Your first report

Go from a small file to a published report with a shareable link, one step at a time. It takes about fifteen minutes.

By the end of this you'll have a published report of revenue by month, with a link you can send to anyone. The steps use a small CSV file, so you don't need a database yet.

Before you start

You need a role that can connect sources and publish: Owner, Admin or Builder. An Analyst with edit access to a workspace can do steps 3 to 5 on a connection someone else has made, then ask for publishing in step 6.

Home's Get set up panel tracks these steps, and marks each one done as you finish it.

Halo Data's buttons look like this. The filled ink button is the page's main action, and that's usually the one a step names.

Step 1: Add your data

Save these lines as orders.csv. Any CSV works, but this one has a date, two groupings and two numbers, which is all a report needs.

order_date,region,channel,orders,revenue
2026-07-15,North,Online,120,"$14,400"
2026-07-15,North,Stores,85,"$9,350"
2026-07-15,South,Online,96,"$11,040"
2026-07-15,South,Partners,40,"$5,200"
2026-08-15,North,Online,134,"$16,080"
2026-08-15,North,Stores,90,"$9,900"
2026-08-15,South,Online,101,"$11,615"
2026-08-15,South,Partners,44,"$5,720"
2026-09-15,North,Online,142,"$17,040"
2026-09-15,North,Stores,88,"$9,680"
2026-09-15,South,Online,110,"$12,650"
2026-09-15,South,Partners,47,"$6,110"

  1. In the sidebar, open Data, then New connection.

  2. Choose Upload a file.

  3. Under Where it goes, leave Connection on A new connection, pick a Workspace, and name it Orders.

  4. Drop orders.csv on the File area. Halo reads it in the background and shows a preview.

  5. Check the preview: order_date should read as a date and revenue as a number with a currency. Then choose Import.

Have a PostgreSQL database instead? Follow Connect PostgreSQL, then rejoin at step 2. Upload CSV and Excel files covers messier files.

Step 2: Let discovery run

Importing starts discovery for you. Connecting a database does too, when you choose Save and discover. You'll see Profiling the tables for the catalog, and then Ready to build datasets on.

  1. Choose Open the connection.

  2. On the Tables tab, open your table.

  3. Look down the Columns list. The Meaning column shows what discovery decided, such as Date or Currency, and Distinct and Empty show the shape of each column. Open a column to see its most common values and distribution.

You can leave the page while a job runs. The Jobs button in the top bar shows its progress. Discovery explains what it collects.

Step 3: Build a dataset

A dataset names your columns for people and decides what can be added up.

  1. Open Datasets, then New dataset.

  2. Pick your connection, then select your table. The first table you pick is the Main table. With several tables, Halo joins the others along the relationships discovery found.

  3. Read What you'll get. Region and Channel should be under Dimensions, and Orders and Revenue under Measures.

  4. Give it a Name, choose a Workspace, and choose Create dataset.

More in Build a dataset.

Step 4: Make a chart

  1. Open Charts, then New chart, and choose your dataset.

  2. Set the type to Line.

  3. Under Axis, add Order date and set it to months. Under Measures, add Revenue. The preview follows as you go.

  4. Choose Save chart, give it a Name, and save it to the chart library.

What you're aiming for, drawn here over Halo's sample data.

Step 5: Build a report

  1. Open Reports, then New report.

  2. Enter a Title, leave Layout on Dashboard grid, pick a Workspace, and choose Create report. The editor opens.

  3. Choose Add, then Chart from the library, and pick your chart. Drag it into place and resize it.

  4. Choose Add, then Scorecard, and build one from your dataset's Revenue to show the total at the top.

  5. Choose Add, then Filter control, and add one for Region. Readers can now narrow the whole page.

There's no save button to remember. Halo saves your draft a second after each change, and ⌘Z or Ctrl+Z undoes the last one. The report builder covers the rest of the editor.

Step 6: Publish

Nobody but your editors can see a draft. Publishing makes a version readers can open.

  1. Choose Publish, then Publish now….

  2. Add a note under What changed if you like, and choose Publish.

Readers keep this version until you publish again. An Analyst sees Request publishing instead, which sends the report to someone who can approve it. See Publishing.

Step 7: Share

Choose Share on the report, and pick who it's for:

  • People in your organization: Copy link. What they see depends on their access.

  • Anyone: under Public link, give it a Name, set an Expiry if you want one, and choose Make link. New public link adds another. Anyone with the link can open the published report without signing in.

  • Your website: under Embed, give it a Name and choose Make link, then list the site under Sites it may be embedded on. See Embedding.

To send it by email on a schedule, see Scheduled email. For everything else, start with Sharing overview.

What to try next