# Virtual connections: New in Tableau 2021.4

> 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:** 2021-12-07
- **Format:** Video · 11 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data prep, Tool strategy, Data engineering
- **Tools:** Snowflake (warehouses); Tableau (data modelling, relationships, server)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/virtual-connections-new-in-tableau-2021-4
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXcTf3Y-MzA

I walk through virtual connections, a new asset type introduced in Tableau 2021.4 that lets you create a centralised, governed connection on server. I set one up against a Snowflake demo database, then show how to connect to it from both Tableau Desktop and web edit.

## Key takeaways

- Virtual connections are a brand-new Tableau asset (not a published data source) that require the Data Management add-on and let you centralise connections, policies and row level security on server.
- When saving, the Save button only stores a draft while Publish actually commits the connection and makes it available to users.
- You can include multiple tables, use custom SQL, set live or extract per connection, and toggle table visibility to hide or show tables temporarily.
- To connect from Desktop you must point to Tableau Server and pick the virtual connection from the dropdown; the server then delegates the live connection through to Snowflake.
- The connection appears with a standard database icon rather than a server icon, which makes debugging confusing since edits must be made on the server.

## Chapters

- 0:00 What virtual connections are
- 0:57 Creating a connection to Snowflake
- 2:11 Selecting tables and viewing metadata
- 4:10 Previewing tables and row level security setup
- 5:28 Saving versus publishing
- 6:34 Connecting from Tableau Desktop
- 9:12 Hiding tables and editing over time
- 10:05 Connecting from web edit

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/virtual-connections-new-in-tableau-2021-4

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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