This article describes how to edit visualizations on a metric homepage and on a dashboard. Go here to learn about viewing and personalizing your metric visualizations.

This article includes:

• Editing metrics and visualizations on a metric homepage
• Editing custom metrics
• Editing instant metrics
• Deleting stored historical data
• Editing dbt™ Semantic Layer metrics
• Editing calculated metrics
• Editing metric visualizations on a dashboard

Note: You can only edit a metric if you created it or you've been granted shared access to it with editing permission.

Editing metrics and visualizations on a metric homepage

With a metric open on its homepage, you can edit the underlying data in the metric or edit the default display properties of the metric visualizations.

The editing options available to you depend on whether it’s a custom metric, an instant metric, a dbt Semantic Layer metric, or a calculated metric.

Editing custom metrics

When editing a custom metric, you have the option to:

• Delete and replace stored historical data. (See "Deleting stored historical data" for more details.)
• View and edit the details for its associated data feed. (When the data feed is in edit mode, you can change the metric’s refresh rate and the account you’re currently connected to here).
• Change the value you want to measure.
• Choose different dimensions by which to segment and filter your data.
• Choose a different date column from the data feed or use the data feed refresh time.
• Choose an alternate method for date handling (the method to use when calculating the total metric value for a date range).
• Choose a different data type format, including numeric, currency, duration, or percentage (percentage only applies to the summary chart type).
• Select a currency display format (only available when the data type format is “Currency”).
• Change the favourable trend settings.
• Change the default aggregation method.
• Select whether you want to show your data cumulatively.
• Disable or enable the ability to override the default aggregation type.
• Rename the metric.
• Certify (or remove certification for) the metric.

Note: As you edit your custom metric, you can click the button, located beside “Measure”, “Historical data”, and “Date handling”. This opens a guide for each setting that helps you decide which options to choose. As you make choices, you’ll see the result in the metric preview window on the left.

Note: When editing, if you change the measure or the date and time (historical data) selection you'll be prompted to “Delete and replace stored historical data”. This action irreversibly deletes stored historical data for the metric and replaces it with different data from the associated data feed. Accumulated history for the metric is deleted and historical collection begins again as of the date of deletion and replacement.

To edit a custom metric:

1. Click Metrics in the left navigation sidebar.
2. In your list of metrics, select a custom metric. The metric homepage opens in view mode.
3. Click the Edit button at the top of the page.
   
4. Click the Data tab. (See below.)
   
5. Beside Data feed, click the 3-dot menu to access options for deleting and replacing stored historical data and for opening the associated data feed in a new tab in view mode. If the data feed has been deleted, the only available option will be to Delete stored historical data.
   
   Note: If you open the data feed in view mode, click the Edit button to be able to connect to a different account (you'll need to click the link under Data service) or to change the metric’s queue for refresh setting. If you know you want to edit the data feed, you can save time by clicking the link (as shown below) to instantly open it in edit mode.
   
6. If you made changes to the data feed in the previous step, click Save data feed.
7. Change the Measure.
   After clicking Save, you will be prompted to click Delete and replace data. See "Deleting stored historical data" for more details.
8. Under Dimensions, choose different columns by which you'll segment and filter your metric value.
9. Under Historical data, select an alternate setting. You can either choose a date column from your data feed or, if you disable the Data feed contains historical data toggle, you can use the date and time the data feed is refreshed.
   After clicking Save, you will be prompted to click Delete and replace data. See "Deleting stored historical data" for more details.
10. Click the Settings tab. (See below.)
    
11. Under Date handling, select an alternate method for calculating the total metric value for a date range. Select from Use all values or Use most recent values only > as of right now or as of each day, week, month, or year.
12. Under Format, choose a different data type. Choices include Numeric, Currency, Duration, and Percentage.
    If you chose Currency in the previous step, optionally select a Currency display format from the drop-down list. Note: This is a display option only. Currency is not converted.
13. Under Favourable trend, choose whether you want ascending or descending values to indicate a positive trend. For example, if your metric includes sales totals, a higher (ascending) number demonstrates a positive trend but, if your metric includes expense totals, a lower (descending) number indicates a positive trend. Note that this option only applies to scorecard (single value) visualizations. Favourable trends are indicated by a green arrow. Unfavourable changes in metric values are indicated by a red arrow.
14. Under Default aggregation, choose an alternate default aggregation method using the drop-down list. The default aggregation type is used wherever there are no configuration options available.
    Note: When metrics are created, they’re automatically visualized using the most appropriate aggregation type. As such, we don’t recommend changing the default aggregation type.
15. Select Show as cumulative, if you want to view your metric's data as a cumulative sequence.
16. Enable the Users can override aggregation option if you want to allow changes to the aggregation and cumulative settings for the metric.
    
    Note: When metrics are created, they’re automatically visualized using the most appropriate aggregation type and cumulative settings. As a result, we recommend disabling the ability to override the default aggregation.
17. Click the About tab. (See below.)
    
18. Under Name, rename the metric.
19. Under Certification, enable the Certify this metric toggle. Or, disable the toggle to remove a metric certification. Learn more about certifying metrics.
20. When you're finished editing the metric, click Save metric.
    All instances of the metric are automatically updated with your changes.

Editing instant metrics

When you add an instant metric, we create the data feed for you. To ensure the integrity and accuracy of your instant metrics, note that the underlying data in these data feeds is managed by Klipfolio PowerMetrics and cannot be edited.

You can, optionally, edit the following properties for instant metrics:

• Delete stored historical data and re-download the data feed. This option enables you to remove historical data and start collecting new data for a metric.
• Learn more about the associated data feed by going to its details page.
• Connect to and get data from a different account.
• Change the refresh frequency rate for the associated data feed.
• Select a currency display format (only available when the data type format is "Currency").
• Rename the metric.
• Certify (or remove certification for) the metric.

Note: Some instant metrics are made up of more than one metric, for example, the Page Views Per Session instant metric combines the Page Views and the Sessions metrics as a calculation. This type of instant metric is called an instant metric (calculated). The only editing option available for this metric type is rename.

To edit an instant metric:

1. Click Metrics in the left navigation sidebar.
2. In your list of metrics, select an instant metric. The metric homepage opens in view mode.
3. Click the Edit button at the top of the page.
   
4. Click the Data tab. (See below.)
   
5. Beside Data feed, click the 3-dot menu to access options for deleting stored historical data and re-downloading or for opening the associated data feed in a new tab, where you can view it.
   
6. Under Data feed, if you want to connect to and get data from a different account, click the tile (as shown below). Then, click the tile under Data service and go through the steps of selecting a different account. Then, click Apply account changes.
   
   Note: If you choose to connect to and get data from a different account, you may need to delete stored historical data and re-download. Also, other metrics that use the previous account connection may be affected if you switch accounts.
7. You change the refresh rate for an instant metric from its associated data feed. As in the previous step, open the data feed by clicking the tile under Data feed. Then, under Queue for refresh, click the drop-down beside your current refresh frequency rate and select a different one from the list of available options.
   
   Note: The choices available to you depend on your pricing plan. If you want to access more frequent refresh rates, click Upgrade to move to a different plan. Note that this change will also impact related instant metrics that use the same service.
8. If you made changes to the data feed, click Save data feed.
9. If your format is Currency, you can optionally select a Currency display format from the drop-down list.
   Note: This is a display option only. Currency is not converted.
10. Click the About tab. (See below.)
    
11. Under Name, rename the metric.
12. Under Certification, enable the Certify this metric toggle. Or, disable the toggle to remove a metric certification. Learn more about certifying metrics.
13. Click Save metric.

Deleting stored historical data

After creating a custom metric, you might decide you want to focus on a different measure than the one you originally chose. Or, perhaps, you later added a column of data to your data feed and now want that data to be included in your metric. Instead of starting over, you can delete the stored historical data for the custom metric and replace it with different data from your data feed.

After adding an instant metric, you might want to “reset” its data, for example, if you made changes to the service, decided to connect using a different account, or there was an API disruption. Whatever the reason, you can reset your instant metric by deleting its stored historical data and re-downloading new data.

Notes:

• When you delete stored historical data, the accumulated history for the metric is deleted and historical collection begins again as of the date of deletion.
• If the data feed has been deleted for either custom or instant metrics, the only available option will be to “Delete stored historical data”.

Editing dbt Semantic Layer metrics

When editing a dbt Semantic Layer metric, you have the option to:

• Clear the cache for an account connection.
• Connect to a different dbt Semantic Layer account.
• Select a different dbt metric to visualize.
• Choose a different data type format, including numeric, currency, duration, or percentage (percentage only applies to the summary chart type).
• Select a currency display format (only available when the data type format is “Currency”).
• Change the favourable trend settings.
• Give the metric a different display name.
• Override the description from the dbt project with a new description.
• Certify (or remove certification for) the metric.

To edit a dbt Semantic Layer metric:

1. Click Metrics in the left navigation sidebar.
2. In your list of metrics, select a dbt Semantic Layer metric. The metric homepage opens in view mode.
3. Click the Edit button at the top of the page. (See below.)
   
4. Click the Data tab. (See below.)
   
5. At Semantic layer account, if you want to clear the cache for the connected account, click the 3-dot menu and select Clear cache. (See below.)
   
6. Under Semantic layer account, click the tile if you want to connect to a different dbt Semantic Layer account. (See below.)
   
7. Under dbt project metric, click the drop-down and select a different metric from the dbt Semantic Layer project.
8. Click the Settings tab. (See below.)
   
9. Under Format, choose a different data type. Choices include Numeric, Currency, Percentage, and Duration.
10. If you chose Currency in the previous step, optionally select a Currency display format from the drop-down list. Note: This is a display option only. Currency is not converted.
11. Under Favourable trend, choose whether you want ascending or descending values to indicate a positive trend. For example, if your metric includes sales totals, a higher (ascending) number demonstrates a positive trend but, if your metric includes expense totals, a lower (descending) number indicates a positive trend. Note that this option only applies to scorecard (single value) visualizations. Favourable trends are indicated by a green arrow. Unfavourable changes in metric values are indicated by a red arrow.
12. Click the About tab. (See below.)
    
13. Under Name, rename the metric.
14. Under Description, enter a different description.
15. Under Certification, enable the Certify this metric toggle. Or, disable the toggle to remove a metric certification. Learn more about certifying metrics.
16. When you're finished editing the metric, click Save metric.
    All instances of the metric are automatically updated with your changes.

Editing calculated metrics

You can optionally edit the following properties for calculated metrics:

• Change the formula structure, including adding or removing metrics.
• Change the aggregation type.
• Choose whether or not to use cumulative values.
• Choose which members to include and exclude (filtering).
• Change the format type: Numeric, currency, percentage, or duration. 
• Choose how you want a favourable trend to be applied.
• Rename the metric.
• Certify (or remove certification for) the metric.

To edit a calculated metric:

1. In the left navigation sidebar, click Metrics to open the Metric List page.
2. Select the calculated metric you want to edit from the list.
3. Click the Edit button in the top navigation bar.
4. Click the Settings tab. (See below.)
   
5. Modify the formula by adding or removing metrics and entering appropriate operators.
6. Modify the aggregation type and the use of cumulative values by clicking on a referenced metric in the formula and opening the Data tab. (See below.)
   Note: These settings are not editable for instant metrics or for custom metrics that have the option to override default aggregation disabled.
   
7. Modify filters by clicking on a referenced metric in the formula and opening the Filter tab. Select which members to include or exclude for each dimension. When you’re done, click Filter.
8. Under Format, choose a different format type.
9. Under Favourable trend, modify the trend settings.
10. Click the About tab. (See below.)
    
11. Under Name, rename the metric.
12. Under Certification, enable the Certify this metric toggle. Or, disable the toggle to remove a metric certification. Learn more about certifying metrics.
13. Click Save metric.

Editing metric visualizations on a dashboard

You can edit the display properties for metric visualizations on a dashboard. You cannot edit their underlying metric data. Changes you make only affect how the visualizations display on that dashboard. For example, if you add a visualization from the metric homepage to a dashboard and then edit it, the display properties for the original visualization on the metric homepage will not change.

Note: The display properties and editing options that are available on the dashboard are based on the selected chart type and style and the original settings you chose when you created the metric.

When editing the display properties for metric visualizations on a dashboard, you can modify the following settings:

• Give the metric visualization a new title.
• Change the chart type and style.
• Choose how many rows to display and whether to display top or bottom rows (for ranked tables).
• Choose to display data as a continuous line or break lines when there are gaps in data.
• Show or hide values as labels.
• Show or hide points (for line and combination charts).
• Change the legend position.
• Change line thickness or remove lines (for line and area charts).
• Add or remove comparisons to other time periods.
• Add or remove trend lines.
• Add multiple metrics to individual visualizations. (Not applicable to calculated metrics.)
• Change the aggregation method. This is only available to custom metrics where the option to override default aggregation is enabled (and to calculated metrics that include that type of metric).
• Hide or show blank periods (for list and pivot tables).
• Select whether you want to show your data cumulatively. This is only available to custom metrics where the option to override default aggregation is enabled (and to calculated metrics that include that type of metric).
• Choose different dimensions by which to segment your data.
• Choose a different time periodicity, for example, hourly, daily, or weekly.
• Change the date range to either use the dashboard date range or a custom date range. If you choose ”Custom”, you can also apply a custom time zone setting to the visualization.
• Change filters by selecting or deselecting members for each dimension.

To edit a metric visualization on a dashboard:

1. With the dashboard open, click the Edit button.
2. Select the visualization you want to edit.
   You can, alternatively, click on the 3-dot menu for the visualization you want to modify and select Edit. This opens the properties panel on the right, with the selected visualization in focus
3. When you're finished editing the visualization, click Save.
   Those with shared access to the dashboard will need to choose the "Revert" option from the dashboard’s 3-dot menu if they want to see the new default version.

Learn more

• Viewing your metrics
• Creating metric dashboards