Publishing to Tableau Server and Tableau Online is a similar experience. To publish to Tableau Server or Tableau Online, from the menu select Server | Publish Workbook. If you are not signed in to a server, you will be prompted to sign in:
You must have a user account with publish permissions for one or more projects. Enter the URL or IP address of the Tableau server or the Tableau online URL, your username, and password. Once signed in, you will be prompted to select a site, if you have access to more than one. Finally, you will see the publish screen:
You have multiple options when you publish:
- Select the Project to which you wish to publish and Name your workbook. If a workbook has already been published with the same name as the selected project, you will be prompted to overwrite it.
- You may give the workbook a Description and use Add Tags to make searching for and finding your workbook easier.
- You may also specify which Sheets to include in the published workbook. Any sheets you check will be included; any you uncheck will not.
- You may Edit user and group Permissions to define who has permission to view, interact with, and alter your workbook. By default, the project settings are used.
- You may Edit properties for data sources. The options are described in detail in the next section.
- You also have the option to Show Sheets as Tabs. When checked, users on Tableau Server will be able to navigate between sheets using tabs similar to those shown at the bottom of Tableau Desktop. This option must be checked if you plan to have actions that navigate between views.
- Show Selections indicates that you wish any active selections of marks to be retained in the published views.
Editing the Data Sources gives you options for authentication and scheduling:
- For each data connection used in the workbook, you may determine how database connections are authenticated. The options will depend on the data source as well the configuration of Tableau Server. Various options include embedding a password, impersonating a user, or prompting a Tableau Server user for credentials.
- You may specify a schedule for Tableau Server to run refreshes of any data extracts.
Any live connections or extracted connections that will be refreshed on the server must define connections that work from the server. This means that all applicable database drivers must be installed on the server; all network, internet connections, and ports required for accessing database servers and cloud-based data must be open.
Additionally, any external files referenced by a workbook (for example, image files and non-extracted file-based data sources) that were not included when the workbook was published must be referenced using a location that is accessible by Tableau Server (for example, a network path with security settings allowing the Tableau Server process read access).
Additionally, any external files referenced by a workbook (for example, image files and non-extracted file-based data sources) that were not included when the workbook was published must be referenced using a location that is accessible by Tableau Server (for example, a network path with security settings allowing the Tableau Server process read access).