Save, Publish, and Manage a Dashboard

This page covers the states a dashboard moves through after you build it, and the actions available in each. It's step 9, the last step, of the Build a Dashboard Workflow.

For the terms used here, see Key Concepts.

When a dashboard is created and published, it enters the Published state. See Build a Dashboard. When a user makes an edit to a Published dashboard, that dashboard is locked for that user and put into an Edit-in-progress state so that no other users can edit the dashboard. The dashboard will remain in an Edit-in-progress state until the user publishes or reverts their changes.

Any other user viewing the Edit-in-progress dashboard will see the original Published dashboard without any of the in-progress changes. The user will also see a Locked icon next to the status pill, indicating that this dashboard cannot be edited. Hovering over this icon will display the name of the user currently editing the dashboard, ensuring transparency in editing access.

note

The users who can edit a Custom, Published dashboard are those users with any of these roles: account-admin, account-analytics-author, account-application-admin.

In general, users with any of these roles can edit (or create or delete) any custom (non-Out Of the Box) dashboard that they can see in the Grid/Table views, whether they are in Draft or Published mode. Users with just account-user role can only view existing dashboards.

Save a Dashboard

You can make changes to a dashboard, then save it for easy access at a later date. The entire dashboard, including visualizations, filters, and associated datasets, are saved in the file format. You can share the file with other web users. Other users can open the file in their own environments and modify the dashboard.

To save a dashboard:

1. Click Save

   Or

   Choose File > Save As to save a copy of an existing dashboard using a different name.

2. Navigate to and select the location in which to save the dashboard.

Edit and Save Changes

If a user initiates editing by selecting Edit or Edit properties for a Published dashboard, the dashboard transitions into the Edit-in-progress state and is locked to the current user. While in the Edit-in-progress state, any modifications made are only visible to the current user. These changes do not affect the published version until the current user publishes their changes.

Any other users viewing this dashboard will see the status as Published with a lock icon, indicating that the dashboard is temporarily locked for editing by another user.

note

Navigating to the Edit page for a Published dashboard will automatically put the dashboard in an Edit-in-progress state. When using the Edit properties modal, the dashboard will not actually go into the Edit-in-progress state until the edits are saved.

Publish the Modified Dashboard

Once finished with dashboard updates, the dashboard needs to be Published to commit the changes, and unlock the dashboard. Upon publishing, the dashboard returns to the Published state, making the updated version visible to all users and releasing the editing lock, thereby allowing others to initiate new edits.

Additionally, the editing user can use the Revert option to discard any in-progress changes. Reverting a dashboard discards all unsaved changes and restores the dashboard to its original Published state and status for everyone, removing the lock icon and effectively treating it as if no edits were ever started.

Unpublish a Dashboard

Users can unpublish a dashboard to temporarily hide it from other users without deleting it. To unpublish a dashboard, click the Actions icon (⋮) on any published dashboard (excluding out-of-the-box dashboards), and click Unpublish. Once unpublished, the dashboard is in Draft state and no longer visible to end users, and the Publish option becomes available again.

note

Dashboards with in-progress changes cannot be unpublished. Additionally, out-of-the-box dashboards cannot be unpublished.

Export a Dashboard

Exporting a dashboard allows you to view the dashboard outside your product. For example, you can view the dashboard results in a PDF file within Adobe Reader for viewing or printing. You can export a dashboard to the following formats:

• PDF file
• Excel spreadsheet
• Email

You can use the exported dashboard for the following purposes:

• Further analysis: Exported data enables advanced analysis using tools like Excel, R, or Python for tasks like statistical analysis, predictive modeling, or data mining.
• Reporting: Exported data allows for customized reports to meet stakeholder needs, with formatting and insights tailored accordingly.
• Data sharing: Exported data facilitates collaboration and decision-making by enabling sharing with stakeholders who lack dashboard access or prefer offline work.

You can export a dashboard by selecting a grid or panel visualization and then clicking Export from the three-dot menu.

Duplicate a Dashboard

You can create a new dashboard by duplicating an existing dashboard and then modifying it. Duplicating a dashboard allows you to quickly and easily create a new version of an existing dashboard without having to recreate it from scratch. You can use the duplicated dashboard for the following purposes:

• Backup and versioning: Duplicating data serves as a backup for protection against loss or corruption and enables versioning for comparison and experimentation.
• Data manipulation: Duplicating data allows experimentation with various manipulations without altering the original dataset, facilitating analysis before permanent modifications.

Next Step

This is the last step of the Build a Dashboard Workflow. For the field-level detail behind the Show Data dialog and the Advanced Thresholds Editor, see Dashboard Editor Reference.