Video | Tableau | Data visualisation | Tool strategy

How to use Tableau Workbooks & Packaged Workbooks

A Tableau workbook is just XML describing your work, but get packaging and extracts wrong and you'll twist yourself into knots.

  • A .twb workbook only stores XML metadata about your data source, sheets, dashboards and server connection, not the data itself, which is why it can be tiny (around 30KB) compared to the source file.
  • A .twbx packaged workbook bundles the workbook with its assets, packaging an extract if you created one, or copying static files like Excel and CSV if you're on a live connection, while databases just prompt you to log in again.
  • Saving a packaged workbook back as a plain .twb splits it into the workbook plus its constituent files, so accidentally unpackaging can lose the heritage of where an extract came from.
  • Publishing to Tableau Public requires an extract because live connections won't work, and you must sign into the correct server site before publishing to Online or Server.
  • On Tableau Public you can browse a viz's hidden sheets unless the author has explicitly hidden each tab, so always hide sheets you don't want others to see.

In this video, I cover how to work with Wokrbooks in Tableau and also touch on some common pitfalls and nuances to be aware of if you’re new to Tableau. Tableau Release notes: Tableau workbook files have the .twb file extension. Workbooks hold one or more worksheets, plus zero or more dashboards and stories.Tableau packaged workbooks have the .twbx file extension. A packaged workbook is a single zip file that contains a workbook along with any supporting local file data and background images. This format is the best way to package your work for sharing with others who don’t have access to the original data.

0:00 Intro

0:50 Creating a Workbook

3:30 What’s stored inside my Tableau workbook

7:40 What’s stored inside a Tableau packaged workbook

15:40 Publishing workbooks to Tableau Server & Tableau Online

17:24 Pubising workbooks to Tableau Public

22:20 Outro