Tableau Desktop and Web Authoring Help

Tableau provides a variety of fonts for you to use in your visualizations, including the fonts in its default typeface: Tableau. However you might want to use a font other than what's provided. For example, you may want to use a font that's unique to your company's brand.

To use a custom font in Tableau, the first step is to install it on the computers that are running Tableau. This includes Tableau Desktop and, if you're publishing to Tableau Server, any computers running Tableau Server.

Important: If a font specified in Tableau Desktop isn't also installed on all nodes of Tableau Server, Tableau Server substitutes a default font.

To ensure that Tableau Server can render the font correctly, make sure the font is on the list of fonts installed with most browsers. These commonly installed fonts are called "web-safe" fonts, as detailed here.

Note: If you download a workbook from Tableau Server, custom fonts are not downloaded with the workbook.

For more information about installing fonts, see the following links:

• How to install or remove a font in Windows(Link opens in a new window) (Microsoft Knowledge Base)
• Mac Basics: Font Book(Link opens in a new window) (Apple Support)

After you install the font it appears in the formatting pane in Tableau Desktop, where you can use it to change fonts at the workbook or worksheet levels. See Format at the Workbook Level, Format at the Worksheet Level, and Format Text and Numbers for details.

Publish custom fonts

Publishing a workbook with a custom font correctly depends on knowing how the author and published workbook interact.

Publishing a custom font work flow Workbook is created in Tableau Desktop. or Workbook is created using Web Authoring. then Workbook is published to Tableau Server. or Workbook is published to Tableau Cloud.

 

If	Then
A- The workbook is created in Tableau Desktop.	You can use any font installed on your computer in the workbook.
B- The workbook is created using Web Authoring.	Only fonts installed on the Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud are functional when formatting your text.
C- The workbook is published to Tableau Server.	Any custom font must be installed on all server nodes. If the font is not installed on Tableau Server, the uninstall font will be replaced with a substitute font upon publishing.
D- The workbook is published to Tableau Cloud.	Only fonts supported by Tableau Cloud will appear. Any unsupported fonts in the workbook will be replaced with a substitute font upon publishing. For a list of supported fonts, see Knowledge Base: Fonts not displaying as expected(Link opens in a new window).

Troubleshoot custom fonts in published workbooks

Once published, any viewer of the published workbook will need to have the custom fonts installed on their computer. This is why it is a best practice to limit fonts to either Tableau fonts or web safe fonts.

Issue	Possible Solution
Some fonts are accurate in the view, but others are not.	When a view has many marks, the server will render the marks on the server side and display the marks as a static image. This can result in some fonts in the view appearing inconsistent with the rest of the view. To resolve this issue, reduce the number of marks per view.
The spacing on the font appears different for different viewers.	If the viewer has the custom font installed on their computer, the viewer will see the font displayed accurately. However, each browser uses a slightly different method for rendering fonts, so seeing slight differences in fonts between browsers is expected.
A different font appears for viewers.	If the viewer does not have the custom font installed on their computer, any uninstalled fonts in the workbook will be replaced with a substitute font selected by the browser.