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Tableau | Tool strategy

How to use Nested Project Enhancements in Tableau Server & Online 2020.1

Tableau 2020.1 lets you lock a parent project's permissions while still letting nested projects stay customisable.

Tim Ngwena •26 February 2020 •1 min read •4 min watch •1.5K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2020.1 Tableau Server

Watch on YouTube

The new content permissions setting in 2020.1 offers three behaviours: customisable, locked with nesting applied, and locked without nesting
Leaving a project customisable means any content, including nested projects, can have its own permissions set
Setting a project to locked with the checkbox ticked pushes permissions down to all nested projects, mirroring pre-2020 behaviour
Unticking the lock option locks the root directory only, allowing nested projects to remain customisable for more flexible hierarchies

0:00In Tableau 2020, Tableau have enhanced the

0:05ability to manage permissions for nested

0:07projects.

0:09Let's have a look and see what that

0:10actually means.

0:11I'm over in a test environment for Tableau

0:14Online, which has the same interface as

0:16Tableau

0:17Server as well.

0:18You can see here that I've got some sample

0:20visualizations from the Tableau Public

0:22Gallery.

0:23Definitely check these workbooks out.

0:24They're over on Tableau Public as they're

0:26named here and they're a great bit of

0:28content

0:28that I think everyone should be aware of.

0:30Now if I just hit on these three dots and I

0:33head on over to permissions, I get to see

0:36the permissions of this project.

0:39And at the very top you see here you have

0:41the option to customize the content

0:44permissions.

0:45This is a new setting that's been brought

0:47into this version of Tableau where

0:48essentially

0:49you have almost three settings.

0:52The first one which is where it's at now

0:55allows you to basically set the permissions

0:57for this

0:58particular project and then any content

1:00that's added to this project can be

1:03customized.

1:04So essentially anything that lands in the

1:06root directory of this project can be

1:08customized

1:09to whatever permissions it needs.

1:12This also applies to nested projects.

1:13So by default nested projects are

1:16essentially just content in this project

1:18and so therefore

1:19by leaving this option customizable, they

1:22too can also be changed.

1:24So let's just have a look and see how that

1:26works.

1:27If I just escape out there and then go to

1:29my nested project, hit on these three dots

1:32again and look at the permissions, you'll

1:36see that the settings here are customizable

1:39.

1:39Now let me go back.

1:42Now I'm going to go back to those

1:44permissions and this time I'm going to

1:46change this setting

1:47to locked.

1:49And notice that when I select locked, I get

1:52a new sort of pop-up here which tells me

1:55about

1:55essentially two behaviors.

1:57If this checkbox is ticked, what will

2:00happen is that the permissions will be

2:02applied not

2:02just to this parent folder but to all

2:05nested projects as well.

2:06And this was actually the behavior before

2:09Tableau 2020.

2:10So let me just show you how this works.

2:12Let's hit save, let's exit, go to the

2:15nested project, hit the three dots again,

2:18go to permissions

2:20and you'll see here that at the very top it

2:22says the permissions are locked to the

2:25parent

2:25project which is example visualizations.

2:29So I can't change these permissions.

2:31If I wanted to, what I'd need to do is go

2:33back and change that setting in the parent

2:35project in order to be able to have the

2:37ability to customize them.

2:40Now the new feature in Tableau 2020 is the

2:44explicit ability to actually allow nested

2:47projects to not be locked by their parent

2:51project.

2:52So by unticking this option, I'm

2:54essentially locking all the permissions in

2:58this root directory

3:00but I am not locking permissions in the

3:02nested directory.

3:04So if I look at these three dots and I look

3:06at permissions, you'll see that the content

3:09is customizable.

3:11I can actually go in here and I get the

3:14same controls I have as I did before.

3:17And so it's a little bit of inception here

3:19because you have to keep track of what

3:21permissions

3:21are applied where and at which level but it

3:24does give you greater flexibility to set up

3:27nice project hierarchies that maybe better

3:29reflect the permissions models that you're

3:31trying to implement.

3:34I hope you found this video useful.

3:36If not, let me know why below in the

3:37comments.

3:38Otherwise if you've enjoyed the video, hit

3:40the like button, subscribe, hit the bell as

3:42well so you get a notification every time I

3:44launch a new video.

3:45[ Silence ]

Rollup

Tableau 2020.1 adds a content permissions setting on projects that lets you control whether nested projects inherit and lock to their parent's permissions, or stay independently customisable, giving you finer control over project hierarchies.

Demonstrated in Tableau Online (same interface as Tableau Server), using a project containing nested sub-projects of sample visualisations. The point is to show how permission inheritance works between a parent project and the projects nested inside it.

The Breakdown

Find the content permissions setting 0:21

Open a project's three-dot menu and go to Permissions. At the top you'll see a new content permissions control introduced in this version, which governs how this project's permissions relate to anything nested inside it.
Customisable: each nested project sets its own rules 0:42

With the setting left as customisable, any content added to the project's root, including nested projects, can have its own independent permissions. This is the default and most flexible option.
Locked with nesting ticked: permissions cascade down 1:43

Switching to locked and leaving the checkbox ticked pushes the parent's permissions onto all nested projects, so they can't be changed individually. This matches how Tableau behaved before 2020.1, and if you want to unlock a nested project's permissions you must go back and change the parent's setting first.
Locked without nesting: lock the root, free the nested projects 2:40

Unticking the nesting option while locked locks only the root directory's permissions but leaves nested projects customisable, so each nested project still gets full independent permission controls.
Keep track of which level controls what 3:21

Because permissions can be locked at one level and free at another, you need to consciously track which setting applies where; this added flexibility is useful for building project hierarchies that better match your real permissions model.

Worth Knowing

To unlock permissions on a nested project that's locked to its parent, you have to change the setting on the parent project itself, not the nested one.
This mirrors pre-2020 Tableau behaviour when the nesting checkbox is ticked, so existing locked hierarchies won't change unless you touch the setting.

Use It When

Reach for this when you're designing a project hierarchy where some folders need strict, inherited permissions but sub-projects underneath need their own independent access rules.

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