Why Is My Tableau Subscription PDF Missing?

For a new subscription, open the published view and choose Watch > Subscriptions. Select the current view or entire workbook, PDF or both formats, paper size and orientation. Recipients need View and Download Image/PDF permissions. Use a saved Custom View for required filters; temporary selections are not retained. See Tableau’s subscription instructions.

Tableau Cloud documents a 2 MB maximum email size for its default sending route and 10 MB with a configured custom SMTP server. Treat these as email limits, rather than a guarantee for a PDF of that size. With custom SMTP, Tableau may attempt a partial attachment when the complete one is too large. Open it and check that the required content is present. See missing-attachment troubleshooting and custom SMTP guidance.

On Tableau Server, attachments must be enabled in TSM before the site administrator can allow Let users add attachments to subscribed workbooks and views. See Server subscription setup. Its administrator can review subscriptions.max_attachment_size_megabytes alongside the mail system’s limit; the Cloud figures are not a universal Server cap. See Server attachment troubleshooting. ATRS supports Tableau Cloud only.

The ATRS PDF guide documents passwords and file permissions, watermark or stamp options, file-summary properties, custom naming and date/time suffixes. It also covers ZIP output with optional password protection, deferred delivery and configured PGP encryption. These options serve different purposes; select the ones the recipient can use and test the resulting file. PDF permission restrictions depend on viewer support and should not be treated as an absolute barrier to copying.

Use the Package Schedule guide for multiple attachments, ZIP packaging or a merged PDF. Check each report and the final page sequence. Packaging changes how reports are delivered; it does not establish that the underlying exports contain all the intended content.

The Email destination guide covers To, CC and BCC, address-book groups, database or text-file lists, message formatting and inserts. If you enable Embed Report, there is no attachment by default. Select Include Attachment for the additional PDF. HTML report embedding requires SMTP; MAPI embedding is text-only.

For another delivery route, add the required ATRS destination, such as Disk, SharePoint, FTP or configured cloud storage. Confirm the account’s access and the recipient’s ability to retrieve the file. Use the approved sending account rather than assuming a changed From address will be accepted.

Use your ATRS HTTPS address and a backend-held bearer token. This example runs an existing ordinary single-report schedule. Replace 101 with its actual UniqueId. Its report inputs, PDF format and recipients must already be configured in ATRS.

POST /api/Schedule/ExecuteScheduleAsync
Authorization: Bearer <ATRS-access-token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "ScheduleType": "report",
  "UniqueId": 101,
  "RunBy": "Finance application"
}

GET /api/Schedule/GetExecutionStatus?ExecutionId=<returned-id>
Authorization: Bearer <ATRS-access-token>

Save the returned ExecutionId and poll its status within a defined time limit. Parse the JSON-encoded ResultJson; Completed can still contain Result=false. Keep the outcome with the requested report and period, and verify the resulting file and destination.

The execution response supplies tracking information, not PDF bytes or a download link. It also does not change a native Tableau subscription. For a report package, use its actual stored identifier and the documented package schedule type rather than the single-report example.

After an uncertain response, inspect the execution and destination before retrying to avoid duplicate sends. Keep the token on the backend and authorize the application’s request for the particular reporting job. See the ATRS Developer Hub for authentication and operation details.