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Managing Tableau Product Keys in the Tableau Customer Portal


Published: 01 Feb 2017
Last Modified Date: 06 Sep 2023

Question

For Tableau product licenses, this article will answer some general questions on how to view licenses, see the configuration (flags) set for your licenses, and understand what actions can be performed on licenses in the Tableau Customer Portal.   For some common activation errors, see the "Additional Information" section below.

Please Note: If you recently purchased a Creator license, information on finding your activation link email is available in this KB on getting started with Tableau Cloud.  No Desktop keys are issued for Tableau Cloud sites or trials.

If you purchase a Tableau Cloud site, please reference this link on how to manage users with Tableau Cloud and Login-base License Management.    With Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud Creator purchases, LBLM will be the default activation method and no product keys will be issued for Tableau Desktop or Tableau Prep Builder.

Environment

Tableau Server
Tableau Desktop
Tableau Prep

Answer

Please review the content below as it may contain the information needed to resolve your issue.

If additional assistance is needed with Customer Portal issues, please reach out to your Tableau Account Representative or customerservice@tableau.com for the best possible support.
In order to see all the licenses for your organization you must be an Administrator in the Tableau Customer Portal.  If you are assigned a legacy Desktop key, you do not need to be an Administrator to view your assigned key.
 
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View all product keys

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  1. Go to the Customer Portal and sign in with your Tableau username and password.
  2. On the Customer Portal home page, click on Licenses. 
  3. You can view all keys, keys for a specific product, or view keys based on whether they have current subscription terms. Once open, the Default View can be sorted by clicking the table headers.
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The license or product key can be assigned to a specific user which is reflected in the fields "User Name" and "Assigned Email".  The "Registered Email" column is the email of the person who activated the product key.  This Registered Email cannot be changed in the Customer Portal and represents the last person who activated the product key.

Please note: The product keys (licenses) listed in your Tableau Portal account cannot be removed or changed manually.  Desktop keys no longer used due to a switch to LBLM will drop from the Tableau Customer Portal after a period of time.
 
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Identify license details for Tableau Server

  1. Sign into the Customer Portal using your Tableau username and password. 
  2. On the Customer Portal home page, click Licenses.
  3. A table will open listing any product key(s) assigned. Select a specific Server key to open the License Detail page.
  4. From the License Detail page:
  • Identify what add-ons are enabled such as Login-based License Management or Advanced Server Management. 
  • Determine if the key is a Core key or a role-based key and how many cores or roles are assigned. 
  • Understand if you have been assigned an Updatable Subscription License (USL). 
  • Find when the subscription term or maintenance period ends (Period End).

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Recover a lost key

  1. Sign into the Customer Portal using your Tableau username and password. 
  2. On the Customer Portal home page, click Licenses.
  3. A table will open listing any product key(s) assigned. Copy the product key for the product you are activating. 

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Assign a product key

  1. Go to the Customer Portal and sign in with your Tableau username and password.
  2. On the Customer Portal homepage, select Licenses. 
  3. In the resulting table, select the key you would like to reassign. 
  4. Click Assign Key to assign the key to a new user.
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  5. In the Assign Key dialog box, enter the first name, last name and email address of the person you would like to assign the key to, then click Assign Key
    You also have the option to give this user portal access, which is highly recommended. Giving Tableau Portal Access will allow the user to quickly identify a key when lost, access the knowledge base, and file Technical Support cases.
    Note: If you opt not to give the person portal access, they will not be emailed when the key is assigned to them.
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Edit a product key

  1. On the Customer Portal homepage, select Licenses
  2. In the resulting table, click the key you would like to edit and select Edit License.
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  3. From here you can enter a new User Name and/or enter a new Assigned Email to change who the key is assigned to.
  4. Click Save.
Note: Only the User Name and Assigned Email may be edited. It is not possible to remove or edit registration data.  The registration data will reflect the most recent registration performed on the key and will be updated by the registration action caused from a new activation.
 
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Change the owner of a product key/Revoke license

  1. On the Customer Portal homepage, click Licenses.
  2. Select the Product Key you wish to update and click Edit.
  3. Select Change Owner, and reassign owner from the pre-populated drop-down.
  4. Click Save.
There is no method to force revocation of a product key.  The Tableau Customer Portal will reflect who is assigned to use the product key and the last person to register the key.  Using LBLM (activation by logging in to a server) will remove the need to assign and revoke product keys.

Note: This process is different from Assigning the Key, which is a function that triggers a notification to the assignee.
 
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View product keys by account

  1. Go to the Customer Portal and sign in with your Tableau username and password.
  2. On the Customer Portal home page, click Licenses.
  3. The product keys associated with the account are listed in a table. The table shows detailed information such as the Key Name, the associated Product Name, the Assigned Email,  and the Period End, representing the expiration or maintenance contract end date, and more.
  4. ​Click on a product key to see more details, including license and registration history.
 
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Find the key for offline activation

  1. From the Licenses page, select the product key that you will be activating offline.
  2. From the License Detail page, find the "Offline Activation Id".  This will be the key that should be activated in a disconnected environment.

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Add tracking information to a product key

  1. From the Licenses page, click the product key you want to add information to.
  2. From the License Detail page, select Edit License.
  3. Complete all or some of the fields in the Customer Information area, then click Save

Note: this Customer Information is not used by Tableau. It is purely a way for you to add additional information to a product key to help you monitor and manage the keys.
 

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View product key history and reports

You can view and export the history for an individual product key or generate a report for all keys across all of the accounts you manage.

Individual key history
  1. From the Key List page, click a product key.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the option to show “Registration History (with State).

Key Registration History


The table shows events such as registration, maintenance contract changes, and escalated support cases. Click Export Data to print the history or export to an Excel (.xls), Comma Separated (.csv) or PDF file.
Global key report
  1. On the Home page of the Customer Portal, click Licenses.
  2. In the drop-down menu, ensure All Licenses Report is selected.
  3. Click Export Data and select the desired format. 
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The table shows a row for each key that you manage and includes the registration information and any end user information you’ve added. It also includes the expiration date for the maintenance contract. 

Additional Information

Live Webinars

For more information in video format, check out the Tableau Webinars.  Enter "license" in the search box to see live webinars on Getting Started with License Administration.

Trouble Activating?

If you are having trouble activating a Tableau product using a product key, please review the top common issue articles and if none of these can resolve your issue, please open a ticket with Tableau Support:

Invalid Product Key Error Occurs During Software Activation

Error "The specified product key was not found" Activating Tableau Server

How to Reset a Current Site Admin Account for Tableau Cloud

Note - For Tableau Server Administrators: It is not possible to remove the Tableau Server Administrator from the highest Creator role in order to use that seat for another user.  The Tableau Server Administrator must always use the highest role designated on the Tableau Server.

Tableau Online Help - Understanding License Models and Product Keys




 
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