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Viewing Underlying SQL Queries


Published: 22 Oct 2013
Last Modified Date: 09 Aug 2023

Question

How to view the SQL queries issued from Tableau to the data source.

Environment

  • Tableau Desktop
  • Tableau Server

Answer

Option 1: Use the Performance Recording Feature

For more information, see Create a Performance Recording and Interpret a Performance Recording Workbook for Tableau Desktop and Create a Performance Recording for Tableau Server.

Option 2: Review the Logs

In Tableau Desktop:

  • Navigate to the Logs folder inside the My Tableau Repository folder. 
  • By default, the My Tableau Repository can be found inside the My Documents folder on Windows or the Documents folder on a Mac.
  • If you have a live connection to the data source, check the log.txt and tabprotosrv.txt files.
  • If you are using an extract, check the hyperd.log (Tableau 10.5 and newer versions) or tdeserver.txt (Tableau 10.4 and older versions) file.
  • The tabprotosrv.txt file often shows detailed information about queries.

In Tableau Server: 

  1. Generate a snapshot of Server logs.
  2. Unzip the archive logs.zip file.
  3. Navigate to the vizqlserver folder.
  4. Search for lines containing begin-query in the .txt files.

Additional Information

VOTE: To voice your support for the inclusion of this feature in a future product release, add your vote to the following Community Idea: Show SQL Code.
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