Sharing dashboards with published views

As we all know, sharing metric data encourages collaboration and keeps everyone informed and focussed on common goals. Published views are a convenient, secure way to share metric dashboards.

With published views, you can share either internally with your team or externally (even if recipients don’t have a Klipfolio account). Published dashboard views can be consumed on mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers and displayed on large TVs throughout the office (with 1080p and 4K resolutions). They’re also perfect for presentations when you want to tell your data story to others.

There are a few sharing options available:

  • No access - Choose this setting for confidential dashboards you don’t want to share.
  • Public access - Anyone with the link can view the dashboard.
  • Passcode access - Anyone with the link and a passcode can view the dashboard.

This article includes:

About published views

Here are a few things to note about published views:

Published views are available to new sign ups for a 30-day period, after which they're included in all of our paid plans. On a free plan and want to upgrade? Learn how here.

Published views are not indexed by search engines (e.g., Google). So, you can be sure your dashboards are only shared with the people you want to share them with.

Published views are automatically updated on a frequent basis to match the original, shared dashboard. This ensures you’re always sharing the most recent version of data as it gets refreshed, as well as dashboard edits, for example, adding or removing metric visualizations, rearranging the dashboard layout, and changing chart types. After sharing a published dashboard view, if personalizations are made to the original dashboard (changing the date range, filter settings, or the sort order (for applicable chart types)) and you want the published view recipients to see those personalizations, you can update the published view.

Dashboards that are shared as a published view are always “view only”. They can’t be edited by the recipient regardless of their user role and permissions within PowerMetrics.

You must be assigned to the PowerMetrics Editor or PowerMetrics Contributor role to share dashboards as published views. Learn more about roles and permissions. Note: As a Contributor, you must have either created the dashboard or had it shared with you with “can edit” access.

Published views are not supported in iframes.

If you want to share the most recent view of a dashboard then published views are the answer. If you’d rather share a static, in-the-moment version of a dashboard, you can share a PDF of the dashboard instead. Learn how to download and print dashboards as PDFs.

Sharing a published view of a dashboard

You can create one published view per dashboard and provide either public or passcode access.

To share a dashboard as a published view:

  1. With the dashboard open, click the share button Share button in the upper-right corner of the window.
    Note: The published view sharing options display under Share with everyone. Note that the initial, default setting for all dashboards is “No access”.
  2. Click the drop-down arrow to choose from No access, Public access, and Passcode access.
    dashboard access options
  3. If you select No access, then no published view will be generated for the dashboard.
    Note: You can also select No access to remove the published view for a dashboard you no longer want to share or to start over and create a new link for the dashboard.
  4. If you select Public access, a published view and shareable link will be generated.
    • At This view uses, select the theme you want the dashboard to be viewed in (Dashboard theme, Dark theme, or Light theme).
    • You’ll see this pop-up when the published view link is ready to copy and share:
      ready to copy and share pop-up message
    • Click Copy link. Then, give the link to those you want to share the dashboard with.
  5. If you select Passcode access, a published view, shareable link, and secure passcode will be generated.
    • At This view uses, select the theme you want the dashboard to be viewed in (Dashboard theme, Dark theme, or Light theme).
    • You’ll see this pop-up when the published view link is ready to copy and share:
      ready to copy and share pop-up message
    • Click Copy link. Then, give the link to those you want to share the dashboard with.
    • Click the Copy button beside the passcode. Then, give the passcode to those you want to share the dashboard with.
      copy passcode

Checking to see if a dashboard has a published view

From an open dashboard, if you click Share, you can see if a dashboard has a published link, who created it, and when. (See below.)

published link information

Updating published views

As mentioned above, published views are auto-updated when data on the original dashboard is refreshed or the dashboard is edited (for example, chart types are changed, metric visualizations are added or removed, or the dashboard layout is rearranged). Personalizations to the original dashboard (changing the date range, filters, or sort order (for applicable chart types)) are not automatically shared. If you want the published view recipients to see those personalizations, you can update the published view.  The updated published view will reflect the current personalization settings of the sharer.

Note: As mentioned above, published views are available to new, free accounts for 30 days, after which they're included in all paid plans. If you share dashboards as published views during the 30-day period and then upgrade to a paid plan, you’ll need to update those published views to show the current personalized settings.

To update a published view:

  1. With the dashboard open, click the share button Share button in the upper-right corner of the window.
  2. Click Update now. (See below.)
    update now button
    Note: The option to “Update now” only displays if new personalizations have been made to the dashboard since it was originally shared or last updated.

Published view limits

The number of published views you can create is based on your pricing plan. If you see the following message, it means you either need to remove one or more published views to make room for more or upgrade to a plan that includes more published views.

published view limit message

To look at available plans and consider which one to upgrade to, click View plan to open the Plans page.

To remove existing published views, open the relevant dashboard, click Share, and change its published view setting to No access.

Receiving and interacting with published views

When you receive a link to a published view, simply paste the link into your browser. If applicable, enter the passcode when prompted.

The published view is frequently auto-updated so you can stay on top of changes that result from the data being automatically refreshed and from manual edits to the dashboard, such as the addition or removal of metric visualizations. You can also see personalization changes to the dashboard content and display if the sharer chooses to manually update the published view to match the original dashboard’s current settings.

Note: Published dashboard views are read-only – you can’t edit them.

In a published view of a dashboard, you can:

  • Expand and collapse the dashboard - by clicking the expand button and collapse button buttons in the upper-right corner of the window.
  • View the dashboard in light or dark mode - by clicking the dark mode button and light mode button buttons in the upper-right corner of the window. (Initially, the published view uses the mode that was set by the sharer but you can switch it.)
    Note: If the sharer set the dashboard to use a light or dark theme or applied custom dashboard/widget background colours, you won’t be able to switch between light and dark mode. This option is only available to the viewer if the sharer sets a dashboard theme with no custom styles.
  • See dashboard filters and their members - by mousing over the filters at the top of the dashboard.
  • View values as labels - by mousing over the chart(s).
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