Hi Mila

Normally for these kind of activities you would use Tableau Server (specifically tabcmd) to automate routine jobs such as exports to Excel.

is it possible to automate data export to csv or excel from Tableau View?

You would create a batch file (.bat) and run it on a scheduler, Windows has one.

To achieve this with Desktop only... hmmm , some kind of macro/ automator such as autolt

Someone will hopefully jump in with a much whizzier way

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mila

(I'll keep it simple for ease) Tableau makes 2 main products - Desktop and Server.

At their most basic Desktop is to create content, and Server is to share content.

'Automated' exports to Excel = sharing, hence you need Server.

Manual exports to Excel can be done in either Desktop or Server, as you have been doing in Desktop already.

tabcmd

Tabcmd is a command line tool for Server which is like a macro.

You give tabcmd a set of instructions, and it will carry them out, you can automate them, so you can do it over night/ when you're away etc.

The tabcmd functionality is for Server only.

if you need further help let me know, I personally use both Desktop and Server with tabcmd so have plenty of scripts i can share, but if you haven't got Server, there will be little point, you couldn't use them.

Is that all clear?

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mila

Happy to share scripts, not a problem. Here is a very basic script -

@ECHO OFF

ECHO Processing.....

cd /D C:\

cd C:\tabcmd\Command Line Utility

tabcmd logout

tabcmd login -s http://ourserver.com -t Default -u mark --password-file pwd.txt

tabcmd blah blah blah

tabcmd logout

ECHO ON

What it does -

ECHO OFF = stops system messages displaying in the command window, just says Processing...

cd /D C:\ = swap directory to the C drive

cd C:\tabcmd\Command Line Utility = open the tabcmd utility (note its saved in the C root)

tabcmd logout = logout, in case there was a previous session still logged in

tabcmd login... = login so our server, default site, me as user, password in a file (for security)

Tabcmd blah blah blah = this is where the instructions would go, anything from this list tabcmd Commands  (export for example)

Once they are all done, logout, turn the ECHO back on, DONE

Hope that's clear, i have other scripts but that will start you off.

So, could you imagine to copy/paste more than 150 charts to Excel every Monday?  

I can imagine, but I wouldn't want to do it!

My comment on this is - are they necessary? Could the information be better displayed and distributed? I suspect it probably could.

To understand - Tableau wants to sell, in their world, you would create in Desktop and publish to Server, so rather than export x150, your colleagues would simply log in to the secure portal and interact with what you made, no Excel required only Tableau Desktop and Server. Its a nice model, but you will pay.

Happy to help more, if I can?!

Cheers

Mark

Open Notepad

Copy and paste everything above in italics (you would need to amend the site, login etc.)

Save as .bat < that is important, a .bat extension indicates to windows its a batch file

Once you have a batch file, you can run it manually by double clicking, or right click, Open.

Or you can run it on a schedule in Windows -

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-schedule-batch-file-run-automatically-windows-7

To be clear - you need Tableau Server + tabcmd for all the above. (as well as Notepad )

Cheers

Mark

So, I can't use this as I have only Tableau Desktop?

No, sorry... as mentioned previously it requires Tableau Server.

You can automate the export to Excel via Desktop using something like autolt, but its not Tableau supported.

>> Re: Automation of routine activities

and

Automate pdf generation using Tableau Desktop

You're very welcome, happy I could help.

Apologies I'm sure its not the answer you were looking for.

You can download a 2 week free trial of Server - just make sure to have someone technical who can help you set it up!!

Please could you mark one of my answer's as correct to close the thread?

Its useful if others stumble on this thread (as I'm sure they will, this comes up a lot!)

Finally have a look in the ideas section - by voting you can influence Tableau

Here is one >> https://community.tableau.com/ideas/1694

And if there is anything else, please feel free to use the forums, welcome!

Cheers

Mark