# Connected authoring for web edit: New in Tableau 2021.2

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2021-06-25
- **Format:** Video · 6 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Tool strategy, Data visualisation
- **Tools:** Tableau (cloud, server, web edit)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/connected-authoring-for-web-edit-new-in-tableau-2021-2
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkU-Tu-vptA

I walk through the new connected authoring feature in Tableau 2021.2, which lets you open a workbook straight from the browser into Tableau Desktop. I test how it logs you in, what state it opens in, how saving behaves, and how to switch between web edit and desktop mid-flow.

## Key takeaways

- From Tableau Online, the three-dot contextual menu now includes an 'Open in Desktop' option that launches the workbook directly into Tableau Desktop
- The opened workbook stays connected to your Tableau Online instance, shown by the instance and name at the top, and saves back to the My Tableau Repository folder
- When web editing, the small new icon (with a keyboard shortcut) lets you jump into Desktop, but you must save your changes first or it will refuse to open
- Opening in Desktop drops you on the exact sheet you were editing, and it is far faster than downloading and double-clicking a workbook
- Changes made in Desktop still need to be published back manually, so I'd like a future 'save and overwrite' option that syncs straight to the server

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/connected-authoring-for-web-edit-new-in-tableau-2021-2

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena