A request was made for a project I’m working on to allow the user/interactor to export the data on the dashboard into an Excel file from a dashboard that resides on Tableau Server.

I totally over complicated this request and was convinced that it couldn’t be done.  I was trying to create a URL link to export the data, but then I suddenly remembered that scrawny export button on Tableau Server and Tableau Public.

Consider this dashboard that resides on Tableau Public:


Look at the middle of the footer.  Notice this little arrow pointing right.  That’s the export button!



When you first click on it, it very well may look like this, where the Data and Crosstab options are disabled.



The trick is to click on the chart that has the data you want to export.  You can’t export all of the data for the entire dashboard at the same time, but you can export the data for a single chart or table.

Once you click on a chart, you’ll see a light gray border appear around the chart and now when you click on the export link, the Data and Crosstab options are enabled.



Way too simple!

NOTES:

1. The Data option displays a web page which shows a table of the data.  You then have to click on the export link.
2. If you want to directly download the data, click on the Crosstab option and you’ll get a nice clean CSV file.