Resolution

Has the license expired?

• Check the Tableau Customer Portal to determine if the key has expired or been replaced.  When viewing the "Licenses" in the Tableau Customer Portal, is the key found and is the "Period End Date" current or has it expired?  Please Note:  If a product key has expired and not been renewed, it can drop off from the Licenses list.

Was the key entered correctly?

• Copy the product key directly from Tableau Customer Portal (under "Licenses") or from your invoice.  Be mindful of the following when entering the product key into the activation window:
  • Include the dashes in the product key such as TC12-3456-7890-ABCD-1234
  • Product keys will be a series of 4 letters or numbers followed by a dash for 24 total characters including the dash. No other license types will be accepted by the product.
  • Any key starting with the characters "TD" or "TC" should be activated on Tableau Desktop. 
  • Any key starting with the characters "TS" is to be activated on Tableau Server.  Tableau Server keys show as a Creator or Explorer licenses in the Tableau Customer Portal but start with the letters, "TS" and can only be activated on Tableau Server.  

Key Summary

Cause

• Product key is mistyped
• Product key is used on the wrong product
• Product key has expired

Additional information

If you are part of the free Tableau Academic program and receiving this error, the ability to sign in to the Tableau Customer Portal is not possible.  Please check the original email sent from the Tableau Academic Team to verify the key is valid or if it has expired.  The Academic product key is valid for one year only.  Please request another year of use from the Academic website if the key has expired.

Further assistance on using the Tableau Customer Portal to manage product keys is available in this Tableau article.

To download the Tableau software, visit this page and select product and version.