Data Update Time Does Not Display the Time When Hyper File Was Updated

Issue

When a published workbook is connected to a hyper file data source (Not an extract of any other external connection), Data Update Time in the workbook doesn’t match the time when the data was updated. How to display correct update time for hyper file data source in a view?

Environment

Tableau Cloud
Tableau Server
Tableau Desktop

Resolution

Option 1

Create an extract for hyper file in Tableau Desktop and publish it. Data Update Time would display the timestamp when the extract of hyper file is created or refreshed .

Option 2

Add an update time stamp to the data in hyper file, use it in workbook as the true update time for data instead of Data Update Time. For example, if you create the hype file via Tableau Prep Builder, you can use NOW() in calculated field [Data Update Time] and add it to output hyper file.

Cause

By default, when hyper file is published, it's a live connection to the hyper file not an extract of any external connection. Live connections display the last time the data source was refreshed in Tableau. Please see more details in Adding Data Refresh Time Stamp to a View in a Dashboard.