Smartsheet + Tableau Integration on Mac

Does anyone have a recommendation on connecting Smartsheet data to desktop Tableau? Has anyone been able to successfully establish this connection using a Mac? I appreciate your tips!

Some background info:

1. I am using a Mac

2. I have tried using the Web Data Connector via Tableau but receive an error for the browser not being supported (although I have the latest version of Chrome, the top recommended browser by Smartsheet).

3. I have been in contact with Tableau, who states the error is on the smartsheet side.

4. The ODBC driver seems to only be for Windows?

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Comments

Mike L.

Are you on a business or enterprise plan? Just trying to rule out the simple stuff.

mailene.h

I'm on an enterprise plan. Thanks!

Kara Lumley

Hi Mailene,

#4 is correct. The OBDC driver was built by Microsoft, and is not compatible with Macs, unfortunately.

Here is the Getting Started Guide from Smartsheet: http://smartsheet-platform.github.io/odbc-docs/#getting-started that has more specific information.

Thank you,

Kara

Shaine Greenwood

Hello—

In theory, the WDC should work on your Mac. A few quick things for you to try:

Temporarily try using a different browser (Firefox or Safari) to see if you get the same issue.
If it works in another browser, there could be Chrome extensions interfering with the connection between Smartsheet and Tableau. I'd recommend disabling all of your extensions, seeing if you get the issue still—if you do, you can enable your extensions one-by-one to troubleshoot which ones are causing the issue.
Make sure your MacOS is updated to a compatible version with Tableau. You can find that info here: https://www.tableau.com/products/techspecs

If the above doesn't work, contact our Support team directly to troubleshoot further.

Jeff Anderson

Hi Shaine,

I too am getting a "browser not supported" error, but I am using a Windows PC. I'm trying to follow the instructions found here: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2478366-smartsheet-integration-tableau

I'm entering the tableau.smartsheet url into the Web Data Connector, which is opening up some kind of Tableau browser (not my default Chrome)... and that seems to be where the error is. See attached.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

--Jeff

mailene.h

Hi Shaine,

Thanks for your response. I am experiencing the exact issue that Jeff Anderson explained below - I am not able to change to a different browser as it is defaulted via the connector and opens a window within Tableau Desktop.

I have been in contact with support teams at both Tableau and Smartsheet and here are the learnings so far:

Error is on Smartsheet side, technically outside of scope for Tableau support team
Tableau support team tested and was able to recreate the issue
Tableau support team confirmed that the Smartsheet WDC works in previous versions of Tableau Desktop (up to and including 2018.3). I am using 2019.1 so I am looking to roll back my version of Tableau in order for this to work (not ideal).
Smartsheet likely needs to update WDC to work with latest version of Tableau
Smartsheet support team is aware of issue but they do not have an ETA on fix, also suggested using Tableau Desktop 2018.3.

Thanks,

Mailene

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Mailene—

Thanks for providing this information! I've marked this as best answer for anyone else who might be experiencing this issue.

Jeff Anderson

I ended up using the ODBC connection to get in. But I'm sure others will need to rely on the WDC.

rfhickey

Hi, Mailene and all,

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm having the same issue Jeff experienced when I tried to connect Tableau to Smartsheet using the Web Data Connector. The error message was that my browser was not supported. Changing my default browser did not fix the issue, so I'm thinking of rolling back my Tableau version 2018.3 as Mailene suggested or trying the ODBC route since it worked for Jeff and I am on PC.

Shane, is rolling back to an older version of Tableau the best solution?

Thanks!

Kara Lumley

Hi all,

Smartsheet and Tableau folks were able to connect and get clarity on the root cause. Tableau made an inadvertent change to the WDC affecting Tableau Desktop versions 2019.1 and 2019.2, which caused a breaking change to the Smartsheet connection. Tableau is working on a permanent fix with an estimated release in approximately 1.5 - 2 months, and in the meantime, Smartsheet is releasing a change as well, which should unblock the connection. The Smartsheet fix is tentatively scheduled for early May. In the meantime, using an earlier version, as RFHickey and Mailene suggested above should work successfully.

Thanks everyone for bringing this to our attention -

Best,

Kara

Chris A

Kara,

Thanks for the info. Any update on the schedule for the Smartsheet fix?

Chris

Chris A

I just got this from support:

Hello Chris,

Thanks for contacting Smartsheet Support. A fix for this issue was released on Friday 26th April and the Live Data Connector should now work as expected with the latest version of Tableau.If your issue has been resolved, there's no need to reply to this email. We value your feedback, so please let me know how I did by using the survey (the stars) at the end of this message.

Ross

Tier 2 Technical Customer Support Specialist

However, I'm getting this error when trying to refresh my Smartsheet data in Tableau:

An error occurred while communicating with the data source.

The web data connector has reported an unrecoverable error and cannot proceed. If the connector has reported details of the error, they are displayed in the pane below.

Smartsheet REST exception occurred. Error code: {0}. Error Message: {1}

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Chris,

Sorry about any confusion on this. It appears that the agent was referring to the Live Data Connector (LDC) and not the Web Data Connector (WDC) that's used for Tableau.

We just released an update for the WDC early this week to address this problem. Can you reply back to me and confirm that your Tableau integration is working properly?

Chris A

Shaine,

I'm still getting the error.

Chris

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Chris—

Thanks for confirming. It appears you're already working with one of our Support reps internally on this.

Please follow up with them for further troubleshooting.

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