Did you know? – Tableau ZIP file

Did you know the Tableau packaged workbook (.twbx) file is actually a ZIP file? Let me tell and show you why you need to know this and how you can do it yourself.

So yes, the Tableau packaged workbook (.twbx) file is actually a zipfile. This ZIP file contains the workbook, but also all supporting files that are used inside the workbook. Think about:

• Background images
• Custom geocoding
• Custom shapes
• Local cube files
• Microsoft Access files
• Microsoft Excel files
• Tableau extract files (.hyper or .tde)
• Text files (.csv, .txt, etc.)

When will you use this? And how do you get all this information out of the Tableau workbook? Here is an example on how I found out I needed to know this.

A colleague send me a workbook with a standard dashboard template for our company. I needed this template with all the images and custom shapes for my own dashboard. Instead of asking him to send me all files separately, I did the following:

1. I located the .twbx file on my computer
2. Right clicked the file
3. Choose the option to unzip the file
4. Opened the new folder

Everything in the workbook send to you is now in the new folder and ready to be used by you 😀

Resources

• https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/save_savework_packagedworkbooks.htm