Tableau Cloud Help

A release preview site allows administrators and authorized users to assess new features and functional changes ahead of production upgrades in Tableau Cloud. These sites are hosted in dedicated limited-release preview environments and are updated separately from standard Tableau Cloud sites. Each preview site you create counts against the 50 sites granted to you as part of your Tableau+ edition.

Consider creating a release preview site for these scenarios:

• Integration testing: Test your unique configurations and integrations with the upcoming release. This helps you prepare for changes and make any necessary adjustments before they are applied to production sites.

• Compliance: Make sure that your organization's analytics practices and procedures comply with regulatory standards and internal policies, such as GxP and SOX.

• Release readiness: Understand what’s new and how it works to develop communication, training, and adoption plans for your end-users.

Cloud and site administrators of release preview sites will receive in-product notifications within the preview site two weeks before the release and after the update is complete. Notifications include the tentative release schedule and link to Tableau Cloud Help documentation.

Release deployment to release preview sites is separate from the standard Tableau release process. Release preview sites will be updated with major releases at least two weeks ahead of standard Tableau Cloud sites. For more information about Tableau Cloud maintenance communication and release cadence, see Tableau Cloud System Maintenance.

Similar to other sites in your tenant, cloud administrators can create a release preview site through Tableau Cloud Manager (TCM). To create a release preview site, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Tableau Cloud Manager as a cloud administrator.

2. On the Sites page, select New Site.

3. In the New Site dialog, go to Site location, and select a location with a “Release Preview” prefix from the dropdown menu. For example, Release Preview - US West - Oregon.

   

4. Complete the remaining fields in the dialog, and then select Create.

For more information about managing sites in TCM, see Add, Delete, or Activate Sites.

Coming soon: The information in this section describes updates tentatively scheduled for release in May 2025. Until then, the Tableau Release Navigator dashboard won't reflect features included in release preview sites.

You can use the Tableau Release Navigator dashboard to explore changes deployed to release preview sites. The included features are visible in the dashboard until the changes are applied to production environments.

To see features included in release preview sites, follow these steps:

1. Go to Tableau Cloud Release Notes and scroll to the Tableau Release Navigator dashboard.

2. Find [Release Preview] at the beginning of each item’s description to see the features available on your preview site. Release preview updates are at the top of the dashboard.

3. To access feature-specific documentation, select or hover over the feature. A tooltip will appear with a link to the Tableau Cloud Help topic.

   Note: Release preview links use a temporary URL, such as https://help.tableau.com/release-preview/online/en-us/<feature_name>. These topics describe upcoming features and are subject to change. See the current version of Tableau Help for final feature details after production upgrades. For example: https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/<feature_name>.