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Has anyone experienced this? It is very frustrating as I have spent several hours preparing workbooks in the upgraded 9.2 version. I try to publish to the 9.1 Tableau Server, but it will not allow it. Looks like I may have to spend several more hours recreating the dashboard on 9.0 again (9.0 is compatible with the Tableau Server we have, but 9.2 is not).

Can someone please help :(

Thank you, P

Phil
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5 Answers5

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Here's a little hack that works.

  • Unpack/unzip the .twbx file if you have a .twbx file, to get the .twb file. (To unpackage/unzip: Change the file extension from .twbx to .zip and unzip how you would normally any .zip file. On OSX, double-clicking the .zip file in Finder unzips it and displays the separated .twb and .tde files).
  • Open the .twb file in a text editor.
  • Towards the top, you will see a line like this
<workbook source-platform='win' version='9.1' xml:base='http://bi.teslamotors.com' xmlns:user='http://www.tableausoftware.com/xml/user'>
  • Change the version='9.2' (which is the Tableau Desktop version you saved the .twb file in) to the version compatible with the server, eg. version='9.1'. Open the file in the Tableau Desktop version you just switched the text to, eg. Tableau Desktop 9.1 in this case. (Tableau allows installing multiple concurrent versions on the same machine).

  • You should now be able to publish your dashboard to the Tableau Server.

Note that this is indeed a hack to save hours of re-doing the same work again (since there's no easy copy-paste in Tableau!), and is of course recommended to follow the official way that the other posters have suggested.

Source 1, Source 2

vk1011
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  • A little stuck on how to unzip a twbx. Can you elaborate? – Chris Apr 14 '16 at 21:07
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    Change the file extension from `.twbx` to `.zip` and unzip how you would normally any `.zip` file. On OSX, double-clicking the `.zip` file in Finder unzips it and displays the separated .`twb` and `.tde` files. – vk1011 Apr 14 '16 at 21:31
  • I've added unpackaging/unzipping instructions to the answer. – vk1011 Apr 14 '16 at 23:34
  • Thanks so much for the tip. It worked a treat! I wish I could vote your answer higher seeing as this hack has saved me days of work. – Chris Apr 15 '16 at 15:05
  • When you save the zipped file, which encoding do you use - ANSI or UTF-8? EDIT: In Windows, you can change the setting to enable viewing file extensions then simply rename it as opposed to opening in notepad then saving as I previously tried. – Paradox Jul 08 '16 at 13:09
  • Not sure about the encoding. I don't think it matters as long as you just make the relevant change in any text editor. The purpose of opening up in a text editor is not to save with a different file extension - that is a separate step (step 1) – vk1011 Jul 22 '16 at 00:58
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Tableau is not backward compatible .

This is applicable for both Desktop and Server .

Workbooks created in newer version would not open in previous version of the software. Also, same way it will not be able to publish to prior version of the server .

You might need to recreate everything, or you can upgrade your server .

Major and minor releases Workbook Compatibility after Upgrading Tableau Desktop

Workbooks and extracts that are saved in a later version of Desktop are upgraded and cannot be opened by any earlier versions. Exception: A version 8.3 workbook can be opened in Desktop 8.2. For example, a version 9.1 workbook is upgraded when saved in Desktop 9.2. The workbook can no longer be opened by Desktop 9.1. Workbooks and extracts that are opened but not saved in a later version of Desktop remain accessible by the earlier versions they were created with. Workbooks created with the latest version of Desktop can connect to earlier versions of Server beginning with Server 8.0. For example, a workbook in Desktop 9.2 can connect to Tableau Server 8.2 or 8.3. However, a workbook in Desktop 8.1 cannot connect to Tableau Server 7.0. Workbooks created in a later version of Tableau Desktop cannot be published to earlier versions of Tableau Server. Exception: Workbooks created with Desktop 8.3 can be published to Tableau Server 8.2. For example, workbooks created in Desktop 9.2 cannot be published to Tableau Server 9.1. Workbooks and data sources downloaded from earlier versions of Tableau Server can be opened by the latest version of Desktop.

Official Doc here

minatverma
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As a rule, update your Server version prior to Desktop. For example, if you have Server version 9.1 it will only accept the current and prior Desktop versions 9.1, 9.0, etc. Always keep your Desktop version at or behind your Server version to keep it all compatible. As mentioned, the easiest fix now is to upgrade your server to 9.2 if possible. Good luck.

vizyourdata
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As a rule, major releases (9.0, 9.1, 9.2, etc.) are not backwards compatible. I highly recommend upgrading your desktop and server versions at the same time, and always do the server first. This way, you don't run into the issue of the server not being able to read what you are creating in desktop.

Stephen Berndt
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For resolving the backward compatibility issues, you can always use to below mentioned link to convert your Tableau workbooks to any version from Tableau 8.2 to Tableau 9.3

Tableau File Conversion Utility

Hope this helps you out.

Yousuf Sultan
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