Field Names Changed in Underlying Data Not Reflected in Workbooks

Issue

After renaming a field in the underlying data source, the changes do not carry over to the calculations and actions using the field in Tableau Server. Because of this, refreshing the data source does not update the field name to prevent the workbook breaking.

Environment

Tableau Server
Tableau Cloud
Tableau Desktop

Resolution

As a workaround, calculations and actions will need to be manually updated to reflect the new name. There are two options to get the updated data source in workbooks:

Use the "Replace Data Source" option to update the data source to use the new field names.
Download any workbook connected to the data source and manually rename the fields. And then, republish the workbook.

Cause

Having updated field names automatically updating in calculations and actions is not built into Tableau Server.

Additional Information

If a workbook is connected to a published data source, changing the field names in the data source for the first time may update the field names in the workbook. However, if the field names in the data source are changed again, the field names in the workbook may not be updated.