In this article, we will learn about the different types of file for Tableau Desktop?
For this article, we are using Tableau Desktop Trial. When you open a Tableau Workbook and we will see How to save Tableau Desktop in different formats. In our Sample Work Book, we created some Data Source Connection, Worksheets, Dashboards, and Story. We will save our Workbook in the different format and we will try to open it in other systems.
Following are the different File Types for Tableau Desktop
Workbook (.twb)
When we save a Tableau Workbook, the default extension is. twb. Tableau Workbook contains information for the available one or more worksheets, zero or more dashboards, and zero or more stories. Apart from this it also stores information for the connection used, metadata for columns or used fields in different worksheets, formulas, formatting the style applied, and other information available in the worksheets, dashboard, and story.
You can check this Sample Workbook. Download It.
Let’s open the same Workbook in another machine.
In our sample Workbook, we have two Data Source Connection. First One is a Text File Connection, and another one is SQL Server Database Connection. When we try to open it in another machine, then, For the SQL Server connection we need to provide the database password. For the text File Connection, we can’t use it. Why? Because the text file is available in my first machine desktop. To use the text file connection either we need to first download the text file and place it on my desktop. Assuming the desktop location is the same for both the system. If the desktop location is not the same as we showed in the above images, then we need to edit the text file connection. It is easy in the case of a single file. What if we have we 10s of the text file connection? It will not take a large amount of time to fix all the connection issue. Let’s increase the connection count to 20. Hey, I want something else. I am unable to fix so may connection issues. To resolve this issue, we will check the next file type.
Quiz
As we mentioned above a Tableau Workbook required one or More worksheet. Now you may need to answer this? Can we save the Tableau Workbook without any Worksheet in it?
Packaged Workbooks (.twbx)
The Packaged Workbook is like a normal Workbook except it also stores the local data used in the analysis. It is normally used to share the Tableau Desktop Workbook with another Tableau Desktop or Tableau Reader users. You can read more about the Tableau Reader in this article. To save our current Workbook in Packaged Workbooks, you need to use save as (We already saved the current workbook) if your workbook is not yet saved you can use the normal save option. In the save dialog box change the Save as Type to Tableau Packaged Workbook (*twbx).
Let’s open it in another system. Try to open sheet one it will display the Cartoon Characters First Name and the Last Name.
In Tableau Workbook and Tableau Packaged Workbook, we are sharing all the worksheets, dashboards, and story. What if we need to only share a single worksheet? To share a single worksheet will use our next file type.
Bookmarks (.tbm):
Tableau bookmark file with extension (.tbm) is used to share a single worksheet. To create a bookmark, select the worksheet for which you want to create a bookmark. Then you need to click on Window Menu -> Bookmark -> Create Bookmark…. In the dialog box provide the bookmark name. By default, bookmark saved in the Tableau Repository\Bookmarks. If you save the bookmarks in the default location it will be available in Bookmark Menu. Bookmark saved in other locations will not be available in the bookmark menu.
Next, we need to open the bookmark in another machine. When we open the bookmark in Tableau Desktop, the bookmark with the database server connection required providing the database password. In the case of the text file, connection, it will fail if the location of the text file used in the connection is different. This behavior is similar to Tableau Workbook. Check the following image for bookmark imported into another machine.
If you can notice the style information is missing in the Tableau Bookmark. The bookmark will not store all the information. It does not include parameter values and the current page setting.
Data Source (.tds):
The Tableau Data Source file with extension is the shortcut for quickly connecting to the original data that we often use. It doesn’t contain the actual data, but it contains the necessary information to connect to the actual data as well as any modification we made. We normally used it to share the data source connection with someone else.
To create a Data Source or .tds file, right click on the connection available in the data pan and then select the “Add to Saved Data Sources…” option. It will save the selected Data Source Connection in Tableau Repository. If you save any Data Source in the repository, it will be available at the start screen. If you want to share the new saved Data Source connection shared the Data Source .tds file.
On another computer simply open the tds file. If you shared a Data Server connection, then the other user needs to provide the correct database server password. In case of the text file again we need to provide the correct path to the text file used in the data source connection.
Packaged Data Source (.tdsx)
It is like the .tds file. The major difference in both the file type is that .tdsx file is a packaged data source.
It is a zip file (with extension .tdsx) contains .tds file which we discussed earlier, and it also contents the local file data. If we rename the extension to .zip and if we extract it, we can find a .tds file and the data file used for the connection.
Extract (.hyper or .tde)
It is a file with data. It is a local copy or a subset of the entire data set. We can use it to share the data with others, or we need to use it offline, or we need to improve the performance. We need a separate article for this file type. Because we need to discuss increment refresh or full refresh for the Extract file.
Preferences (.tps)
It is used to create a custom color palette. We can share it between all the users to maintain the consistent look and feel.
Check this article to create a Custom Color Palette.
Finally, the following are all files which created in this article.