Dear Tableau Desktop & Web Authoring Team,
We are currently using Tableau Server and Tableau Desktop to update existing reports.
We are running the latest version of Tableau Server.
We need to rename an item displayed across approximately 17 reports. To reduce the effort of editing and publishing each report individually, we would like to know whether this name change can be applied to multiple reports in bulk.
Could you please advise on the following?
- Is there a way to rename a common item across multiple reports at once using web authoring in Tableau Server or Tableau Desktop?
- Can renaming the corresponding field in a shared data source automatically update the name displayed in all reports that use it? If so, what conditions must be met, and what impact could this have on existing reports?
- If each report must be edited individually, is there a way to publish multiple updated workbooks in bulk?
- If these operations are not available through standard features, are there any recommended APIs or tools? Please also clarify which approaches are officially supported.
If you need additional information, such as how the reports are organized into workbooks and sheets, whether they share a data source, or details of the item being renamed, please let us know.
Thank you for your assistance.
Best regards,
#Tableau Desktop & Web Authoring
Tableau does not provide a built-in “bulk rename field” feature that updates a common displayed item across multiple reports at once; renaming a field in Tableau Desktop or Web Authoring only affects that specific workbook. Even if you rename the field in a shared published data source and republish it, existing workbooks generally retain the original field name, and the new name typically applies only to reports created afterward. As a result, to update the name across around 17 reports, you must either open and edit each workbook individually or use advanced automation (such as the Tableau REST API, tabcmd, and custom scripts to modify .twbx files) to perform bulk edits and republishing.
