How to Update Data in Tableau

A Tableau dashboard is only as good as the data powering it. When your data is stale, your insights are outdated, leading to potentially flawed decisions. This guide will walk you through exactly how to update the data in your Tableau workbooks, ensuring your reports are always reflecting the latest information.

First, Understand Tableau's Data Connection Types

Before you can update anything, you need to know how Tableau is connected to your data. Tableau uses two primary connection types, and the updating process is completely different for each.

1. Live Connections

A live connection queries your source data directly. When you open a dashboard with a live connection, Tableau sends a query to the database (like SQL Server, Redshift, or Google BigQuery) and fetches the results in real-time.

• Pros: The data is always current. You are seeing the absolute latest information that exists in the database.
• Cons: Performance depends entirely on the speed of the source database. If you have a massive, complex database, your dashboards might load slowly as they wait for the queries to finish.

2. Extracts (.hyper files)

An extract is a compressed snapshot of your data that is imported and stored within Tableau's high-performance data engine. Instead of querying the live database every time you interact with a dashboard, Tableau queries this lightning-fast local extract.

• Pros: Amazing performance. Dashboards and filters are highly responsive, even with huge datasets, because the data is optimized for Tableau. Extracts also allow for offline access to your data.
• Cons: The data is static. It’s a snapshot in time and does not change until you explicitly refresh the extract. This is why learning how to update it is so important.

To check your connection type, simply look at the icon next to your data source in the "Data" pane in Tableau Desktop. A single blue cylinder means it's a Live connection. Two cylinders with an arrow mean it's an Extract.

How to Update a Live Connection

Updating a live connection is the most straightforward process because the data is already, well, live. The main reason for a manual refresh is to pull in changes that occurred since you opened the workbook or last interacted with the dashboard.

You have a few simple options:

• Use the Refresh Button: Click the "Refresh" icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen. It looks like a looping arrow. This will re-run the queries against your database and update your visualizations.
• Press F5: The keyboard shortcut for refreshing the data source is simply pressing the F5 key.
• Right-click the Data Source: In the Data pane, you can right-click on the data source and select "Refresh."

This tells Tableau to go back to the original data source and pull in a fresh view of the information. No schedules are needed here, the connection is always on.

How to Update a Tableau Extract

Since an extract is a snapshot, refreshing it involves telling Tableau to create a new snapshot from the latest version of the original data. This process can be done manually in Tableau Desktop or, more powerfully, scheduled automatically on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.

Manually Refreshing in Tableau Desktop

If you're working locally in Tableau Desktop, you can update your extract with a few clicks. This is great for when you're actively building or analyzing a report and new data has become available (e.g., a colleague just updated the source Excel file).

1. Navigate to a sheet that uses the data source you want to update.
2. Go to the Data menu, scroll down to your data source, and select "Extract" > "Refresh".
3. Alternatively, you can go to the "Data Source" tab at the bottom-left of the screen, where you'll see a small message at the top saying "Extract includes data from [your source]". Click the "Refresh" link right there.

When you do this, Tableau will reconnect to the original data source (whether it's an Excel file, a database, etc.) and rebuild the extract file with the latest data.

Full vs. Incremental Refresh

When you set up an extract, Tableau gives you a powerful extra option: a full vs. incremental refresh.

• Full Refresh: This is the default. It replaces all the data in the extract with fresh data from the source. It deletes the old table and loads the new one entirely.
• Incremental Refresh: This is much more efficient for large, growing datasets. Instead of replacing everything, it only adds new rows that have appeared since the last refresh. To set this up, you need a column that tells Tableau which rows are new, usually a date/timestamp field (like "Date Created") or a sequential ID number.

You can configure this by right-clicking your data source, choosing "Edit Data Source," and in the top-right corner, selecting "Edit" next to your Extract connection type. In the dialog box, you can check "Incremental refresh" and choose the column to identify new rows.

Automatically Refreshing Extracts on Tableau Server & Tableau Cloud

Manually refreshing extracts is not a sustainable workflow. The real power comes from automating this process by publishing your data source and setting up a schedule on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.

The core idea is this: instead of publishing a workbook with the extract inside it, you publish the data source extract separately. Then, you can connect multiple workbooks to this single, authoritative, and auto-refreshing data source. This is a critical best practice.

Step 1: Publish the Data Source

In Tableau Desktop, right-click the data source you want to publish and select "Publish to Server."

Sign into your Tableau Server/Cloud account. A dialogue box will appear. Here are the important settings:

• Project: Choose the folder where you want to store the data source.
• Authentication: This is the most crucial step for scheduling. How will Tableau Server access your underlying data?

Finally, click Publish.

Step 2: Set the Refresh Schedule

Now that your data source is on the server, you can tell it when it should update.

1. Log into your Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud account through your web browser.
2. Navigate to the data source you just published.
3. Click on the "Refresh Schedules" tab.
4. Click "New Scheduled Refresh" or select from an existing schedule your server administrator has already created (e.g., "Daily - 6 a.m.", "Hourly").
5. Select the schedule you want (e.g., repeating daily, weekly, or hourly).
6. Choose between a Full Refresh or an Incremental Refresh (if you set up the option in Desktop before publishing).
7. Click "Create Scheduled Refresh".

That's it! Tableau will now automatically connect to your original data source on your chosen schedule, rebuild the extract, and make the updated data available to all workbooks connected to it.

Troubleshooting Common Refresh Failures

Sometimes, a scheduled extract refresh will fail. Tableau Server will usually send you an email alert. Here are the most common culprits and how to fix them:

• Incorrect Credentials: The database password was changed, or the user account was disabled. Fix this by editing the data source connection on Tableau Server and updating the stored credentials.
• Source Unreachable: The database server was down, or the network path to the shared drive file was not accessible at the time of the refresh. Check with your IT team to ensure the source is always available.
• Database Permissions: The user account embedded in the connection doesn't have "read" permissions on the specific table or view.
• File Path Changed: Someone moved or renamed the source Excel or CSV file. Remember to always use a stable UNC path instead of a mapped drive that is user-dependent.

Final Thoughts

In summary, keeping your Tableau data current all comes down to your connection type. For live connections, it’s a simple click of a button to get real-time fresh data, for extracts, the real power lies in publishing your data source and setting up automatic refresh schedules on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.

Managing data pipelines, authentication details, and refresh schedules across different platforms can quickly become a full-time job. We created Graphed to eliminate that friction entirely. With one-click connections to sources like Google Analytics, Salesforce, Shopify, and Facebook Ads, your dashboards are always pulling live, real-time data automatically. You don’t have to think about extracts or schedules - just ask a question in plain English, and Graphed builds a live dashboard that is always up-to-date, allowing you to focus on insights that lead to actionable decisions.