://public.tableau.com/app/learn/sample-data) page, then use the Microsoft Excel connector.

![Sample - Superstore listed under "Saved Data Sources"](/tableau/next/en-us/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/Img/gs_Connect_Superstore.png)

After you select **Sample - Superstore**, your screen will look something like this:

![A blank worksheet](/tableau/next/en-us/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/Img/gs_Connect4.png)

Learn more: What is Tableau doing with your data?

After you connect to your data, Tableau does the following:

- Opens a new worksheet. This is a blank slate where you can create your first view.
- Displays the data source you are connected to. If you are using multiple data sources, you can see them all listed here.
- Adds columns from your data source to the **Data** pane on the left side. Columns are added as fields.
- Automatically assigns data types (such as date, number, string, etc.) and roles (dimension or measure) to your data. (We'll talk more about these terms later.)

If you want to see more details about your data, you can select the **Data Source** page in the bottom left corner. Here, you can view the first 1,000 rows of your data, and some analysts go nuts: Sort or hide fields, split fields into multiple columns, and rename column headers, all without modifying the original data. What happens in Tableau stays in Tableau; your data is safe.

If you navigated to the **Data Source** page to check out the details, just click on the tab for **Sheet 1** to get back to where you started.

For more information about the Data Source page, see the [Learning Library](https://help.tableau.com/current/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/get-started-tutorial-next.htm).

Learn more: Prepare your own data

When you connect to your own data, you might need to do some prep work before connecting to it in Tableau. This is because Tableau makes assumptions about your data so that it can display it properly for you to work with.

For more information on preparing your data, see the [Learning Library](https://help.tableau.com/current/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/get-started-tutorial-next.htm).

Continue to [Step 2: Drag and drop to take a first look](https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/guides/get-started-tutorial/en-us/get-started-tutorial-drag.htm).