Completely Removing Tableau Desktop

Published: 10 Jun 2014
Last Modified Date: 06 Apr 2023

Question

How to completely remove Tableau Desktop, including preferences, saved application state and sample files, in order to perform a clean installation with default settings.

Environment

Tableau Desktop
macOS
Windows

Answer

Mac

Delete the Tableau Desktop application from the Applications folder.
Delete My Tableau Repository from your Documents folder. Be sure to preserve any user-created files. As an alternative to deleting My Tableau Repository, it can also be renamed. For example: "My Tableau Repository Backup".
Delete all files whose names begin with "com.tableau" from Preferences in the Library folder.
Delete all folders whose names begin with "com.tableau" from Saved Application State in the Library folder.
Some folders are hidden on the Mac. To navigate to hidden folders:
1. In Finder, select Go > Go To Folder... (CMD-SHIFT-G).
2. In dialog box, type the folder name such as ~/Library/Preferences.

On the Mac, ~ is a shortcut for the current user's Home directory, located at /Users/[username]. If Tableau Desktop is used by multiple users on the affected computer, steps 2-4 from above should be repeated for each user.

Windows

Go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall Program.
Right-click Tableau Desktop in the list of programs and select Uninstall.
Via File Explorer or a Windows command prompt, navigate to the file location C:/Program Files/Tableau in order to complete the next step.
Delete the "Tableau <Version>" folder for the version of Tableau Desktop to be removed.

In Windows 10, it is also possible to right-click the Tableau icon, then choose Uninstall. This will open the Programs and Features panel where you can select Tableau Desktop, then Uninstall.