The report builder
Where you lay out a report's pages. Add charts, text, images and filters, arrange them on the canvas, set them up in the inspector, and let autosave keep your draft.
A report is pages of charts, text, images and filters. The report builder is where you make one. Everything you do goes into a draft that saves itself, and readers keep seeing the published version until you publish.
Open the builder
A new report: on Reports, choose New report, give it a title, pick a layout and a workspace, then Create report. You need the permission to create content.
An existing report: open it and choose Edit report. You need edit access to it.
The builder works at any screen width. Hide pages and Hide settings in the toolbar fold the side columns away for more room on the canvas, and you can drag a column's edge to size it. When there's no room for a column, it slides over the canvas from the same buttons.
What's on screen
| Part | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Toolbar | The report's title, its save state, undo and redo, View, Add, Preview, Draft, Share and Publish |
| Left column | Three tabs: Pages, Layers and Data |
| Canvas | The page you're editing, drawn by the same renderer readers get |
| Inspector | The settings of whatever is selected |
Add elements
Add lists everything a page can hold.
| Group | Elements |
|---|---|
| Charts | Chart from the library, New chart, Scorecard, Table, Goal scorecard |
| Filters | Filter control, Parameter control |
| Content | Text, Image, Button, Embed, Code |
| Layout | Container, Tabs, Accordion, Divider, Rectangle, Ellipse, Line |
| Page info | Data as of, Page number |
The Data tab is the quicker way to start a chart. Pick a dataset and drag a field onto the page:
a measure becomes a scorecard;
a date becomes a monthly trend of the dataset's first measure;
any other field becomes a column chart.
Press + beside a field to add its chart below the page's last element. From there, change it like any other chart.
Select and arrange
Click an element to select it. Shift-click or Cmd-click adds to the selection, and dragging on the empty page draws a select box.
Drag the selection to move it, and its handles to resize it.
The arrow keys nudge the selection, and Shift with an arrow nudges it further. Alt with an arrow resizes it.
Right-click for cut, copy, paste, duplicate, stacking order, alignment, hide, lock and delete.
View turns rulers (⇧R) and snapping (⇧S) on and off, and shows or hides the pages (⇧P) and settings (⇧I) columns.
The Layers tab lists every element on the page, plus the header and footer. Use it to rename and reorder elements, and to reach ones that sit behind others. Lock in place stops an element being moved, resized or deleted. Hide from readers keeps it in the report without drawing it.
The full list of keys is in Keyboard shortcuts. Press ? in the builder to see them there.
The inspector
The inspector follows the selection, and changes apply as you make them.
| Selected | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Nothing | The page and the report: Page, Report, Layout, Navigation, Dates, Header and footer, Page filters, Report filters, Parameters and Theme |
| One element | Its own settings, such as Chart, Display and Interactions for a chart, then Style, Layout and Arrange |
| Several elements | Selection, with what they share and how to align and distribute them |
Under Report filters and Page filters, Lock makes a filter limit what public links and embeds can read, not just what the page shows. See Locked filters.
Undo and redo
These reverse your own changes, even with others editing. Use ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z, or the toolbar's buttons, whose labels name the change ("Undo rename report"). The editor remembers your last 200 changes while it's open. Typing in one field undoes as one step, and so does switching the whole report to another layout.
Autosave and drafts
The draft saves about a second after your last change, so there's no Save button. The toolbar says where it stands:
| It says | It means |
|---|---|
| Saved | The draft has your latest change. Hover for when |
| Unsaved changes | A save is about to start |
| Saving | A save is running |
| Couldn't save | Your next change, or trying again, saves it. If something in the report isn't valid, the problem shows on the element it's about |
| Not connected | Keep working. Your changes are kept and sent when you reconnect |
To keep the draft as it is now, choose Draft, then Save a named version…. See Drafts, versions and publishing.
Editing together
Several people can edit one draft at once. You see each other's cursors and selections, with names, and each other's changes as they're made. The row of avatars says who's here. If Halo AI is working for someone, you see that too. See In the report editor.
Undo is your own. It reverses only your edits, not anyone else's.
You can type in the same text. Several people can type in a text element or the report's description at once, each with a named caret. Undo takes back only your own typing.
Losing your connection doesn't lose your work. The toolbar says Not connected, and your changes are sent when you're back.
Restoring a version puts everyone in the editor on that version. Anything they hadn't sent yet is put back on top of it. See Roll back.
Deleted while it was open. If someone deletes the report while you're editing it, the editor says it's in the Trash and how to get it back, and nothing more changes. What was saved is safe.
Each version lists who contributed to it, and the audit log records when someone starts editing.
Halo AI in the editor
Ask Halo or ⌘J opens the Halo AI panel at the far right, as on every page, with Settings still open beside it. Generate with Halo… is in the Add menu. See In the report editor.
Preview
Preview hides the editing tools and draws the report as readers will. Pick Desktop, Tablet or Phone to see it at that width, then Back to editing.
Next, choose how the report's pages behave in Layouts, pages and tabs.