diff --git a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/BUILD b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/BUILD
index 1d4d06308c..0ab83b7eeb 100644
--- a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/BUILD
+++ b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/BUILD
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ py_test(
         ":projector",
         "//tensorboard:expect_tensorflow_installed",
         "//tensorboard/util:test_util",
+        "@org_pythonhosted_six",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/__init__.py b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/__init__.py
index 9fce67188c..47e0008f56 100644
--- a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/__init__.py
+++ b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/__init__.py
@@ -35,11 +35,13 @@
 from tensorboard.plugins.projector.projector_config_pb2 import ProjectorConfig
 
 
-def visualize_embeddings(summary_writer, config):
+def visualize_embeddings(logdir, config):
   """Stores a config file used by the embedding projector.
 
   Args:
-    summary_writer: The summary writer used for writing events.
+    logdir: Directory into which to store the config file, as a `str`.
+      For compatibility, can also be a `tf.compat.v1.summary.FileWriter`
+      object open at the desired logdir.
     config: `tf.contrib.tensorboard.plugins.projector.ProjectorConfig`
       proto that holds the configuration for the projector such as paths to
       checkpoint files and metadata files for the embeddings. If
@@ -49,11 +51,12 @@ def visualize_embeddings(summary_writer, config):
   Raises:
     ValueError: If the summary writer does not have a `logdir`.
   """
-  logdir = summary_writer.get_logdir()
+  # Convert from `tf.compat.v1.summary.FileWriter` if necessary.
+  logdir = getattr(logdir, 'get_logdir', lambda: logdir)()
 
   # Sanity checks.
   if logdir is None:
-    raise ValueError('Summary writer must have a logdir')
+    raise ValueError('Expected logdir to be a path, but got None')
 
   # Saving the config file in the logdir.
   config_pbtxt = _text_format.MessageToString(config)
diff --git a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/projector_api_test.py b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/projector_api_test.py
index b89846ccec..417c5839a0 100644
--- a/tensorboard/plugins/projector/projector_api_test.py
+++ b/tensorboard/plugins/projector/projector_api_test.py
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
-import shutil
 
+import six
 import tensorflow as tf
 
 from google.protobuf import text_format
@@ -28,30 +28,54 @@
 from tensorboard.plugins import projector
 from tensorboard.util import test_util
 
-tf.compat.v1.disable_v2_behavior()
-
+def create_dummy_config():
+  return projector.ProjectorConfig(
+      model_checkpoint_path='test',
+      embeddings = [
+          projector.EmbeddingInfo(
+              tensor_name='tensor1',
+              metadata_path='metadata1',
+          ),
+      ],
+  )
 
 class ProjectorApiTest(tf.test.TestCase):
 
-  def testVisualizeEmbeddings(self):
-    # Create a dummy configuration.
-    config = projector.ProjectorConfig()
-    config.model_checkpoint_path = 'test'
-    emb1 = config.embeddings.add()
-    emb1.tensor_name = 'tensor1'
-    emb1.metadata_path = 'metadata1'
+  def test_visualize_embeddings_with_logdir(self):
+    logdir = self.get_temp_dir()
+    config = create_dummy_config()
+    projector.visualize_embeddings(logdir, config)
+
+    # Read the configurations from disk and make sure it matches the original.
+    with tf.io.gfile.GFile(os.path.join(logdir, 'projector_config.pbtxt')) as f:
+      config2 = projector.ProjectorConfig()
+      text_format.Parse(f.read(), config2)
 
-    # Call the API method to save the configuration to a temporary dir.
-    temp_dir = self.get_temp_dir()
-    self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, temp_dir)
-    with test_util.FileWriterCache.get(temp_dir) as writer:
-      projector.visualize_embeddings(writer, config)
+    self.assertEqual(config, config2)
+
+  def test_visualize_embeddings_with_file_writer(self):
+    if tf.__version__ == "stub":
+      self.skipTest("Requires TensorFlow for FileWriter")
+    logdir = self.get_temp_dir()
+    config = create_dummy_config()
+
+    with tf.compat.v1.Graph().as_default():
+      with test_util.FileWriterCache.get(logdir) as writer:
+        projector.visualize_embeddings(writer, config)
 
     # Read the configurations from disk and make sure it matches the original.
-    with tf.io.gfile.GFile(os.path.join(temp_dir, 'projector_config.pbtxt')) as f:
+    with tf.io.gfile.GFile(os.path.join(logdir, 'projector_config.pbtxt')) as f:
       config2 = projector.ProjectorConfig()
       text_format.Parse(f.read(), config2)
-      self.assertEqual(config, config2)
+
+    self.assertEqual(config, config2)
+
+  def test_visualize_embeddings_no_logdir(self):
+    with six.assertRaisesRegex(
+        self,
+        ValueError,
+        "Expected logdir to be a path, but got None"):
+      projector.visualize_embeddings(None, create_dummy_config())
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':