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Sales data lives in one file and store details live in another, and combining them the wrong way quietly drops or duplicates rows.
What you'll have at the end
A combined data source with a row count that matches the original files, using the method that fits how the two sources relate.
You need
Two files that share a common store identifier, both already open as connections in the same Tableau workbook, with neither yet combined with the other.
Not covered
Combining a cube or OLAP data source, which must be blended and can't use a relationship or a join at all, or modeling a shared dimension across more than two fact tables.
Turn a slow live dashboard into a fast extract
Once the combined source is built, this is the next lever if the dashboard built on top of it is still slow to redraw.
Pull customer names onto every order with a join
The same inner-versus-left-join tradeoff, worked out in SQL instead of Tableau's own join canvas.
Checked 26 Aug 2026
Part of the Tableau cookbook