Gain valuable insight with the Smartsheet for Tableau integration

With Smartsheet for Tableau, you can:

• Pull data from multiple sheets or reports from Smartsheet into a single Tableau report as an Extract
• Create complex joins across multiple sheets and other solutions into a Tableau Dashboard
• Publish Tableau reports containing Smartsheet data on Tableau Server or Tableau Online

Get started: Secure the integration requirements

Any Owner, Admin, or Editor Smartsheet user on a Business or Enterprise plan can use the integration. Make sure you meet these requirements: 

• Make sure you have a valid Tableau license
• Install Tableau Desktop (version 10.4 or higher). Your data can be hosted on Tableau Online or Tableau Server

• Use the integration with any supported Mac or Windows operating system

  Are you not sure if you have the right specs? Make sure you meet the technical requirements. Check out Tableau's device requirements.  

• Connect Smartsheet with Tableau

Connect Smartsheet and Tableau

1. Log in using your Smartsheet credentials.
2. Select Allow when prompted with the Allow Access message to give the integration access to your Smartsheet items. 
3. Select an existing sheet or report from your Smartsheet account.
4. To control how your text/number columns in Smartsheet appear in Tableau, select your data retrieval mode:
   • Always return text: All columns will be imported as text. Any blank cells within a column will be considered text and will cause a column to be imported as text. Consider using Use majority rule option in this case.
   • Use majority rule: This returns numeric results only if more than half the column inputs are numeric, discarding all non-numeric input.
   • Use entirety rule: This returns numeric results only if 100% of the column inputs are numeric. Otherwise, the system returns all results as text.

5. (Optional) Import metadata from your sheet or report. When you import metadata, it includes the following:

   Attachment count	Row ID
   Child IDs	Row number
   Discussion count *	Parent ID
   Discussion text *	Sheet ID
   Duration in seconds	Sheet name
   Outline Level	Workspace ID
   Predecessor ID	Workspace Name
   Predecessor labels

   
   *These metadata refer to sheet-level and row-level comments.

6. Select OK to complete the configuration and import your data into Tableau as an extract.
7. To load the data you imported and see your results, select Update Now.

Once your Smartsheet data syncs to Tableau, you'll see the Data Sources screen in Tableau. You can add more data sources on the Data Sources screen or begin building your worksheet in Tableau.

Publish data to Tableau Server or Tableau Online

Once you've designed your dashboard or workbook in Tableau, you can publish your data source for other Tableau users to view.

Add the WDC to the safe list

This is for Tableau Server only.

Before you can publish Smartsheet data to Tableau Server, a Tableau Server Administrator will need to add the Web Data Connector to the safe list:

• Doing this will allow connections from https://tableau.smartsheet.com/tableau to your Tableau Server.
• When adding the WDC to Tableau Server safe list, include the Port number 443 in the —this is the URL portion of the tsm data-access web-data-connectors add command.

Embed your credentials in your published workbook

1. In Tableau Desktop, open the workbook you would like to publish.
2. Select Server > Publish Workbook.
3. Make any necessary changes to your publish settings and select Edit in the Data Sources pane.

4. In the Authentication list, select Embedded.
    

   This allows for refreshing using the embedded credentials of this connection.

5. Select Publish.

Refresh the Smartsheet data in Tableau

After you've connected Smartsheet as a data source, to pick up any new changes from your sheet or report, you can:

• Refresh data manually

  OR 

• Set a refresh schedule 

   

Manual refresh in Tableau Desktop

To refresh all data and pull in any new changes from Smartsheet, select the Run Update icon on the top toolbar.

If the Run Update icon is unavailable (appears grayed out), select Data > Refresh All Extracts to update all data sources at once instead.

Set a refresh schedule

This is for Tableau Server only.

You can also create a custom refresh schedule when you publish workbooks connected to your Smartsheet for Tableau Extracts.

If your published workbook isn't refreshed within 14 days, you'll need to republish it.

Resources on Tableau

Here are a few external resources on how to use Tableau:

• Get started with Tableau Desktop: 8-step training tutorial that will help you understand the basic features and functions of Tableau Desktop
• Tableau training videos: Free training videos offered by Tableau to help create workbooks and share your work with others

If you have any questions related to using Tableau, contact Tableau Support.