Tableau can't publish workbook. Grayed out

Question

I'm trying to publish a workbook, but the button is grayed out.

I'm already signed in on a server but the button to publish is grayed out.

Below is the screenshot;

I'm really struggling with the problem, any help is appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

So, given that you're signed in to another Tableau Server and the "Sign out" button is also disabled as well as the "Publish Workbook...", I'm going to assume that your workbook uses one or more published data sources.

In order to publish that workbook to a different Tableau Server, try the following:

1. Create local copies of those data sources
2. Replace the published data sources with the local copies
3. Sign out from the old Server and sign to the new Server
4. Publish those data sources to the new Server
5. Publish the workbook to the new Server

Answer 2

This happened with our users, when they downloaded 8.2.x Desktop version while the Tableau Server was 8.0.x in the enterprise. Tableau Server needs to be more current than Desktop version for the compatibility.

Answer 3

I've seen this before and it's always been a compatibility issue. Confirm desktop and server are compatible.

To find out what desktop version you have: Go to Tableau-Help-About Tableau in the main window.

To find out what server version you're on: How to determine tableau server version?

Tableau's list of compatibility between versions: http://kb.tableau.com/articles/knowledgebase/desktop-and-server-compatibility

If the two are incompatible, you'll just need to download the latest compatible version of Tableau and then rebuild your workbook. You can find all the packages of past Tableau versions here