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Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 20, 2017 8:10 PM

I've set my Desktop File->Workbook Locale to be local (English Australia) and date formats are interpreted correctly (DD/MM/YYYY).

When twb and extract are published to Tableau Online they are initially correct.

Yet when the daily extract refreshes the dates for a field are incorrectly reinterpreted as US date format (MM/DD/YYYY). So it seems to be related to changing back to US defaults, with our Tableau Online being hosted on 'us-east-1.online.tableau.com'.

How can I get Tableau Online to have the date format set as default to be set to a specific local/region?

1. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Peter Fakan Sep 20, 2017 9:27 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

Hi Arran,

By 'Tableau Online' I am interpreting that you are talking about your tableau server, not tableau public. There are 2 things to check;

1. Your tableau server should also be installed in English Australia, and not US
2. Does this matter anyway ? Just reconfigure your date format to custom dd/mm/yyyy and let tableau work it out.

HTH

Peter
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2. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Ritesh Bisht Sep 20, 2017 9:32 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

Hi Arran,

In order to just display it in a certain way , we can make use of Calculation

Date Format 1 =31/12/2017

str(Date Format 1)=2017-12-31 (when you convert that to string it will look like this )

Date Custom= RIGHT(str([Date Format 1]),2)+'/'+MID(str([Date Format 1]),6,2)+ '/'+LEFT(str([Date Format 1]),4)

Tableau Desktop

Tableau Online

Date Format has changed but Date Custom is intact

Workbook here --> Tableau Public

Thanks,
Ritesh
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3. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 20, 2017 9:46 PM (in response to Peter Fakan)

Hi Peter,

Tableau Online is a separate product to Tableau Server. No installation required, it's a web hosted solution.

I need to work in the same date format in Desktop and Online. The display of the date is not an issue, instead it is Tableau's interpretation of the dates. So in Desktop it correctly interprets 12/07/2017 as July 12th 2017, yet when published to Online it is interpreted as December 7th 2017.
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4. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 20, 2017 9:51 PM (in response to Ritesh Bisht)

Hi Ritesh,

Unfortunately the display is not the issue, which I am not really concerned about, rather Tableau's interpretation of the date field.

So in Desktop it correctly interprets 12/07/2017 as July 12th 2017, yet when published to Online it is interpreted as December 7th 2017. While I could change the format in Desktop to interpret days and months backwards assuming that it would then be interpreted correctly Online this would mean that the visualisation in Desktop won't make sense until it gets published. Neither do I want to change my Workbook Locale settings to be US region.
Another funny thing is that the first time it is published the date format is correctly interpreted (Australia format) with no Decemeber 2017 dates. But once the extract refreshes the it reverts to interprets the dates differently and starts displaying Dec' 2017 dates.
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5. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Peter Fakan Sep 20, 2017 9:53 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

Hi Arran,

Then I think you might need to go with option 2 - custom date format to dd/mm/yyyy.

HTH

Peter
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6. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Ritesh Bisht Sep 20, 2017 10:25 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

Although I can see the change in format at my side as well but technically it should interpret the same-way internally .

For ex I added this calculation DATEPART which will show me the month for any date.

Tableau Desktop

Tableau Online

Yes format is different but it is taking correct month or say technically date is correct.

Do you mean that date has changed technically as well in your case along with the format as well ?

Thanks,
Ritesh
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7. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Chris McClellan Sep 20, 2017 10:57 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

I know the problem well, but what's your datasource ?
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8. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 21, 2017 12:52 AM (in response to Chris McClellan)

The extract is based on two sources, a Google Spreadsheet joined to a RDS database. The Google Sheet is the date field (formatted like '17/12/2016 12:30:00') that's changing between Desktop and Online.
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9. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Chris McClellan Sep 21, 2017 1:29 AM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

In Google Sheet, check File > Spreadsheet Settings - Locale.

Is it Australia or United States ?
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10. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 24, 2017 7:14 PM (in response to Chris McClellan)

Chris McClellan that's gold. So more a Google Sheet issue.

I will be staying away from Google Sheets when I can and sticking to Dropbox which seems more stable and scaleable.

Many thanks.
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11. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Sep 24, 2017 7:43 PM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

I will also add, under Manage Account Settings page, we should have Tableau Online correctly set to your local region too.
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12. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Chris McClellan Sep 25, 2017 1:24 AM (in response to Arran Sadlier)

I use Google Sheets a lot, but this is a tricky loophole. Not really anything that Tableau can do about it, because it's a local setting that you need to change
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13. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Andy Spink Nov 23, 2017 12:53 AM (in response to Chris McClellan)

Hi.

I'm having the same problem and just checked my spreadsheet settings and all seems fine for my location. Same in tableau online settings too.

Any suggestions?
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14. Re: Different date formats on Desktop vs Online

Arran Sadlier Dec 19, 2017 10:02 PM (in response to Andy Spink)

Not the solution you are looking for but I would recommend moving to hosting excel sheets on a dropbox connection if possible. (Google Sheets seem to be very fickle, we've had other issues with them)
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