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Tableau | Tool strategy | Industry trends

End-of-Maintenance Accelerated for Tableau Versions 2019.3.x - 2020.3.x

Tableau's accelerated end of maintenance sounds alarming, but here's why it's happening and what server admins actually need to do.

Tim Ngwena •5 August 2021 •1 min read •7 min watch •684

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2019.3 What's new in Tableau 2020.3

Watch on YouTube

Tableau is ending maintenance for versions 2019.3.x through 2020.3.x in November 2021, which is unusually early given they typically support releases for many patches over a long window.
The acceleration is driven by a third-party dependency: PostgreSQL stopped supporting the version bundled into those Tableau releases, creating a potential security exposure Tableau can no longer patch.
To stay within the support window you should target Tableau 2020.4 or later when upgrading.
Tableau Online and Desktop users are largely unaffected; the real work falls on Tableau Server admins who manage the underlying infrastructure.
Tableau's upgrade resources, especially the Upgrade Tableau Server overview, are thorough checklists worth reviewing before any upgrade.

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. In today's video, I'm

0:01actually going to be talking about an end

0:03of maintenance

0:04release that Tableau have announced on

0:06Tableau forums and to customers over email.

0:10Now, this

0:11sounds like an alarming thing, but it's

0:12really not. I'm going to try and break it

0:13down in this

0:14video and we're going to go through it. Let

0:15's get stuck in. Okay, so if you head to the

0:18community

0:18pages of Tableau, this is probably the

0:19easiest way to find it. You don't need to

0:21be logged in to see

0:22this. If you head to the community pages at

0:24Tableau, you'll see that on the homepage,

0:27there's an important announcement from

0:29Tableau. And essentially, it reads,

0:31end of maintenance accelerated to November

0:332021 for Tableau versions 2019.3, all the

0:37way to 2020.3.

0:39Essentially, what they're saying is, look,

0:41if you're using any version that were

0:43released

0:43from the third quarter of 2019, all the way

0:46up until the third quarter of 2020,

0:48they're going to stop supporting it in

0:51November of 2021. Now, this is highly

0:54unusual for Tableau,

0:54because typically, they've actually

0:56supported software for a long, long time.

0:59In fact, if I go

1:00to Tableau releases, and we just go to that

1:03page, and we just go look at the release

1:06notes, you'll

1:07see that if I go back to, let's say, 2018.3

1:10, they've actually supported it for 29

1:13patches.

1:13The best way to think of that is every

1:15month Tableau patched this. And they've

1:17supported this

1:18for a really long time. They first released

1:20it in October 2018. And then that's been

1:23supported all

1:24the way up until 2020. So March 2021. It's

1:28a really, really sort of long maintenance

1:31window.

1:31And what the support sort of slash

1:33maintenance window really means is that if

1:36Tableau release a

1:37version of Tableau today, they will support

1:40that exact same version for a period of

1:42time.

1:42Essentially, they'll continue to release

1:44patches, fix any security bugs, they'll fix

1:46all of that

1:47very, very quickly. So why is that changing

1:49? What's caused this to happen? So if you go

1:52to the learn

1:52more page, and there's actually a bit of an

1:54explanation, and it turns out it's actually

1:56because Tableau themselves use a third

1:59party bits of software. Now, the third

2:01party bit of software

2:02in question is called Postgres. And

2:05essentially, what's happened is Postgres

2:07themselves have stopped

2:08supporting a version of Postgres that Table

2:11au was using in those versions of the

2:13product.

2:14Now you could argue Tableau could have

2:15switched to the slightly newer version of

2:17this product

2:18inside of Tableau sooner to avoid this sort

2:20of hiccup. But essentially, because Post

2:22gres have

2:23stopped supporting this particular part of

2:26the software, particular release of their

2:28software,

2:29and when it's get bundles into Tableau, if

2:32Postgres aren't supporting that particular

2:35thing,

2:35then essentially, it becomes something that

2:37could be sort of vulnerable to security.

2:39And so at that

2:40point, if Postgres isn't supporting it,

2:42Tableau can't support it either. So

2:45essentially, what's

2:45happening here, and actually, there's there

2:47's actually a really sort of good explainer

2:49here

2:49by David Brown from Tableau up on the

2:51screen right now. And it basically goes

2:53through exactly what's

2:55going on and what the impact is. So it's

2:57really, you know, it's not something to be

2:59worried about

3:00Tableau is not changing its sort of

3:02philosophy philosophy around maintenance

3:04releases. But it

3:06does mean there's some implications. And if

3:08you're an IT admin, or if you know your IT

3:11admin, it's

3:11probably worth letting them know that this

3:13is happening. Because what it does mean is

3:15they've

3:15got a short amount of time to upgrade Table

3:18au, if they're on any versions that sort of

3:20sit within

3:21that window to the supported version. And

3:23essentially, you want to be targeting at

3:26least

3:272020.4 onwards, essentially. So you want to

3:31be targeting basically something that was

3:33released

3:34in the last, let's say in the last six

3:37months. And or, if you really want to go

3:39backwards,

3:40you could you could go backwards, and most

3:42people are probably going to upgrade and go

3:44forward. And

3:45if your organization hasn't sort of had

3:47this good cadence of upgrades, then I think

3:50this could catch

3:51you out. And it's just something to be

3:53aware of. But nonetheless, Tableau have

3:55actually got some

3:56really, really good resources. I don't

3:57think enough people know enough about the

3:59resources

4:00that Tableau provide on things like

4:01upgrading their software and upgrading

4:03everything. Now,

4:05if you're using Tableau Online, well, this

4:06doesn't really affect you because you're

4:08already using the

4:09latest and greatest. If your desktop

4:11versions have been updated, then likely it

4:13is it's very easy to

4:14update that compared to updating your whole

4:16infrastructure. And when it comes to Table

4:18au

4:18service, the Tableau Online users don't

4:20need to worry too much. But when you are a

4:22Tableau

4:22server user, this is where the real sort of

4:25piece of work is going to be. Now, Tableau

4:28have got these

4:28four resources here at the bottom of the

4:29page that are really, really good.

4:31Essentially, they go

4:32through how to upgrade Tableau in a sort of

4:35useful way. And the upgrade Tableau server

4:38overview, I,

4:39I, you know, I've gone through this

4:41hundreds of times. In fact, before every

4:43upgrade, I always

4:44flip through it. And when I did my Tableau

4:47server process, vacation, I literally this

4:50was the Bible,

4:51this is what I used to sort of get myself

4:54ready, because it's extremely, extremely

4:56thorough. And

4:58what it does do is it does walk you through

5:00every single step. There's also another

5:03sort of Tableau

5:04guide, which is the everybody's install

5:06guide. And that also talked through a bit

5:08about upgrades.

5:09But actually, this, this page by Tableau is

5:11extremely thorough, make sure I put a link

5:14on

5:14the screen so you can access it. And it

5:16goes through exactly what to do what to

5:18sort of look

5:19out for. And in your own specific

5:21circumstances, it generally tends to sort

5:23of give you a good

5:24checklist of things to check before you

5:26upgrade. So I think it's a really, really

5:28good resource to

5:28get stuck into. But generally, I just

5:30wanted to do this video to say, hey, look,

5:33something's changed,

5:34but it's not a change to be alarmed by the

5:36only downside is that it might create some

5:39additional

5:39work for you if you're responsible for

5:41looking after Tableau server, or the

5:43infrastructure

5:44around that. And what I think it should do,

5:46though, it should maybe highlight to you

5:48that,

5:48you know, it's good to stay in touch with

5:50the releases. I don't think it's

5:52unreasonable to,

5:54to expect people to still be on 2019 or

5:562020. I think that's perfectly normal. Some

5:58companies

5:59have yearly upgrade cycles. So they might

6:01just be about to upgrade to the, you know,

6:03the latest

6:04version from 2019. So they'll be fine

6:06anyway. And for people who've just upgraded

6:08to 2020.3,

6:10great, but you know, sort of sort of missed

6:12the boat. And if you're about to upgrade to

6:14something

6:14that's going to lose support, I'd hold that

6:16upgrade and sort of maybe get the next

6:18version

6:19that you're looking at maybe 2020.4 in line

6:22so that you fall within the support window.

6:24Essentially falling out the maintenance

6:26support window means that listen, as of

6:28November, I think

6:29it's November 2021. As of that date, I

6:32think it's November the 11th 2021. As of

6:35that day,

6:35if you have a problem with a version of

6:37Tableau, and it's 2019.3 to 2020.3,

6:41essentially Tableau

6:43won't support you on that. So you need to

6:45upgrade to make sure that you're in touch.

6:47But that's

6:47pretty much it. There's not much more to it

6:49. Definitely check out this guide. I'll put

6:51a link

6:51to everything in the description. The links

6:53a bit long for the screen. So look in the

6:55description

6:56for these notes, and a bit more sort of

6:58guidance on what's going on. And hopefully

7:00you found this

7:00video useful. Thanks for watching, and I'll

7:03catch you in the next one.

Rollup

Tableau has accelerated end of maintenance for versions 2019.3 through 2020.3 to November 2021, far earlier than its usual support window, and Tim explains why this happened and what admins should actually do about it.

Tableau posted an announcement on its community pages and emailed customers directly. Tim walks through the announcement, the release notes, and Tableau's explanation page to unpack what's really going on.

The Breakdown

Check the community announcement 0:21

You don't need to be logged in to see Tableau's announcements on its community pages, so this is the easiest place to check for major changes like this one affecting versions 2019.3 through 2020.3.
This support window is unusually short 0:42

Tableau normally supports a release for a long time, sometimes with dozens of monthly patches over well over a year, so cutting support down to November 2021 for these versions is a real departure from their usual pattern.
The real cause is a third-party dependency 1:40

Tableau bundles Postgres internally, and Postgres itself stopped supporting the version bundled into these Tableau releases; once the underlying dependency loses support, Tableau can no longer guarantee security patches, so it has to end maintenance too.
This isn't a philosophy change, just a one-off consequence 3:01

Tableau isn't shifting how it handles maintenance generally, this is a reaction to an external dependency issue, so you shouldn't read it as a sign that support windows are shrinking going forward.
Target 2020.4 or later when upgrading 3:21

To land safely outside the affected range, upgrade to 2020.4 or a more recent version; if you're currently on an affected version, you should prioritise moving off it before the November cutoff.
Server admins carry the real work 4:00

Tableau Online users are already on the latest version so this doesn't affect them, and Desktop upgrades are comparatively easy; the actual effort falls on whoever manages Tableau Server infrastructure, so flag this to your IT/server admin specifically.
Use Tableau's upgrade resources as your checklist 4:21

Tableau publishes several guides, and the Upgrade Tableau Server overview in particular is thorough enough that Tim uses it before every upgrade himself; work through it as a pre-upgrade checklist tailored to your environment.
If you're about to upgrade into an affected version, hold off 6:01

If your planned upgrade would land you on a version inside the 2019.3-2020.3 range, delay it and target the next version instead (for example 2020.4) so you don't immediately fall outside the support window.

Worth Knowing

Tableau could arguably have moved to a newer bundled Postgres version sooner to avoid this, according to Tim.
Being on 2019 or 2020 versions isn't unreasonable on its own — some organisations run yearly upgrade cycles and will be unaffected regardless.
The cutoff is specifically November 11th 2021; after that date Tableau won't support issues on versions 2019.3 through 2020.3.
Organisations without a good upgrade cadence are the ones most likely to be caught out by this.

Use It When

Reach for this if you or your organisation runs Tableau Server on a version from 2019.3 through 2020.3 and need a clear, non-alarmist read on why support is ending early and what upgrade path to take.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

A Rollup is drafted by AI from the video's transcript, then reviewed and edited by Tim. Everything used to produce this one is listed below — the model, the exact prompt, and the source video — so the process is transparent and reproducible.

Transcription: On-device — NVIDIA Parakeet v3 for recent videos, OpenAI Whisper large-v3 for earlier ones. The transcript never leaves the machine or gets published.
Drafting: Claude Sonnet 5 in the cloud, from that transcript.
Prompt: The exact Rollup prompt (v2) — the full system prompt, unedited.
Source video: Watch on YouTube
Drafted: 5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited: 5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

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