Tableau Connect to Sharepoint Lists

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Within Tableau it’s possible to connect to a Sharepoint list using the OData data connector.

To connect to a Sharepoint list takes some understanding of the Sharepoint URL structure, which I’ll attempt to explain below.

How to connect Tableau to a Sharepoint List

Each Sharepoint site has its own administration, lists, pages, etc.

For reporting Sharepoint data in Tableau I have always used a List. A list is basically a Sharepoint version of a database table.

To connect to a Sharepoint list from Tableau you need to know the name of the LIST. The use of caps is deliberate because this is important. Connect to the source list and NOT a view of a list.

Build the Sharepoint to Tableau connection URL

The exact URL depends on your Sharepoint instance.

Each instance differs but the URL should have a root of something such as:

https://YourSharepointRoot/SharepointSite/SharepointArea/ then could be Pages, Lists, SitePages / PageName, ListName, etc.

We only want the first part of the URL, up to SharepointArea.

Add this to the end of the URL: _vti_bin/ListData.svc/.

This gives a URL of https://YourSharepointRoot/SharepointSite/SharepointArea/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/

Opening the URL in your Sharepoint site, if you’ve got it right, will give an XML list of all of the objects. This includes the lists (which we want), not the views of lists (which we don’t want).

However it doesn’t give a way to identify the list name. This is something you can find in the URL when viewing the list to bring into Tableau.

To complete the connecting Sharepoint to Tableau we just need to add the list name to the end, such as:

https://YourSharepointRoot/SharepointSite/SharepointArea/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/ListName

The OData connection window should appear as follows:

set up an odata connection to connect a Sharepoint list to Tableau
An Odata connection to link Tableau and a Sharepoint list

Click OK and the Sharepoint list fields should load into your Tableau workbook.

11 thoughts on “Tableau Connect to Sharepoint Lists”

  1. Curious if you have a solution to the issue where columns that allow a “Choice” column with “Checkboxes (allow multiple selections)”? I notice that when I select the checkboxes, the dimension will not show up in Tableau through OData. But when i make it “Drop-down Menu” or “Radio Buttons” it will show up. HOwever this defeats the point, as I need multi select (which I will then parse in Tableau”. We are using Sharepoint 2010.

    Reply
  2. @Andy Miller
    Hi..

    I did an integration between tableau and sharepoint , the sharepoint columns are transformed while seeing them in tableau ..
    one such example is , the NAME field has john,robert,david as values in the sharepoint list but in tableau it is shown as 123,784,987..Could you please help me resolve this ?

    Reply
    • First connect a tableau extract to sharepoint. Next publish that extract to Tableau Server. Finally, within Tableau Server, set the extract to update to your required schedule.

      Reply
    • Tableau isn’t a database, it’s a visualisation tool. I expect you can are able to dump data from your database directly to sharepoint.

      Reply
  3. @Andy Miller
    Hello Andy,
    The solution is to copy your multi-pick field to a text column and then use the text field in your Tableau dashboard.
    Hope that helps,
    Glenna

    Reply

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