Interacting with Amazon QuickSight dashboards

To access a dashboard that you've been invited to share, follow the instructions in the invitation email. You can also access a dashboard if it's embedded into an application or website that you already have access to. When you open the dashboard, the screen should look something like the following example.

To fit the dashboard to your screen, open the View menu at upper right and select Fit to window.

Depending on how the dashboard is configured, you can find all or some of the following elements:

• The menu bar – This displays the name of the dashboard. Also, the menu bar shows what you can do with the dashboard, including Undo, Redo, and Reset, on the left. As you interact with the dashboard, you can use these as tools to help you explore, knowing that you can change your view without losing anything. On the right, you can find options to Print the dashboard, work with Data, choose a different AWS Region, and open your User Profile. The user profile menu has options so you can choose the language that Amazon QuickSight displays. It also has links to the Amazon QuickSight Community and the online documentation (Help).

• The dashboard sheets – If your dashboard has multiple sheets, these display as tabs across the top of the dashboard.

• The Filter menu – This option displays to the left of the dashboard, if the dashboard publisher allows filtering.

• The Controls palette – If your dashboard includes controls, you can use them to choose the options (parameters) that you want to apply to your dashboard. Sometimes a control value is selected for you, and sometimes it's set to ALL.

• The dashboard title – If your dashboard has a title, it is usually a larger heading. It might have some status information or instructions below it.

• The dashboard widgets – The items on the screen can include charts, graphs, insights, narratives, or images. To see them all, you might need to scroll vertically or horizontally. The following screenshot shows more of the previous example dashboard:

  

Using the elements on the dashboard

Each widget has a settings menu that appears when you select that widget. This menu provides options to zoom in or out, filter the data, export the data, and more. The options vary depending on what type of widget the element is.

When you choose a data point, several actions are available. You can click or tap on a data point, for example on a bar in a bar chart, on a point where the line bends on a line chart, and so on. The available options vary based on what type of item it is. The following screenshot shows a list of actions available on most chart types.

These actions are as follows:

• Focus on or exclude.

  You can focus on or exclude specific data in a field, for example regions, metrics, or dates.

• Drill up or drill down.

  If your dashboard contains data on which you can drill down or up, you can drill up to a higher level or drill down to explore deeper details.

• Custom URL actions.

  If your dashboard contains custom actions, you can activate them by choosing a data point or by right-clicking it. For example, you might be able to email someone directly from the dashboard. Or you might open another sheet, website, or application, and send it the value you chose from this one.

• Change chart colors or specific field colors.

  You can change all the chart colors to a specific color. Or you can choose a specific field value to change its color of the element it's part of.