How to remove null values from date fields || Let’s have a (word about) date(s) (1/6)

Assume you have a data source with dates and some other values but some rows in your date column are empty. These will show as null values in Tableau:

So, how can we replace these null values with something else, an alias?

With any ordinary dimension, you can simply right click and select “edit alias”.

But this option is not available for dates.

Solution

Right click your date field on the data pane and make it a text field.

Then, select “edit alias” or “aliases” in the data pane

Redo the previous step and turn the field back into a date.

Careful: this does not work on all data sources

Unfortunately, this does not work on all sources. There may be more but where I have noticed this not to be working is Excel files or simple clipboard sources. Luckily, at least these two will in most cases not be what you are (primarily) connected to.

That’s it for today.

I hope you find this useful and as always appreciate your feedback.

Until next time.

Steffen