# Suggested steps in Tableau Prep Builder

> 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:** 2020-09-16
- **Format:** Video · 2 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data prep
- **Tools:** Tableau (prep)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/suggested-steps-prep-builder
- **Watch:** https://www.youtu.be/cAbuNTU9ntA

I demonstrate a new feature in Tableau Prep Builder that suggests steps for users opening the tool for the first time. I show how dragging in the Orders table triggers a suggested 'view and clean data' step, and how its recommendations can apply data roles like city.

## Key takeaways

- Dragging a data source into Tableau Prep triggers a suggested 'view and clean data' step you can click to add to the view
- The suggestions aren't applied automatically, but you can open the recommendations panel to apply changes such as setting a data role to city
- Setting a data role adds intelligence about the field that carries through when you export to Tableau
- Suggested steps currently only appear for the first step, not for subsequent actions like pivots, joins, or custom splits

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/suggested-steps-prep-builder

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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