Change Column Data Type

While transforming your data, you may need to change the data type of one or more columns. For example, data of String type may be the easiest to manipulate. Since there are no mismatched values for String data type, you may wish to change a column's data type to this baseline type. 

• Data types that you see in the Transformer page represent types that are understood by the product. 

You can change a column's data type in one of the following ways. 

For more information on the available data types, see Supported Data Types.

A Note about Datetime Data Type

If you are changing a column's data type to Datetime, you must also select a format string to apply to the column. In the column menus, the available options can be selected after you select Datetime. 

For more information, see Datetime Data Type.

Change from Column Menus

You can change the data type for individual columns through the following column menus:

1. To the left of the column name, you can click the icon and select a new data type from the list. 
   
   
   

   Figure: Column Data Type Menu

   
   

2. To the right of the column name, you can click the caret to open the column menu. Select Change Type and make a selection from the sub-menu.

Change Data Type for Multiple Columns 

If you must change the data type for multiple columns to a single data type, you can use a transformation like the following, which changes the columns LastName, FirstName, and Address to String data type.