Publishing to Tableau Online: Error code 401001

[AidanBramel]

Recently we've had some issues trying to connect to Tableau Online with the Publish to Tableau Server tool. We assume others will have similar issues, so I would like to post our solution in case it will help others.

ISSUE: When attempting to authenticate to Tableau Online (which uses Google authentication), we receive the following:

Error 401001: Signin Error -- Error signing in to Tableau Server Tableau Server.UploadChunks (238) Iteration #1: Error Trasferring data: URL using base/illegal format or missing URL

CAUSE: We determined that the root cause of this was that we use Google Authentication for our internal users on Tableau Online. This does not appear to be supported by the connector, or the Publish to Tableau Server macro found on the public gallery.

SOLUTION: We were able to resolve this issue, both using the aforementioned macro and the native tool in designer, by changing the authentication method for the user having issues to use Tableau (local) authentication. They will receive an email to set up their new password this way. Once setting up their account, they should be able to use the Publish to Tableau Server tools.

[Nick612Haylund]

Thank you for this @AidanBramel ! 🙏

[paolobottiglione]

Not well explained still scratching my head on how to solve this issue

[AidanBramel]

Hi @paolobottiglione, the specific solution outlined above only applies to Tableau Online instances which utilize Google Authentication. The solution is to change the user's authentication method to Tableau's Local authentication. This can only be done by a Site Administrator.

That said, this sign in error can be caused by several other things if the Google Auth does not apply to you, such as not having adequate publishing permissions or, if using Tableau Server instead of Online, not being connected to VPN.