Unable to change Decimal to Float in New Dataset Experience / Revert to Legacy blocked

Q&A
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1

Description

I am trying to change a column’s data type from Decimal-fixed to Float in the new Dataset Experience. However, the dropdown menu for “New Data Type” is not providing the Float option, or is otherwise failing to save the change (see attached screenshot).

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I want to switch back to the Legacy Experience to perform this conversion, but the “Switch back to legacy experience” link in the top right is unresponsive. I suspect this is because the dataset was already “Published” in the new UI, which seems to lock it out of the legacy view.

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Questions for the Community:

  1. Is the Float data type currently supported in the “Change data type” transformation in the new visual flow?

  2. Since I cannot revert this specific dataset to legacy, is there a workaround to cast this field to Float (perhaps via a Calculated Field) that won’t result in precision loss?

  3. Is there a way to “downgrade” a published dataset back to legacy without having to recreate all joins and calculated fields from scratch?

2

Hi @Vishal_M,

To answer your questions:

1. Is Float supported in the new data type transformation?

No, the new dataset experience does not currently offer the granularity to switch between Decimal-Fixed and Decimal-Float. The “Change data type” step only shows “Decimal” as a single option without the Fixed/Float distinction that the legacy experience provides.

2. Workaround to cast to Float

You can try using a calculated field to force the conversion. For example:

decimalToInt(your_field) * 1.0

Or simply create a calculated field that references the original field with an arithmetic operation:

your_field + 0.0

However, note that this may not truly change the underlying storage type (Fixed vs Float), it just creates a new decimal field. For true storage-level control, the legacy experience is still needed.

3. Can you downgrade a published dataset back to legacy?

Unfortunately, no. This is by design, since the new experience has features not supported in legacy, so direct conversion between experiences is not supported.

Your best workaround for this is most likely to recreate the dataset from scratch in the legacy experience, perform your Decimal-Fixed/Float conversions there, then point your analyses to the new dataset.

Here is some documentation I think you’ll find helpful:

If you have anymore questions, feel free to reply.

Hope this helps!

3

Hi @Vishal_M,

Hope all is well! Just checking back in since we haven’t heard from you in a bit. I wanted to see if the guidance shared earlier helped resolve your question, or if you found a solution in the meantime.

If you still have any additional questions related to your initial post, feel free to share them. Otherwise, any update you’re able to provide within the next 3 business days would be helpful for the community.

Thank you.

4

Hi @Vishal_M,

Since I haven’t received any further updates from you, I’ll treat this inquiry as complete at this time. Please feel free to create a new post if you have more questions.

Thank you!