Tableau Course
Installing Tableau
Before you can build a single chart, you need Tableau running on your machine — this lesson walks you through downloading and installing both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Public, step by step, with zero guesswork.
Two Versions to Install
You are going to install two things today. They are separate applications and they serve different purposes:
The full professional authoring tool. Free 14-day trial — no credit card required. After the trial, you can apply for a free student license at tableau.com/academic/students if you are studying.
Permanently free. Slightly limited — you cannot save locally and cannot connect to private databases — but it is perfect for practice, sharing, and building a public portfolio.
Install both. Use Tableau Desktop while your trial or student license is active, and fall back to Tableau Public anytime for practice exercises and publishing your work.
System Requirements
Check your machine meets these minimums before downloading. Tableau is not heavy software — most modern laptops handle it without any issues.
| Requirement | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 or later (64-bit) | macOS 12 (Monterey) or later |
| RAM | Minimum 8 GB (16 GB recommended) | Minimum 8 GB (16 GB recommended) |
| Storage | 1.5 GB free disk space | 1.5 GB free disk space |
| Display | 1366 × 768 or higher | 1366 × 768 or higher |
Installing Tableau Desktop — Step by Step
Follow these steps exactly in order. The process is the same on Windows and Mac — the only difference is the file type you download (.exe on Windows, .dmg on Mac).
Open your browser and navigate to tableau.com. Click Products in the top navigation, then select Tableau Desktop.
On the Tableau Desktop product page, click the Try for Free button. You will be asked to enter your name, email address, and job role. Fill in the form — no credit card is required at this stage.
After the form, Tableau detects your OS automatically and offers the correct installer. Click Download Tableau Desktop. The file is roughly 600–800 MB so it may take a few minutes depending on your connection.
Windows: Double-click the .exe file. Accept the license agreement and click Install. The installer handles everything automatically — you do not need to choose components or configure paths.
Mac: Open the .dmg file, drag the Tableau Desktop icon into your Applications folder, then launch it from there.
When Tableau Desktop opens for the first time, it will prompt you to activate. Click Start Trial. Your 14-day trial begins from this moment. No activation key is needed — Tableau registers the trial against the email you used during download.
Tableau Desktop opens to the Start Page. On the left you see a Connect panel with options like "Microsoft Excel", "Text File", and "Microsoft SQL Server". In the center you see recent workbooks (empty for now) and sample workbooks. If you see this screen, your installation is successful.
The Tableau Desktop Start Page
Here is what the Start Page looks like right after installation. You will land here every time you open Tableau Desktop.
Installing Tableau Public — Step by Step
Tableau Public is a separate download. Follow these steps after Tableau Desktop is installed.
Navigate to public.tableau.com. This is the free community platform — entirely separate from the main Tableau website.
Click Sign Up in the top right. Enter your name, email, and a password. Verify your email address when you receive the confirmation message. This account is also your public profile — where your published work will live.
Once logged in, click your profile icon and select Download the App. This downloads the Tableau Public desktop application — a lighter version of Tableau Desktop. Install it the same way you installed Tableau Desktop.
Tableau Public opens to a Start Page very similar to Tableau Desktop. The key difference — you will not see database connectors like MySQL or PostgreSQL. You can only connect to local files like Excel and CSV. That is the trade-off for it being free.
Applying for a Free Student License
If you are currently enrolled at a school, college, or university, Tableau offers a free one-year license for Tableau Desktop through its Academic Program. This gives you the full professional version — no trial limitations — completely free.
Verifying Your Installation with Superstore
The best way to confirm everything is working is to open the Superstore sample workbook that ships with Tableau Desktop. This is also the dataset you will use throughout the first half of this course, so it is worth getting familiar with it now.
On the Start Page, look in the center panel under Saved Workbooks or scroll to the Sample Workbooks section. You should see Superstore listed there. Double-click it to open.
At the bottom of the screen you will see several tab labels — Overview, Performance, Shipping. Click through them. These are finished Tableau dashboards built from the same dataset you will use in your lessons. You are looking at what you will be able to build by the end of this course.
If you can open Superstore and see the dashboards rendering with charts and colors, your Tableau Desktop installation is fully working. You are ready to start building from Lesson 3.
Common Installation Problems
Most installations complete without any issues. But if something goes wrong, here are the three problems that come up most often and how to fix them:
This is a standard Windows SmartScreen warning for software downloaded from the internet. Click More info, then Run anyway. Tableau is safe — Windows just does not recognize it automatically on first run.
Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down. You will see a message about Tableau being blocked. Click Open Anyway. This only happens the first time.
This usually means the trial was previously registered to your email on another device. Contact Tableau Support at tableau.com/support with your email address — they can reset the trial for you.
Do not worry about running out of trial time while working through this course. Install Tableau Desktop today, and immediately apply for the student license if you are eligible — it is free for a full year and removes the 14-day pressure entirely. If you are not a student, use Tableau Desktop for the first two weeks and switch to Tableau Public after that. Every exercise in this course works in Tableau Public — the only thing you cannot do in Public is save files locally, which you can work around by saving to your Tableau Public profile instead.
Practice Questions
1. How many days does the Tableau Desktop free trial last?
2. What is the website address for downloading Tableau Public?
3. What is the name of the sample workbook that ships with Tableau Desktop and is used throughout this course?
Quiz
1. What is the main limitation of Tableau Public compared to Tableau Desktop?
2. After receiving your student license key by email, where in Tableau Desktop do you enter it?
3. What is the minimum RAM requirement to install Tableau Desktop?
Next up — Lesson 3: A full tour of the Tableau Desktop interface so you know exactly where everything lives before you start building.