Creating Personal Access Tokens in Tableau Server/Cloud

In writing the documentation for some of my workflows using the Tableau Server REST API, I realized that there's not really any good instructions on how to create a Personal Access Tokens (PATs). The Tableau website does provides a lot of good information about PATs, but it does not provide a step-by-step on how to create one. While it's not difficult to create one, I thought it still would be helpful to share how to do it for those who've never created one before or are not as familiar with the Tableau Server/Cloud environment.

1. Click the profile icon located on the top right corner of Cloud and Server, and select “My Account Settings”

*Note: each user’s profile icon may look different from the image displayed above.*

2. Under the “Settings” tab, located on the far right, scroll down to the “Personal Access Tokens” section.

3. For any workflows utilizing the Tableau Server REST API, use “X-Tableau-Auth” for the PAT name and click “Create Token”.

Note: For other purposes, best practice is to use titles referring to the workflow or titles relevant to the intended use. PATs cannot share the same name as another PAT in a single user's profile. Also, users can only *have a* **maximum of 10 PATs** *at the same time.*

4. A pop-up will appear with the Token Name and Secret that will need to be used in the Alteryx workflow.

Note: Typically, a token will last a year and will need to be replaced after expiration. Also, once this pop-up is closed, the Secret token will no longer be accessible to regular users, except as a Site Admin on Tableau Cloud. Depending on the intention of use, users can either keep the Secret stored somewhere secure or create a new token if needed.

5. Insert the Token Names and Secrets in the first Text Input tool of the Alteryx workflow for the respective sites.

Note: Type in the URL and contentUrl for the intended site to connect to the API and users will be able to retrieve a different secret key through the initial authentication call to make further Tableau Server REST API calls. Refer to the *API documentation* *for more information.*

6. Clicking “Revoke Token” will delete the existing PAT.

*Note: Workflows using revoked PAT(s) will run with errors and will not function properly.*

Author:

Erlina Cahyadi

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