# Ask Data Improvements - New in Tableau 2022.2

> 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:** 2022-07-13
- **Format:** Video · 5 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation, Tool strategy
- **Tools:** Tableau (ask data, cloud, dashboards, server)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/ask-data-improvements-new-in-tableau-2022-2
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFq0HxWht4

I walk through the Ask Data improvements in Tableau 2022.2, showing how you can now create, select and configure lenses directly from Tableau Desktop rather than jumping into the browser. I demonstrate connecting to a published data source on Tableau Cloud, building a quick dashboard, and using the Ask Data object with its new configuration interface.

## Key takeaways

- In Tableau 2022.2 you can select an existing lens, create a new one, or configure an Ask Data object entirely within Desktop instead of switching to the browser
- The Ask Data object now presents a configuration interface showing existing lenses and their modification dates when you drag it onto a dashboard
- Because the data source is published, the lens capability runs in the cloud while Desktop sends the request, so behaviour matches the browser experience
- You can edit the fields available in a lens from Tableau Cloud's top-left panel and changes reflect for end users in the dashboard
- Author-level options like adding visualisations, pinning, publishing as a workbook and sharing can be toggled directly from the Desktop configuration pane

## Chapters

- 0:14 Connecting to a published data source
- 1:01 Building a quick scatter plot dashboard
- 1:31 Adding and selecting an Ask Data lens
- 2:23 Configuring and editing the lens
- 3:05 Creating a new lens from Desktop
- 4:05 Author options and final thoughts

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/ask-data-improvements-new-in-tableau-2022-2

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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