Export Tableau notebook to standalone interactive output?

Question

I have just started using Tableau and I love creating visualizations with it. However, I am trying to export the visualizations into some standalone format, but I do not know how to. I see that I can export as image / pdf / excel crosstab, but all these kill the interactivity of the visualizations. I can export as a Tableau packaged workbook, but the client (my intended audience) will need Tableau to see it. Is there any way to export it as a standalone, offline, interactive data visualization accessible format ? I would assume the client will have Microsoft Office installed, but cannot assume / ask him to install Tableau to view my output.

Please suggest if there is any way possible.

Thanks a lot ! Siva.

Answer 1

I'm guessing you don't have Tableau Server (in which you could generate reports that could be visualized in a web browser).

So the solution is to have Tableau Reader: https://www.tableau.com/products/reader

It's free, and it will allow your client to open your twbx files. Only thing is, if you have a large database, the file size will be huge (as it will have all the database in it), so it's a good thing to filter the tables to the minimum necessary, so you don't have to share huge files.

Another option, if the data is not particularly private, is to publish the packaged workbook to Tableau Public. That's free as well. Just be aware that anyone can view workbooks on Tableau public, so it's great for blogs, newspaper interactives and public demos, not so good for private financial data. Even for business users, you can post examples with fake data to Tableau Public.

Also, if your customer doesn't want to purchase Tableau Server, but wants more than the free Tableau Reader, there is a third way. Use the cloud hosted Tableau OnLine service which makes financial sense for smaller organizations.