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Spell check only in Tableau Cloud Web Authoring | Tableau 2024.2

Tableau 2024.2 finally adds spell check, but only in web authoring, and it's the browser doing the work.

Tim Ngwena •26 June 2024 •1 min read •5 min watch •1.1K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2024.2

Watch on YouTube

Spell check in Tableau 2024.2 is only available in Cloud web authoring, not Tableau Desktop.
It works anywhere with free text fields, including tooltips, titles, axis edits and dashboard text boxes.
It does not work inside calculation comments because the calculation window expects syntax.
The feature relies on the browser's native spell check, so Tableau doesn't do the heavy lifting and you benefit from browser improvements.
Tableau can apply spell check in fields like tooltips because it can distinguish between actual field references and plain text.

0:00We're here in 24.

0:012.

0:01Uh I built a Sankey using the 24.

0:042 feature for VizExtensions.

0:06Uh this Sankey is built by Tableau, it's native in Tableau using a new capability called VizExtensions.

0:12Check out my video about that.

0:13But what I want to show you is something new to the web authoring experience, and it's only available in web authoring.

0:19If I go to the tooltip uh X section and we go here and I just paste some text that I had

0:24from a previous window, you'll see that I have some red underlining right here and right here.

0:32That's because in web edit only you now get a spell check.

0:35And the nice thing about this spell check is it only works in certain areas.

0:39So

0:39In this video, I'm just going to do a little tour of all the places that I found that it works in.

0:43Obviously it works in the tooltip pane.

0:45That makes a lot of sense because in this field, Tableau can distinguish between

0:48What is a field and what isn't a field.

0:51So you can go ahead and correct these, for example, and it will go ahead and uh remove those underlinings.

0:57Now if I just go ahead and remove those again, we get those underlinings back

1:01You'll see that the auto correct, the spell check comes up, but it's not sort of native within Tableau.

1:06What Tableau is doing here is it's just using the native browser capability to do a spell check.

1:12So you can see here it's just using my Mac

1:14native uh browser interface inside of Arc Browser where there's a word that it knows about it does do that now.

1:21What this does mean though is I can use the power of the internet to get the most latest best sort of spell check.

1:26If I use an enhanced spell check

1:28uh here and I go back into it um it will actually improve that as well and I'm sure things like this are gonna get improved with AI over time.

1:36Um, I'm looking forward to see what Apple Intelligence might do to my Mac in terms of things like this as well.

1:42I might be able to have all this nicely cleaned up.

1:44But anyway

1:45It's available here in the tortoise pane.

1:47Let's go back out.

1:48Let's now test the titles.

1:50If I double-click the titles and I paste this in here

1:53It's also available in here, so you can see that here titles and tooltips, that's a good check mark.

1:58Now let's actually go do something else.

2:00Let's go see if it's available in an access.

2:03So

2:04To do this, I'm just going to use subcategory.

2:06I only need one axis to do this test, so I'll go ahead and put sales.

2:10And what I should have done is I should have done like a scatterpot, but never mind, we've got the axis here.

2:14I'll go ahead and hit hit edit axis

2:17And um in here, if I go and and type this in, you'll see, there we go again.

2:22We've got a spell check right there.

2:24So anywhere where there's just text it seems to be working.

2:27informed about how things work so you can go ahead and correct things even inside of the axis so we've done the axis we've done the titles we've done the tooltips

2:35Let's go check a calculation actually.

2:37So let's go ahead and create a calculation.

2:40I don't think this is going to work.

2:41In fact, I know it's not going to work because I did the test this earlier.

2:44I've just remembered.

2:46And if I go ahead and paste this inside of a comment.

2:49You'll see that if I go right to the beginning and we make sure that this comment is actually correct, you'll see that it doesn't spot it in here.

2:57So in the calculation window, it doesn't spot it.

3:00Obviously, it's not going to spot it

3:01when it's not a comment because of course that means it's going to be looking for calculation syntax.

3:06So I think it kind of makes sense that it's not in here, but you know if I was going the extra mile tablet I'd I'd do spell checks inside of comments inside of calculation fields.

3:14That would just be Chef's Kiss, you know, really, really getting attention to detail and pushing it out to another level.

3:20So not in the calculation window.

3:22We've got titles, we've got the access, we've got tooltips.

3:24Let's go to the dashboard elements.

3:25Let's see what else we can get here

3:27If I just drag in a text box, is it going to be in here?

3:30Pretty much certain it will be.

3:31There you go.

3:31It's right there.

3:32If I drag in

3:35Let's do this.

3:35Let's do this.

3:36Let's go to dashboard.

3:37And this is where I'm like, okay, where is everything in web edit?

3:39If I go to dashboard title, it's probably gonna be in here.

3:42Yes, it is.

3:43So you get the idea.

3:45Anywhere where there's a text box

3:47that isn't sort of being interfered with a calculation or where the data fills are predictable, it pretty much works.

3:54Because you can see here you've got

3:56Sheet name.

3:57You could also insert other attributes here and it's going to work nicely.

4:00So it's just nice to have this sort of integrated with some of that, which makes me think you could probably do the calculation tableau.

4:07Come on, let's do that

4:08That's pretty much it.

4:09That's a feature in a nutshell.

4:11Now, in terms of uh why is this not available in desktop, I think it's because this is using native browser capabilities.

4:17It's using the browser's own spell check, so Tableau don't have to do the heavy lifting

4:21But this is a long requested feature and it's uh it's a really big carrot I think to get people over into the web watering experience.

4:28Um I hope it comes to desktop eventually.

4:30Um I don't know why it can't.

4:31Maybe they'll they'll wrap this sort of

4:33uh nice Tableau interface uh into the desktop version as they have done actually with Tableau Prep.

4:38Tableau Prep itself is a wrapper of the web version of Tableau Prep.

4:42It's not a native piece of software

4:44I'm fairly certain when I say that.

4:46It's built on something called Electron.

4:47If that's changed, let me know in the comments below.

4:49If I'm completely wrong, let me know in the comments below.

4:51But I've been saying that for years, including Titabla, and they've never corrected me.

4:54So I'm gonna go with that.

4:55So there we go.

4:57Thanks for watching.

4:57We'll see you in the next one.

Rollup

Tableau 2024.2 adds spell check to free text fields, but only in Cloud web authoring, not Desktop, because it relies on the browser's own spell checker rather than anything built into Tableau.

Tim tours a workbook in web authoring to find every place the new spell check does and doesn't fire, using red underlines as the tell.

The Breakdown

Tooltip text gets checked 0:25

Paste or type text into the tooltip editor in web authoring and misspelled words get underlined. Tableau can do this here because it distinguishes between actual field references and plain text, so it only checks the free text parts.
It's your browser, not Tableau, doing the checking 1:02

The spell check isn't a native Tableau feature; it's the browser's built-in spell check surfacing through the web interface, so the words it flags and corrects depend on your browser and OS, not on Tableau itself.
Benefits from browser and OS improvements for free 1:21

Because the check rides on native browser capability, you get better suggestions automatically as your browser or OS spell-check improves, without Tableau having to update anything.
Also works in titles and axis edit text 1:42

The same underlining appears when you edit worksheet titles or type into the axis edit box, confirming this works anywhere you're entering plain free text in web authoring, not just tooltips.
Doesn't work inside calculation comments 2:40

Typing a comment inside a calculation editor is not spell-checked, even though it's technically free text, because the calculation window is set up to parse formula syntax rather than prose.
Works in dashboard text boxes and titles too 3:20

Dragging a text box onto a dashboard, or editing a dashboard title, also gets the underlining treatment, so the coverage extends to dashboard-level free text as well as worksheet-level fields.
Why it's web-only for now 4:01

Because the feature depends on the browser's native spell check, Tableau doesn't have to build or maintain it themselves, which is likely why it hasn't (yet) made it into Desktop.

Worth Knowing

Only available in Tableau Cloud web authoring, not Desktop.
Doesn't check inside calculation editor comments because that field expects formula syntax.
Quality of suggestions depends entirely on your browser's own spell check, not on Tableau.

Use It When

Reach for this as a quick pass to catch typos in tooltips, titles, axis labels or dashboard text boxes while authoring in the browser, knowing it won't help inside calculation comments or in Desktop.

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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