Situation now: I have a data warehouse job profile that publishes .txt file in Data folder every day in the morning. I open Tableau workbook which automatically updates data visualisations because of union I made. I save this workbook as extract and collages without Tableau Desktop can view it via Tableau Reader.
What I need: This reporting format is heavily dependent on me and I need to automate this.
Is this even possible without Tableau Server?
Since Tableau Viewer can only use packaged workbooks with extracted data, you may not directly achieve this.
However, you may automate the packaging process using Tableau's command line parameters and the process will not be dependent on anyone anymore.
You may check the .PDF file on below link. Using that help document, you may create a .BAT file and get that .BAT file periodically started using Task Scheduler on your computer. The users then may open the packaged file from the network location you have saved. Or else (If all user computers have Tableau Desktop installed) you may put the file opening line at the end of the .BAT file, so the user can run the .BAT when they want to see the report.
Bernardo was correct in saying the Extract API can be used to programatically create extracts, and thus "refresh" an extract by simply recreating it (the point about Tableau Server is only relevant if you want to publish the extract that you create with the Extract API).
Where you might have trouble is that there is no currently supported way to programatically replace an extract within a .twbx file. That said, it should be possible to do this by simply renaming the .twbx to .zip (it is after all just an archive) and then using something like Python's zip module to manipulate the archive to replace the extract with your new extract.
NB: The Extract API can only be used to create .hyper files. If you want to work with .tde files, then you'll need to use the Tableau SDK instead
