Answer
Important: Tableau does not test or support .tdc files. These files should be used as a tool to explore or occasionally address issues with your data connection. Creating and maintaining .tdc files requires careful manual editing, and there is no support for sharing these files. Work with your Database Administrator and Tableau Administrator to complete the following tasks.
1. Using a text editor, such as Notepad, Notepad++, or Sublime, copy and paste the entire
<connection-customization>
section of your saved data source file. For reference, see the Sample SQLite TDC file in the Attachments section of this article or review the
Tableau Online Help which reviews the contents of the TDC file. Each TDC file has this basic structure:
<connection-customization class=DSCLASS enabled='true' version='10.0'>
<vendor name=VENDOR />
<driver name=DRIVER />
<customizations>
<customization name='CAP_FAST_METADATA' value='yes'/>
...
</customizations>
</connection-customization>
2. Name the file odbc-<datasource>.tdc
and save it to the following location:
For Windows:
In Tableau Server:
Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\packages\bin.<build number>
Or it can be saved in:
ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\vizqlserver\Datasources
To save the file, you must be a Windows Administrator on the server computer.
For Linux:
/var/opt/tableau/tableau_server/data/tabsvc/vizqlserver/Datasources/
Note: The file must be saved using a .tdc
extension, but the name does not matter. The .tdc
file must be saved on all server nodes for consistent behavior.
3. Restart Tableau Server to apply the change.
4. Test making a connection to the published data source specified by the new TDC file using web authoring as described in the
Tableau Online Help or connect to a published data source with Tableau Desktop.
5. Go to and open the Tableau Server log file, and look for a record similar to the example below to verify that this customization file was applied to your new connection. The below sample is for SQLite.
LOG FILE LOCATION | EXAMPLE OF RECORD |
C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\logs\vizqlserver | Found matching TDC 'C:\\ProgramData\\Tableau\\Tableau Server\\data\\tabsvc\\logs\\vizqlserver\\Datasources\\odbc-sqlite.tdc for class='genericodbc', vendor='SQLite', and driver='SQLite3 ODBC Driver' |