# Nested Data Structures

Oftentimes your dataset will consist of *objects*, rather than primitive types.

By default, the package has no knowledge of how those objects should be presented.

To tell the package how to handle those fields you can use one of two options, depending on your needs:

1\. Decide which *primitive* property you would like to refer to as the relevant piece of data, by using the dot notation when declaring your \`columns\` prop. E.g: `['name','age','meta.education.degree']`

2\. Use [Templates](/vue-tables-2/templates.md)

Option 1 is more simple and straight-forward. However, it disregards all the other properties, which means that sorting, filtering and presentation will all refer to the single piece of primitive data at the "end of the chain".

If you want to use the entire object, option 2 is your best route. This will allow you to incorporate all the properties in the presentation. 

{% hint style="info" %}
When using the client component note that:

* Default filtering behaviour will recursively scan the entire object for the query.
* If the column is sortable, you will need to define a sorting algorithm, using the [customSorting](/vue-tables-2/custom-sorting.md) option.
  {% endhint %}


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