> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.vizney.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Tableau Licensing FAQ: What the Terms Say About Sharing Dashboards - URL: https://www.vizney.com/tableau-licensing-faq-sharing-dashboards/ - Published: 2026-10-09T11:08:03.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T11:08:03.000Z - Description: Common questions about sharing Tableau dashboards, answered with the clauses from Tableau’s contract documents. - Author: Yehwan Hwang - Tags: Knowledge Base Tableau dashboards are meant to be shared with licensed users. One license can’t be shared among several people, and showing content to people without a license is limited to the exceptions set out in your Order Form or the product documentation. This FAQ covers common questions about sharing dashboards, based on the Main Services Agreement (MSA) and the Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (Supplement) published on [Tableau’s EULA page](https://www.tableau.com/legal/eula?ref=vizney.com). Each answer has a toggle with the clause behind it, so you can check the original text when you need it. --- ### 1\. Can people without a Tableau license view your dashboards? As a rule, no. The contract prohibits making the service available to anyone other than the customer and its users, and limits exceptions to those stated in the Order Form or the product documentation. The two common exceptions are the **Guest user** on Tableau Server with core-based licensing, and **Embedded Analytics** licensing for audiences outside your organization. #### Source: MSA 3.4(a) Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 3.4 Usage Restrictions (a), p. 4 - The customer can’t let anyone other than itself and its users use the services, or use them to benefit anyone other than itself and its affiliates. - The exception is anything an Order Form or the Documentation expressly allows. For Tableau products, the Documentation includes the documents at tableau.com/legal/documentation (Supplement A.3, p. 1). Related help: [Guest User](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/users%5Fguest.htm?ref=vizney.com) — the Guest user is available only with core-based licensing, not with user-based licensing. --- ### 2\. Can several people share one Tableau license? No. Each user-based license goes to one uniquely identified person, whether or not they’re actively using it. You can permanently reassign a license, for example from someone who left to their replacement, but not so often that several people effectively take turns with it. #### Source: Supplement A.4 Users Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), A.4 Users, p. 1 - A user-based license or subscription belongs to one specific, identifiable person, whether or not that person is using Tableau at a given moment. - It can be moved to someone else permanently, but not reassigned so often that several users end up sharing it. - A license bought as a package is likewise for one user only. Purchases before March 21, 2022: the legacy EULA has equivalent terms in 1\. Definitions (Authorized User), p. 1, and 3.9(j), p. 3. --- ### 3\. Can you embed Tableau dashboards in an internal portal? Yes. The contract prohibits framing or mirroring the service, but makes an exception for framing on your own intranet or for internal business purposes. Anyone viewing the embedded view still needs an account on the Tableau site, though. The only way to view without signing in is the Guest user on core-licensed Tableau Server. #### Source: MSA 3.4(i) Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 3.4 Usage Restrictions (i), pp. 4–5 - The customer can’t frame or mirror any part of the services. - Exceptions: framing on the customer’s own intranets, framing for its own internal business purposes, and anything the Documentation permits. Related help: [Embed Views into Webpages](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/embed.htm?ref=vizney.com) — viewers of an embedded view need an account on the Tableau site; only the Guest user on core-licensed Tableau Server lets people view without signing in. --- ### 4\. Can you show data pulled through the API to people without a license? The contract prohibits direct or indirect access that gets around your contractual usage limits, and sharing through the API can fall under that. The REST API and VizQL Data Service (VDS) return data only after you sign in as a Tableau user, so if data pulled with one account is shown to many people, many people are using one license. Tableau’s own Tableau MCP server guide likewise has each person sign in with their own account in multi-user services, and limits setups that run every request under one identity to testing or approved usage-based licensing. #### Source: MSA 3.4(g) Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 3.4 Usage Restrictions (g), p. 4 - The customer can’t allow direct or indirect access to, or use of, the services in a way that gets around a contractual usage limit. (The rest of (g) covers unauthorized use of Salesforce intellectual property.) Related docs - [REST API authentication](https://help.tableau.com/current/api/rest%5Fapi/en-us/REST/rest%5Fapi%5Fconcepts%5Fauth.htm?ref=vizney.com) — REST API requests run with the permissions of the signed-in user. - [Tableau MCP deployment guide](https://tableau.github.io/tableau-mcp/docs/enterprise/tableau-cloud?ref=vizney.com) — per-user OAuth is the method intended for multi-user deployments. A single personal access token (PAT) for all requests is meant for testing and prototyping, and a Direct Trust setup that runs every request as one fixed user is only for licensed and approved usage-based licensing (UBL) scenarios. --- ### 5\. Can you share dashboards with partners or clients? Yes. Users can include consultants, contractors, and third parties you do business with, and the Supplement lets you register people from other companies as users so they can view visualizations built on your data or build their own from it. They need licenses like any other user, and the following isn’t allowed: - External users publishing their own data - Giving external users a Creator license - Offering this access as a managed service provider or service bureau business #### Source: MSA 1\. Definitions (User), Supplement A.5 Client Sublicensees Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 1\. Definitions, “User”, p. 2 - A user is an individual the customer has authorized, bought a subscription for, and issued a user ID and password. - Users can be the customer’s employees, consultants, and contractors, as well as third parties the customer does business with. Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), A.5 Client Sublicensees, p. 1 - The customer can make outside third parties users of Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, but only as far as they need to view and interact with visualizations the customer built from its data, or to build visualizations from that data. - The outside users’ own data is in scope only if it’s combined with the customer’s data or relates to services the customer provides to them. - The customer can’t run this as a managed service provider, service bureau, or similar business. - Outside users can’t publish their own data, and can’t use a Creator package license for any purpose. - For this purpose only, the MSA’s framing and mirroring restriction doesn’t apply, and the customer is liable for the outside users’ actions as if they were its own. Purchases before March 21, 2022: the legacy EULA has an equivalent clause in 3.7, p. 2. --- ### 6\. Can you build a tool that converts Tableau workbooks to another BI tool’s format? No. You can’t use Tableau software to develop a product that converts Tableau file formats into the format of another vendor’s general-purpose reporting or data analysis product. The clause applies to installed software such as Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server, and the MSA’s limitation of liability doesn’t apply to breaches of it. #### Source: Supplement B.3(b) Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), B.3 Usage Restrictions (b), p. 3 - Section B applies only to Tableau Software installed in the customer’s own environment or with its hosting provider, and B.3 is a license condition on top of the MSA’s usage restrictions. - The customer can’t use the software, or let a third party use it, to develop a product that converts Salesforce file formats into the report file format of a general-purpose reporting, data analysis, or report delivery product that Salesforce doesn’t own. - The MSA’s limitations of liability don’t apply to breaches of B.3. Purchases before March 21, 2022: the legacy EULA has an equivalent clause in 3.9(l), p. 3. --- ### 7\. Who checks whether you’re following the license terms? Salesforce can request, up to once a year, a signed statement of compliance and a current list of users for user-based licenses. If it suspects a breach, it can review your usage during business hours with reasonable notice, and if you’ve exceeded your licensed users or cores, you must promptly buy additional licenses. #### Source: Supplement A.7 Usage Certification, MSA 3.2 Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), A.7 Usage Certification, p. 2 - On Salesforce’s written request, up to once a year, the customer must provide a signed statement that it uses Tableau products according to the contract, plus a current list of users for user-based licenses. - If Salesforce reasonably believes there’s a breach, it can review the customer’s compliance, usage, and software monitoring systems and records, no more than once a year, during regular business hours, with reasonable notice. - If the review finds more users or cores than permitted, the customer must promptly buy additional licenses or subscriptions. Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 3.2 Usage Limits, p. 4 - The services are subject to the usage limits in Order Forms and the Documentation. If the customer goes over, Salesforce may work with it to bring usage down; if that doesn’t happen, the customer orders more or pays for the excess. Purchases before March 21, 2022: under the legacy EULA’s 13.9, p. 5, if an audit finds a breach, Tableau may terminate the agreement and the customer pays the reasonable cost of the audit. --- ### 8\. Which contract applies to your company? If you bought on a Salesforce Order Form on or after March 21, 2022, the MSA and the Supplement apply; if you bought on a Tableau Order Form before that date, the legacy Tableau EULA applies. Where the documents conflict, the Order Form comes first, then the MSA, then the product documentation. If you bought through a partner, the partner agreement’s additional terms apply too. #### Source: MSA 12.3, Supplement A.10 Authorized Partner Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), 12.3 Entire Agreement and Order of Precedence, p. 9 - The MSA is the complete agreement between the customer and Salesforce on using the services, and terms in the customer’s own purchase orders or other non-Order Form documents have no effect. - Where documents conflict, the Order Form comes first, then the MSA, then the Documentation. Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), A.10 Authorized Partner, p. 2 - If you got Tableau products through an authorized partner, the partner agreement’s additional terms apply, including any limits on use with third-party applications, and you pay the partner. - The partner agreement can’t change the remaining terms of the Supplement or the MSA. Which documents apply is shown on [Tableau’s EULA page](https://www.tableau.com/legal/eula?ref=vizney.com): purchases on Salesforce Order Forms on or after March 21, 2022 fall under the current documents, and purchases on Tableau Order Forms before that date fall under the legacy EULA. --- 💡 This post is based on the Main Services Agreement (September 1, 2026), the Order Form Supplement for Tableau Products (May 2024), and the legacy Tableau EULA (February 2021), as published on [Tableau’s EULA page](https://www.tableau.com/legal/eula?ref=vizney.com) in October 2026\. It is not legal advice. What applies to you is the Order Form your company signed, so confirm your setup in writing with your Salesforce account team or the partner you bought from. The clause summaries in the toggles are plain-language paraphrases; where they differ from the original, the original English text governs.