Alex, a data analyst, needed to connect Tableau (on Windows) to a PostgreSQL database running on a Linux server. IT said, "Just use ODBC."
Alex searched "PostgreSQL ODBC download" and clicked the first result: a generic postgresql-odbc-16.00.exe . Downloaded, installed, but Tableau kept saying "Driver not found." postgres odbc download
Even after correct install, the DSN didn’t work. The error: "Could not connect to server: Permission denied." Alex, a data analyst, needed to connect Tableau
In Tableau, the "PostgreSQL Unicode" driver appeared. Connection worked. Dashboards loaded. The error: "Could not connect to server: Permission denied
After 30 minutes of frustration, Alex found the official PostgreSQL ODBC page: https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions/msi/
Alex had downloaded the 64-bit driver, but Tableau was running in 32-bit mode on that machine. ODBC drivers are not interchangeable between bitness.
Alex had used localhost as the server, but PostgreSQL was on a remote host. Worse, the firewall blocked port 5432. After opening the port and using the correct IP, the connection test succeeded.