Tableau dashboards on digital signage and office TVs

Put the numbers your team watches where everyone can see them. The BI Dashboard widget shows a live Tableau view on a screen, signed in with your own connected app, and can rotate through a workbook’s sheets on its own.

How it works

An organization owner or admin adds a Tableau connection once, in Settings → BI dashboards. Editors then pick a view for each widget. The connection uses a Tableau connected app with direct trust, and the credentials stay on the ScreenTinker server, encrypted. A screen only ever receives a five-minute token that can do nothing but embed views.

The widget loads Tableau’s own embedding script from your Tableau host, so the view looks and behaves as it does in Tableau. Every dashboard page runs in a sandbox with an isolated origin, so a script it loads can’t reach anyone’s ScreenTinker session.

No credentials at all? A Tableau Public view works as a public link.

Set it up

1. In Tableau, go to Settings → Connected Apps, create a connected app (direct trust), generate a secret and enable the app. Note the client ID, secret ID and secret value.
2. Allow your ScreenTinker address in the connected app’s domain allowlist.
3. Choose a dedicated Tableau user for screens, one that can see only the dashboards meant for screens.
4. In ScreenTinker, open Settings → BI dashboards → Add a connection → Tableau. Enter the Tableau address, the site’s content URL (empty for the default site), the three connected-app values and the user. Test signs in to Tableau to check them.
5. Add a BI Dashboard widget. Paste the view’s address, or type Workbook/Sheet. Optionally tick Rotate through the workbook’s sheets and set Refresh every to re-query the data.
6. Put the widget in a playlist and assign it to a screen.

Details for each service are in docs/bi-dashboards.md.

Limits

• Hosted ScreenTinker needs Tableau Cloud. On a hosted instance the Tableau address must be on online.tableau.com, because the widget loads Tableau’s script from it. For Tableau Server, self-host ScreenTinker, or ask a platform administrator to add the connection.
• Tableau Server 2023.3 or later for sign-in by connected app.
• Treat the screen user as public. Anyone who can open a widget’s page can get a token that embeds views as that user, so give it nothing else.
• Live data needs the network. The page is cached for offline use, but a live view needs a connection, and screens must be able to reach your Tableau host.
• Very old TV browsers may not run Tableau’s embedding library. Test a screen first, or use a Grafana image, which works everywhere.

FAQ

Can I show a Tableau dashboard on a TV?

Yes. Add a Tableau connection in Settings, then a BI Dashboard widget with the view’s address, and put it in a playlist. The screen shows the live view and can rotate through the workbook’s sheets.

Does it work with Tableau Server?

Yes, version 2023.3 or later, with a self-hosted ScreenTinker. On hosted ScreenTinker the address must be Tableau Cloud, unless a platform administrator adds the connection.

Are our Tableau credentials sent to the screens?

No. They are encrypted on the ScreenTinker server and never shown again. A screen receives only a five-minute token that can embed views.

Can I use Tableau Public instead?

Yes. Choose A public link in the widget and paste the public.tableau.com view. Anyone with that link can see it, so use it only for public data.