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Amazon QuickSight – Preparing Data

 

Datasets in Amazon QuickSight store prepared data, including calculated fields, filters, and modifications to field names or data types. This enables you to reuse the prepared data in multiple analyses. If your data source is a SQL database, data preparation also allows table joining or SQL query execution for multi-table data.

 

To customize a data source in QuickSight, you can prepare the data as per your requirements and save this preparation as part of the dataset. You can prepare a dataset while creating it or by editing it later. For more information, refer to Creating datasets or Editing datasets.

 

Describing Data

 

Using QuickSight, you can add metadata to the columns (fields) in your datasets, making them self-explanatory and easier to reuse. This helps data curators and consumers understand the data’s origin and meaning, especially when sharing information between organizations.

 

Metadata, or field descriptions, become available to anyone using the dataset. Column descriptions appear when a user hovers over a field name in the Fields list. Descriptions are visible to those editing a dataset or analysis but not to dashboard viewers. Note that descriptions do not support formatting.

 

To edit a column or field description, follow these steps:

  1. On the QuickSight start page, choose Datasets on the left.
  2. On the Datasets page, select the dataset to work on.
  3. On the dataset details page, choose Edit dataset at the top right.
  4. On the dataset page, select a column in the table preview or field list.
  5. Add or change the description using the field settings from the pencil icon or context menu.
  6. To delete a description, remove all text in the Description box.
  7. Optionally, change the field name in the Name box.
  8. Choose Apply to save changes or Cancel to exit.

 

Changing text file upload settings

Text file upload settings encompass the file header indicator, file format, text delimiter, text qualifier, and starting row. When working with an Amazon S3 data source, the chosen settings apply to all files utilized in the dataset.

 

Follow these steps to change text file upload settings:

  1. On the data preparation page, open the Upload Settings panel by selecting the expand icon.
  2. Choose the desired file format type in the File format section.
  3. If you selected the custom separated (CUSTOM) format, enter the separating character in the Delimiter field.
  4. Deselect the Files include headers checkbox if the file does not contain a header row.
  5. Specify the row number in the Start from row field if you wish to begin from a row other than the first one. If the Files include headers checkbox is selected, the new starting row is considered the header row. Otherwise, it is treated as the first data row.
  6. Choose the appropriate text qualifier in the Text qualifier section, either single quotes (‘) or double quotes (“).

Changing Microsoft Excel file upload settings

Microsoft Excel file upload settings consist of the range header indicator and the whole worksheet selector.

 

Follow these steps to modify Microsoft Excel file upload settings:

  1. On the data preparation page, open the Upload Settings panel by selecting the expand icon.
  2. Make sure the Upload whole sheet option remains selected.
  3. If the file does not include a header row, deselect the Range contains headers checkbox.