Tableau-Desktop-Found Connecting to and Preparing Data Practice Question
You need to connect to a CSV file that is updated daily. To maintain the most up-to-date data while keeping the file lightweight, which connection strategy should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose a 'Live' connection thinking it is the only way to get fresh data, forgetting that an extract with a refresh schedule provides both performance and freshness.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use an Extract with a scheduled refresh.
Using an Extract with a refresh schedule ensures that the data is periodically updated without requiring the user to manually trigger the import. This balance between performance and freshness is key in professional environments where users expect real-time or near-real-time data without the performance penalty of a live connection, which can be unstable with local CSV files.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Always use a Live connection.
Why it's wrong here
A live connection is often inefficient for CSV files because Tableau must re-parse the file frequently, which can slow down performance significantly. Additionally, live connections do not offer the same performance optimization and compression benefits that extracts provide for large or complex dataset analysis.
- ✓
Use an Extract with a scheduled refresh.
Why this is correct
An extract provides high performance through the Hyper engine, while a scheduled refresh ensures that the data stays current. This is the best practice for CSV-based data sources, as it eliminates the performance overhead of live connections while maintaining the accuracy of the reporting.
- ✗
Use a Data Source Filter on every field.
Why it's wrong here
Data Source Filters are used to limit the volume of data, not to manage refresh schedules. Using filters on every field is unnecessary and would make the data source harder to manage, while doing nothing to keep the data updated to reflect the daily changes in the file.
- ✗
Import the CSV as a new data source every day.
Why it's wrong here
Manually re-importing a file every day is an error-prone and tedious task. It wastes time and breaks existing workbook references. Tableau is designed to handle data updates automatically through extract refreshes, making manual re-importing a completely obsolete and inefficient approach to data management.
About these practice questions
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Tableau (Salesforce) exam blueprint
This Tableau-Desktop-Found practice question is part of Courseiva's free Tableau (Salesforce) certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the Tableau-Desktop-Found exam.