As you know, the web authoring mode of Tableau Server does not yet include all of the functionalities of Tableau Desktop. However, each new version adds a list of new capabilities, getting closer and closer to Tableau Desktop. The following are some of the important missing functionalities, which are now available online:
- Adding, removing, and editing annotations
- Updating axes and resizing headers
- Using Show Me from a Dashboard
- Finding fields in your Data Source by using the search button
- Adding images to a Dashboard
- Connecting to Google BigQuery and opening files from Dropbox and OneDrive
- Creating Joins, cross-database Joins, Unions, and Pivots
From Tableau Server 2018.1, the toolbar used to interact with a view is WCAG 2.0 AA compliant. Thanks to this improvement, the experience of using Tableau Online has been better for people that use screen readers, keyboards in braille, or keyboards only.
The time when saving a workbook online was also optimized in Tableau Server 2018.3. Of course, many of the new features of the latest Tableau Desktop version, such as extensions, buttons, and the Density Mark, are also included in the web authoring mode.
In the last section, we'll focus on the improvements for Tableau Server administrators.