Accessing the Explorer

You can access the Explorer to begin creating a story for your data.

Context

The Explorer displays your data in a faceted view, with a visualization area below it. The initial view contains the dimensions that are selected in the Show/Hide Data list, plus any other dimensions that are included in visualizations in the story. If you're creating a new story, only measures are shown initially.

Procedure

  1. You can access the explorer in one of the following ways:
    Option Description

    Open an existing story.

    1. From the main menu, select Files and then select a story.

    2. From the toolbar in the story, select Edit mode.

    3. Use the Story/Data control to switch to the Data view.

    Create a new story.

    1. From the main menu, select Stories and then add a Canvas or Responsive page.

    2. Add a data source.

    3. Use the Story/Data control to switch to the Data view.

    Drag an Excel or CSV file to the Home screen.

    Your data is displayed in Grid View mode ().

    The Grid View mode is available only for datasets acquired by dragging a data file onto the Home screen, or when choosing Data uploaded from a file in the Add New Data dialog.

    1. Prepare your data.

    2. When your data is ready, select Data Exploration mode ().

    Access the explorer from a story page.

    For details, see Launching the Explorer from a Story Page.
  2. To add dimensions, do one of the following:
    • In the facet panel, select (Show Dimensions).
    • From the toolbar, select (Show/ Hide).
    Note

    If you want to add all the dimensions to the facet panel (Show All) and there are more than 20 dimensions, it may take a little time to load all the dimensions.

  3. (Optional) To change the order of the dimensions, do one of the following:

    • In the facet panel, select a dimension facet and drag it to a new location.

    • From the toolbar, select (Sort Facets).

      1. In the Sort Facets dialog, either use Sort Options to sort all facets into ascending or descending order, or manually drag the facets to create a new custom order.

      2. When you are satisfied with the order of the facets, select OK.

    Note

    Using Sort Facets applies the custom order to the current exploration session only.

    Do the following to keep a view with the facets in a custom order:

    • Launch the explorer.

    • Rearrange the facets in the facet panel.

    • Save the new view.

  4. Select measures and dimensions in the facet panel to add them to the visualization, or select individual members to filter a dimension.

    To help you find dimension members, you can search for them. Hover over the dimension name in the facet panel, and then select (Search) to display the search bar.

    Note

    Searching in the facet panel is not supported for date-type dimensions.

    You can also display additional information about the members in the facet panel. Hover over the dimension name in the facet panel, select (Access Other Interactions), and then select Show Measure.

    Tip

    • Analytic view data sets: to display the number of times that a member occurs in the dimension, select Occurrences.

      To display the sum of a measure for each dimension member, select that measure from the list.

    • Planning models: to display the sum of a selected measure (account) for each dimension member, select Accounts.

    If you display the occurrences or sums, you can also sort the dimension by that information. Hover over the dimension name in the facet panel, select (Access Other Interactions) and then choose a sort option.

    Note
    • For hierarchical dimensions, sorting is applied at each level (siblings in the tree are sorted relative to each other), in contrast to flat dimensions, where sorting is applied across the entire list.
    • Sort options are not available for SAP BW hierarchical dimensions.
  5. To filter a dimension, select individual members.

    When you filter dimensions by selecting individual members, you can select (Show Filters) in the dimension header to toggle between seeing only the selected members or seeing all members. You can clear the filter by selecting Start of the navigation path Next navigation step Clear SelectionEnd of the navigation path.

    You can choose whether selecting members includes them in your visualization or excludes them. Selected members are included in your visualization by default, but to exclude them, hover over the dimension name in the facet panel, select (Access Other Interactions), and then select Exclude.

  6. If you want to place dimensions on particular axes (rows or columns), select Designer to open the Builder panel.

    In the Builder panel you can drag dimensions and measures between axes, change the order, assign colors, and more.

    Remember

    When accessing the Builder panel from the Explorer, the available functionality is not the same as when accessing the Builder panel from a story page. For example, you can't add or edit filters.

  7. To change the formatting of your visualization, select Designer and switch to the Styling panel .

    In the Styling panel you can change chart properties, number formatting, fonts and font colors, and more.

    Note

    Story pages and Explorer do not show the same options in the styling panel. For example, when using the styling panel in Explorer the Break Scale chart property isn't available, and you can't apply Styling Rules to tables.

  8. To see more information about a particular data point in your visualization, select a data point and choose (Smart Insights).

    A side panel appears displaying two panes:

    • A chart preview.
    • Information that highlights contributing factors for the data point.
    Note

    The Smart Insights icon isn't available when the Styling panel is open.

  9. To clear your visualization settings and start again, in the visualization area select Start of the navigation path Next navigation step Clear ChartEnd of the navigation path.

    All measures, dimensions, and members are deselected, the sort order is reset to Sort Ascending, and filter selection mode is reset to Include. However, all hidden dimensions remain hidden.

    When you're happy with your visualization, you can copy it to a page in your story.

  10. To export the data from your current explorer view to a CSV file, select Start of the navigation path Next navigation step  ExportEnd of the navigation path.

    If your current explorer view is a table, you can also export the data to an XLSX file.

  11. To do any data preparation, switch to Grid View mode ().
    Remember
    • The Grid View mode is available only for datasets acquired by dragging a data file onto the Home screen, or when choosing Data uploaded from a file in the Add New Data dialog.
    • When you make changes in the Grid View mode, previous selections made in the Data Exploration mode () are cleared.
Related Information