Publish to Tableau Server Tool

Use the Publish to Tableau Server tool to publish an Alteryx data stream as either a Tableau Hyper data extract (.hyper) or Tableau data extract (.tde) file. You can also include a Tableau data source (.tds) file. Tableau Online or Tableau Server 10.5+ is required to use this tool. See Publish to Tableau Server Tool for older versions. To learn more about TDS files, visit Tableau online help.

Tableau Hyper extension behavior

After publishing an Alteryx data stream as a Tableau Hyper data extract (.hyper) file, the file may incorrectly display with a TDE (.tde) extension. The data source is actually a HYPER file. You can verify this by downloading and extracting the *.tdsx zip file and viewing the *.hyper file in Data > Extracts.

Blobs and spatial objects cannot be written to Tableau data sources and are excluded. The input must contain at least one column that contains strings, numbers, or dates.

Configure the tool

    1. In Saved connections, select a connection. To remove a saved connection, select it and then click Delete.
    2. Enter the Username and Password used to connect to Tableau Server from a web browser.
    3. Enter the Server URL used to log on to Tableau Server. Example : https://tableau.mycompany.com.
    4. Enter a Site ID or leave blank to use the default site. Tableau Server is designed to host multiple sites on the same server instance. Tableau Online does not have a default site - you must manually enter the URL. Example: https://10ay.online.tableau.com/#/site/mycompanysite/workbooks.
    5. To save the connection information as a new connection, use Add connection (optional) to type a name for the connection. Click Save to save the new connection.
    6. Click Connect to connect to Tableau Server.
    1. Project name: Select a project name where you want to publish the new data source
    2. Data source name: Enter the name given to the newly created data source on Tableau Server or select one from the list. If including metainfo, type the name of the .tds file without any differences.
    3. Output options: Choose output behavior.
      • Create: Create a new file in the specified project folder. If a file already exists with the same data source name, an error displays.
      • Overwrite: Create a new file in the specified folder and overwrite any existing file with the same name.
      • Append: Append to an existing file.
    4. Data source format: Select an output format.
      • Tableau Hyper Data Extract (*.hyper): Create a Tableau Hyper data extract file.
      • Tableau Data Extract (*.tde): Create a Tableau data extract file.
    5. Data source metainfo (optional): If you only want to publish a .hyper or .tde file, leave this blank. To publish a Tableau data extract (.tdsx) file, which includes a Tableau data source (.tds) file, follow the instructions below to prepare the .tds file. The filename and extension must be the same as the Data source name.

    The path used to publish the .tdsx file is 'Data/Extracts/[filename].hyper'.

    1. Using a file editor, open the .tds file that contains the metainfo for the data source.
    2. Edit the dbname path to match the publishing path. For example, if your hyper file is stored at C:/temp/filename.hyper then change C:/temp/filename.hyper to Data/Extracts/filename.hyper.
    3. Optionally, edit the datasource version to match the Tableau Server version. This process should only be used when publishing to a lower version.
    4. Save the changes.

    The .tds file is now ready. In Data source metainfo (optional), enter or browse to the path of the .tds file.

    When you run the workflow, the Publish to Tableau Server tool combines the .tds file and upstream data (the data stream used as the input) into a .tdsx file. The .tdsx file publishes to Tableau Server, providing users with access to the data source and metainfo, such as comments and hierarchies.