# Reordering preparation steps

In Talend Data Preparation, each preparation step you apply on your data is based on the previous one. As a consequence, if you already applied many preparation steps to your data, but forgot one small change at the beginning, you would not achieve the expected result.

In a preparation with many steps, you have the possibility to rearrange your preparation steps so that the changes take effect in the right order.

Let's take the example of a dataset containing customer information such as their name, email, address or the US State they live in.

![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_1.png)

Based on this dataset, a few preparation steps have already been made, including a lookup on the State column, some cleansing actions, and lastly, a correction on the State column, where one of the States was in the wrong format.

![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_2.png)

Because that last change on the State column was performed after the lookup, some information is now missing from the Region column.

![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_3.png)

You are going to take the lookup step and place it as the final step of the preparation to make sure it includes all the States.

## Procedure

1. Point your mouse over the lookup step.
2. To move the lookup step from the fourth position to the first position, you can:
   * Drag the recipe step and drop it at the top of your recipe. ![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_4.png) The grey line shows where the recipe step will be placed.
   * Click the up arrow on the left of your recipe step to move it up one step at a time. ![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_5.png)

## Results

Your preparation is automatically updated with the correct sequence of actions, and the Region column now includes Texas.

![](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-preparation-user-guide/Resources/images/reorder_steps_6.png)