# Some variables in metadata are ommitted

**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/some-variables-in-metadata-are-ommitted/2501
**Category:** User Support
**Tags:** metadata
**Created:** [January 9, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/some-variables-in-metadata-are-ommitted/2501 "2018-01-09T23:32:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 5

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### Author: ![jairideout](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/jairideout/32/9_2.png) [@jairideout](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/jairideout)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/some-variables-in-metadata-are-ommitted/2501/5 "2018-02-16T17:03:08Z")

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In the QIIME 2 `2018.2` release, Metadata supports optional column typing, allowing users to declare a metadata column "categorical" or "numeric". Using optional column typing, columns that look "numeric" can be declared to be "categorical", allowing the columns to be used in categorical analyses such as `alpha-group-significance`.

There are a number of other changes to QIIME 2 Metadata in the `2018.2` release. See [this forum announcement](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/summary-of-changes-to-metadata-in-qiime-2-2018-2-release/2884) for details on what changed, as well as the updated [Metadata tutorial](https://docs.qiime2.org/2018.2/tutorials/metadata/). 🌞

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