Exporting CSV Summary Data Using Tabcmd Export or Get

Published: 27 Aug 2013
Last Modified Date: 20 Jul 2023

Question

How to export summary data to a CSV file, using the tabcmd get or tabcmd export command. The view in this example is published to Tableau Server.

Environment

Tableau Server

Answer

Open a Command Prompt as an administrator.
Change to the Tableau Server bin directory and run either of the following commands:

Get URL
Using a URL string as one of its parameters, sends an HTTP GET request to Tableau Server. The result is returned as a .CSV file.

tabcmd get "[URL of your view].csv" -f "[FileName].csv"

Example

tabcmd get "/views/Finance/InvestmentGrowth.csv" -f "InvestmentGrowth.csv"
Export
Exports summary data from a view on Tableau Server and saves it to a file.

tabcmd export "[URL after views/]" --csv -f "[FileName]"

where [remainder of URL] is the URL path starting after views/.

Example

Command for exporting a view using the following full URL:
http://server-name/views/Q1Sales/Sales_Report

tabcmd export "Q1Sales/Sales_Report" --csv -f "weekly-report"

Additional Information

The above commands, tabcmd get and tabcmd export --csv, are both equivalent to choosing "Export > Data" when reviewing the published workbook in browser. This means that the summary data is exported rather than the crosstab itself, therefore crosstab formatting may be lost (such as column order, orientation of rows and columns, etc.).