Tableau keeps dashboards current by refreshing extracts from file-based sources and published data sources on a schedule. The extract is only as fresh as the file behind it, and getting that file there is the part that breaks: partners and upstream systems send over SFTP in formats that vary by sender, and someone has to validate, normalize, and drop each one in the watched location before the refresh runs.

Files.com handles that front. Partners and systems send files to your Files.com site over SFTP, FTPS, or HTTPS; an Automation validates and routes each one, normalizes the format, and writes it into the folder or cloud bucket your Tableau extract refreshes from — on the schedule the refresh expects. The extract rebuilds against clean, current data without anyone touching a file by hand.