Tableau Cloud 2FA: how to set up an authenticator app
By the Novaz team · Updated October 29, 2026
Novaz steps checked against version 1.0.5
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Tableau Cloud is the hosted version of Tableau, where your company shares its workbooks and dashboards. Two-factor authentication isn't optional there: Tableau made multi-factor authentication (MFA) a contractual requirement for Tableau Cloud on February 1, 2022 (Tableau). If your site signs you in with a Tableau username and password, you have to register at least one verification method, and Tableau accepts third-party authenticator apps alongside Salesforce Authenticator, security keys and built-in authenticators such as Face ID (Tableau). This guide uses Authenticator App - Novaz on iPhone. Any authenticator app works the same way.
How we checked this guide: the Tableau steps come from Tableau's own help pages and one Tableau knowledge article on Salesforce Help, linked below, which we read on October 20, 2026. We haven't tested them on a Tableau account, so a label may differ slightly. The Novaz steps are checked against the app, version 1.0.5.
Does this apply to your site?
Tableau Cloud sites sign people in one of two ways (Tableau, Tableau):
- Single sign-on (SSO): you use your company login, through Google, Salesforce, SAML or OpenID Connect. Your company's identity provider handles the second factor, and the Tableau steps below don't apply.
- Tableau with MFA: you sign in with your TableauID, which is an email address and a password, then confirm with a verification method. This guide is for you.
If your invitation email asked you to create a password, it's Tableau with MFA. If you aren't sure, ask your site admin.
Set up an authenticator app
The first time you sign in, Tableau asks you to register a method (Tableau):
- Go to online.tableau.com, enter your email address and select Sign In.
- Tableau sends you to identity.idp.tableau.com. Enter your password and select Sign In again.
- On Register a Verification Method, choose One-Time Password Generator. Tableau describes it as the option for an authenticator app that makes verification codes.
- Tableau shows a QR code. In Novaz, tap +, then Scan QR code, and point the camera at your computer screen.
- Type the 6-digit code from Novaz into Verification Code and confirm. Tableau's knowledge article names the button Done (Salesforce Help).
Tableau's pages only show a QR code for this method and don't mention a text key or how often codes change, so scan it. If the QR code is on your iPhone's own screen, take a screenshot and use Choose a photo in Novaz. See scanning a QR code on the same iPhone.
Already registered something else, such as Salesforce Authenticator? Click your profile image or initials, choose My Account Settings, then Manage MFA Verification Methods (Tableau, Tableau). On Manage Your Verification Methods, select Add next to One-Time Password Generator. Tableau's Desktop help calls the link Manage My Verification Methods, so look for either name.
Add recovery codes right after
Tableau strongly recommends adding Recovery Codes as a backup. You can only add them once your first method is registered, from the same Manage Your Verification Methods page. Tableau then gives you ten codes, each good for one sign-in, and you can't view the list again later, so save it straight away (Tableau).
Keep them even if you back up Novaz: without iCloud backup or a backup file, Novaz's keys exist only on your iPhone. Keep the codes in a password manager or on paper, away from the phone. See 2FA backup codes.
When Tableau asks for a code
You confirm with your verification method every time you sign in to Tableau Cloud. Don't be surprised by the address: after Tableau's password page, the code step opens on verify.salesforce.com, a Salesforce page (Tableau). If you registered more than one method, Choose Another Verification Method lets you switch (Salesforce Help).
An authenticator app also works from Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder and Tableau Bridge, which security keys and built-in authenticators don't (Tableau). After you sign in from one of these apps, Tableau can keep you connected with a saved token, unless your admin turns that off (Tableau). Scripts that use the Tableau REST API need a personal access token instead of your password (Tableau).
If Tableau rejects your code
Tableau's pages don't cover rejected authenticator codes. The usual cause is the iPhone's clock: open Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on Set Automatically. Novaz also warns you when the clock is 15 seconds or more off. More causes are in Authenticator code not working?
Changing phones
Tableau's advice for a new phone is to delete the verification methods tied to the old one and register your authenticator app again (Tableau). Do it from Manage Your Verification Methods while the old phone still works, with your recovery codes at hand. On the Novaz side, iCloud backup or a backup file lets you restore your accounts on the new iPhone with the same codes instead. Without one, setting Tableau up again is the route. See How to transfer your authenticator app to a new iPhone.
If you lose your authenticator
Sign in with one of your recovery codes, then register Novaz again on your new phone. Without codes, someone has to reset your verification methods, and who that is depends on your account (Tableau):
- You're on one site: ask your site admin. They use Reset MFA Verifiers on the Users page. You then register a method again at your next sign-in.
- You're on several sites: a site admin can't do it. A cloud administrator in Tableau Cloud Manager can (Tableau), or, for sites on different tenants, Tableau Support.
- You're the only site admin: contact your Tableau account manager. Tableau confirms your identity by hand and may compare details from your TableauID profile on tableau.com, such as your phone number, so keep that profile up to date.
Tableau doesn't say how long a reset takes. More in Lost the phone with your authenticator app?
Can you turn it off?
Not as a user. MFA is required on Tableau Cloud, so the most you can do is swap or remove individual methods on Manage Your Verification Methods. Your site admin chooses each user's authentication type (Tableau).
