At Tableau, our mission is to help you see and understand your data. With Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep you can connect to a wide variety of data that's stored in a variety of places.
You can create workbooks, experiment with and explore your data safely (without impacting your source data), then present your findings using dashboards and stories. You can even share your findings on the web using Tableau Server, Tableau Online, or Tableau Public.
Before you work with your data in Tableau Desktop, sometimes you need to do a little housekeeping on your data first. Tableau Prep can help you with that. Visually interact directly with your data to fix data entry errors, combine data from different sources and shape your data for analysis.
Note: If you are looking for information about how to install Tableau Server, see the Install and Configure(Link opens in a new window) section in the Tableau Server help. If you are looking for information about how to set up Tableau Online, see Set Up a new Tableau Online Site(Link opens in a new window) in the Tableau Online help.
This guide provides information about how to plan, install, and upgrade Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep for yourself or for multiple users. Start with this article to find common information that everyone needs to know, then move to the sections that pertain to your specific installation scenario. If you get stuck, check out the Troubleshoot Your Tableau Desktop or Tableau Prep Builder Installation for answers to installation issues.
Information is also included about how to automate installation for Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep, Tableau Reader and Tableau Public. For more information, see Install Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder from the Command Line(Link opens in a new window).
Who should use this guide?
This guide provides information for two audiences:
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If you're performing your own installation, the Install Tableau Desktop or Tableau Prep Builder from the User Interface(Link opens in a new window) topic contains the information about how to install Tableau Desktop or Tableau Prep from the user interface.
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If you're an IT professional or system administrator who's responsible for installing Tableau for multiple users in your organization, you can find additional technical details and how to automate your install in the Install Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder from the Command Line(Link opens in a new window) topic.
Other topics in this guide can help you plan your install, deactivate or manage your product keys or manage other settings after installation is complete.
What's new in Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep
If you've used Tableau before, you'll probably be interested in changes we've made in each version. For full details about new features added in Tableau 2021.4, about installer changes, and about features added in other recent releases, see What's New in Tableau Desktop(Link opens in a new window) in the Tableau Help.
To see what's new in Tableau Prep, see What's New in Tableau Prep(Link opens in a new window) in the Tableau Prep online help.
If you are interested in information about fixes that have been added in each release, see the Release Notes(Link opens in a new window) page on the Tableau website.