How to Change Extract Location in Tableau

Sooner or later, every Tableau user gets the message: your C: drive is running out of space. Often, the culprit is Tableau’s insatiable appetite for creating massive extract files (.hyper files). This article will walk you through exactly how to change where Tableau saves these extracts and other files, freeing up precious disk space and keeping your workflow organized.

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Why Move Your Tableau Extracts?

Changing your default Tableau repository location might seem like a minor tweak, but it solves several common frustrations. If you've never thought about it before, here’s why you should consider it.

1. Freeing Up Primary Disk Space

This is the most common reason. Tableau’s extracts can become enormous, especially when you're working with millions of rows of data from sources like Salesforce, Shopify, or a production database. When your primary drive (usually C:) fills up, everything on your computer slows down, from boot times to application performance. Shifting your Tableau repository to a secondary drive with more space, like a D: drive, is a quick and effective fix.

2. Improving Performance

If you're a heavy data user, moving your repository to a different physical drive - ideally a Solid State Drive (SSD) - can boost performance. When Tableau is reading a large data file to build a visualization, it relies on disk read speeds. By placing your extract files on a dedicated, high-speed drive, you separate that workload from your operating system, allowing Tableau to load and query data faster.

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3. Better Organization and Backup

Mixing your core application files with your project data is generally bad practice. By creating a dedicated folder for your Tableau projects (e.g., D:\Tableau Repository), you know exactly where all your important data sources, workbooks, and extracts are located. This makes them significantly easier to find and, more importantly, to back up. Instead of hunting through nested user folders, you can simply back up that single, top-level directory for peace of mind.

Finding Your Current "My Tableau Repository" Folder

Before you can change the location, you first need to know where Tableau is currently storing everything. By default, Tableau Desktop creates a folder called "My Tableau Repository" inside your user's Documents folder.

Here are the default paths:

• On Windows: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\Documents\My Tableau Repository
• On macOS: /Users/[YourUsername]/Documents/My Tableau Repository

Inside this folder, you’ll find several subfolders. The most important ones related to extracts are:

• Datasources: Tableau saves a copy (.tds file) of your data source connections here. More importantly, when you create a local extract from that data source, the extract file (.hyper) is also saved in this folder by default.
• Workbooks: When you save a packaged workbook (.twbx), the version you were working on goes here, unless you specify another location.

Knowing where these land by default is the first step to taking control of them.

Step-by-Step: How to Change the Extract Location

Ready to make the move? The process is surprisingly simple and only takes a minute. Tableau has a built-in feature for this, you just need to know where to look.

Step 1: Create a New Repository Folder

Before you even open Tableau, decide where you want your new repository to live. Navigate to that drive or location (e.g., your D: drive) using File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac). Create a new, empty folder. For clarity, it’s a good idea to name it something obvious, like "Tableau Repository" or "Tableau Projects."

Example: D:\Tableau Repository

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Step 2: Open Tableau and Navigate to "Repository Location"

Now, launch Tableau Desktop. Once it’s open, go to the top menu bar and click on File. In the drop-down menu, select Repository Location...

Step 3: Choose Your New Folder

A dialog box will pop up, asking you to choose a folder. Navigate to and select the new folder you created in Step 1 (e.g., D:\Tableau Repository). Click "OK" or "Select Folder."

Step 4: Manually Move Your Existing Files

This is the most critical step that many people miss. Tableau will not automatically move your old files for you. After changing the location, your new repository folder will be empty, and your old files will still be sitting in the original C:\... location.

To fix this:

1. Navigate to your original "My Tableau Repository" folder.
2. Select all the files and folders inside it.
3. Copy them (don't move them just yet, in case something goes wrong).
4. Navigate to your new repository folder.
5. Paste all the copied items.

Once you’ve confirmed everything has been copied correctly, you can safely delete the old "My Tableau Repository" folder to free up space.

Step 5: Restart Tableau Desktop

To finalize the change and ensure Tableau is using the new path correctly, close and reopen Tableau Desktop. When it launches, it will read from your new repository location. All your recent workbooks, data connections, and importantly, future extracts, will now be saved in their new home.

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What About Extracts on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud?

It's important to clarify that this guide is for changing the location of local extracts and files created with Tableau Desktop. These are the files physically stored on your machine.

When you publish a workbook or data source to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud and schedule an extract refresh, that process happens on the server, not your computer. The server manages its own file storage system, which is configured by a Server Administrator. The local repository setting on your Tableau Desktop has no impact on where files are stored on Tableau Server or Cloud.

Best Practices for Your New Repository

Now that you have a new, dedicated home for your Tableau content, follow a few best practices to keep it efficient and organized.

• Use an SSD if possible: As mentioned earlier, placing your repository on a Solid State Drive can significantly cut down on the time it takes for Tableau to load and render dashboards that use large extracts.
• Keep Your Folders Organized: Within your new \Tableau Repository\Datasources folder, consider creating subfolders for different projects or clients. This prevents it from becoming a huge, confusing list of files.
• Clear Out Old Extracts: Make it a habit to periodically review your Datasources folder and delete old, unused, or obsolete .hyper files. These can accumulate quickly and consume gigabytes of storage without you realizing it.
• Check Your Backup Plan: If your new repository is on a secondary internal or external drive, make sure that drive is included in your regular backup schedule.

Final Thoughts

Changing your Tableau repository location is a straightforward but powerful fix for managing storage, improving performance, and staying organized. By simply pointing Tableau to a new folder and moving your existing files, you gain full control over where your resource-intensive extracts are stored.

Ultimately, managing local extracts is just one piece of the larger data reporting puzzle. We built Graphed because we believe getting insights shouldn't require shuffling giant files around your hard drive. By connecting directly to your tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Shopify in real-time, we eliminate the need for manual downloads and local extracts entirely. You can ask for a dashboard in plain English and get it instantly, always built on live data, so you can spend less time managing files and more time making great decisions.