How to Download Tableau Data into Excel

Did you know that underneath ever Tableau Visualization is a downloadable data table?

For example, let’s visit the Students, Apps, & Degrees page of our Introduction to Tableau Dashboard on Tableau Server. Click on the box labeled “How have freshman applications and admissions changed?” to view some historical data around this question.

Look for the download button (highlighted in the screenshot above. You may see just the icon (without the word Download), depending on the size and resolution of your browser or monitor. If you click on that button, you should see a pop-up window on your screen, like the one shown below, with many options, which we will describe below:

Image: download this file as a *.png file of the view

Data: clicking on this box will generate a new pop-up box that allows you to explore the rows of data that contribute to a given visualization. From here, you often have the option to download that data to a text file.

Crosstab (recommended): This allows you to download the data on the screen as an Excel or csv file. This may not be the raw data (or it might be, depending on how it is being shown), but it keeps the data format true to what you are seeing on the screen.

PDF: Download the view as a PDF file (options available for scaling, page size, and orientation)

PowerPoint: Allows you to download a single visualization, or selected sheets (or tabs) from a workbook.

Tableau Workbook: This can be used if you’d like to edit the workbook in your Tableau Desktop client. You may require additional permissions to access / use the Data Source in addition to the workbook itself.

Items with the lock-and-key icon are not automatically provisioned to users. If you do not have permissions to download the Crosstab of a workbook but you would like to request that access, please email the workbook owner, or submit a Help Desk ticket and the team can attempt to help you contact the necessary governance-related entities.

Downloading the chart as a Crosstab gave me the following table in Excel:

	Year
	2005-2006	2006-2007	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017
Acceptance Rate	53%	56%	56%	55%	59%	58%	58%	56%	54%	53%	54%	55%
Admitted Total	9,654	10,160	10,591	11,467	12,722	13,066	13,544	13,959	15,047	16,271	16,504	16,165
Applied Total	18,153	18,195	19,056	20,685	21,737	22,616	23,409	24,871	27,634	30,629	30,658	29,175