Learning Tableau 2019 - Third Edition

When to use an extract

You should consider various factors when determining whether or not to use an extract. In some cases, you won't have an option (for example, OLAP requires a live connection and some cloud-based data sources require an extract). In other cases, you'll want to evaluate your options.

In general, use an extract when:

• You need better performance than you can get with the live connection.
• You need the data to be portable.
• You need to use functions that are not supported by the database data engine (for example, MEDIAN is not supported with a live connection to SQL Server).
• You want to share a packaged workbook. This is especially true if you want to share a packaged workbook with someone who uses the free Tableau Reader, ...