Tableau Desktop is a full-featured development tool used to connect to data, build reports, and publish content to Tableau Server.
Activating Tableau Desktop requires a Creator license. See our Licensing Guide to learn more.
When to Use Tableau Desktop
Use Tableau Desktop if you need to:
- Connect to new data sources not already published to Tableau Server
- Prepare and transform data before publishing
- Build and test dashboards locally
Once your data is published to the server, you can either use Tableau Desktop or web authoring to build and publish reports.
Alternatives to Desktop
Web authoring allows you to build dashboards directly on Tableau Server.
- Web authoring is a free alternative that does not require a Creator license
- Limited to using existing data sources that are already published to Tableau Server
Installing Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop can be installed on Windows and macOS. Please ensure that you do not install any versions of Tableau Desktop more recent than 2024.2.10, as they may not be compatible with Georgia Tech’s current Tableau Server environment.
Activating Tableau Desktop
Since the GT Enterprise Tableau Server uses login-based license management (LBLM), users with a Tableau Creator license can activate Tableau Desktop by selecting Activate by signing in to a server and connecting to https://tableau.gatech.edu.
