# Ask data colloquial suggestions

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2020-08-12
- **Format:** Video · 3 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Analytics, Data visualisation
- **Tools:** Tableau (ask data, cloud)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/ask-data-colloquial-suggestions-in-tableau-server-tableau-online-2020-3
- **Watch:** https://www.youtu.be/rZP_u1i7Le4

I walk through the colloquial suggestions feature added to Ask Data in Tableau 2020.3. Using a Superstore sales data source on Tableau Online, I show how to edit the suggested questions so they read in natural, everyday language while still mapping to the underlying database query.

## Key takeaways

- Ask Data suggestions default to database-style phrasing, which the colloquial suggestions feature lets you rewrite into natural language
- To access it, go to a published data source on Tableau Online or Server that has Ask Data enabled
- You can change both the underlying query (e.g. sum of sales) and the display text (e.g. 'what are the total sales')
- Clicking an edited suggestion still builds the view from the original query, acting as a bridge between database language and everyday phrasing
- The feature is especially useful for multicultural organisations needing to reconcile different language and terminology for the same metrics

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/ask-data-colloquial-suggestions-in-tableau-server-tableau-online-2020-3

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena