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Read a dashboard

You opened a dashboard in arkush: your own, or one that someone sent you. This guide tells you what you see there and what you can do with it.

A dashboard published to the internet opens at its own address, with no account. For what that page shows, read Publish it to the internet.

A dashboard in view mode: three filter controls and a scorecard along the top, a line chart and a bar chart under them, then a table and a note. The header carries the dashboard title, the chip 'Data: 2 d ago', and the View | Edit switch.
A dashboard, opened from a share link. The header shows the age of the data.

The header holds, from left to right:

The View | Edit switch shows only when you can edit the dashboard. Without edit access, "· view only" follows the title, for example "Acquisition weekly · view only". Share and Subscribe still show. On an org install, the switch reads View | Sandbox in place of View | Edit when the editors allow sandboxes. A sandbox holds charts of your own over the dashboard, which only you and its editors see. Read Add a chart of your own in a sandbox.

The header of a dashboard in view mode: the title 'Acquisition weekly', the chip 'Data: 2 d ago', the View | Edit switch with View on, Share, Subscribe, the Inbox button, and the account button.
The header in view mode, for a person who can edit the dashboard.

The data is a saved copy

Every chart reads a snapshot: saved rows, from a query, a sheet, or an imported file. Opening a dashboard runs no query, on your account or on anyone else's. The link is safe to open, and opening it costs nothing.

When an editor, an agent or the scheduled refresh changes the dashboard while you read it, the dashboard shows the change in place. A notice names who changed what, for example "The scheduled refresh updated the data." The changed blocks light up for a moment. To see them again, select Show changes in the notice. A published copy on the internet does not change while you read it.

How old is the data

The header shows the freshness chip, such as "Data: 1 d ago", with the age of the oldest saved data. Select the chip to open the Data panel. The Data panel lists each datasource, the named set of saved rows that charts read, with its row count and the age of its data.

Select the freshness chip to open the Data panel.

Some dashboards refresh on a schedule. The Data panel then also shows the schedule and its next run. If a scheduled run was due and the data did not refresh, the chip turns amber: the numbers are older than the schedule promises. When the scheduled refresh of a datasource stopped, the schedule in the Data panel names that datasource. To get it running again, ask an editor of the dashboard to run it once. On a dashboard without a schedule, the chip shows the age only and never turns amber. There, the data changes only when an editor refreshes a datasource or replaces its data.

The header chip 'Data: 4 d ago' in amber, with the Data panel open: the datasource adspend with 180 rows, refreshed 4 days ago, then the Scheduled refresh section with the cron, its next run, and a line that names adspend as the datasource whose schedule stopped.
An overdue schedule: the chip turns amber, and the Data panel names the datasource that stopped.

How much to trust it

Some dashboards carry a small colored mark beside the title: a pencil for Draft, a blue check for Ready, a green filled check for Official, an amber circled × for Retired. The mark is a claim a named person made about the dashboard. Point at the mark to see the level, who vouched, and when.

A dimmed mark means that the dashboard changed after the stamp, and its tooltip says so. The numbers can still be correct, but the claim is older than the content.

The left part of the header: the title 'Quarterly business review' with a dimmed check mark after it, then the chip 'Data: 10 d ago'.
A stamp made before the content moved: the mark dims, and its tooltip says the content changed.

Filters are yours alone

Controls — the drop-down lists, date pickers, and typing boxes on the canvas — change what you see in your browser. They never change the dashboard, and they never run a query. This section covers the essentials. For every test a control can apply, such as "contains" or "is between", the chart clicks that filter, and where each filter reaches, read Filter a dashboard.

On a big dashboard, the funnel icon in the icon rail at the right edge opens the Controls panel. It lists every filter and parameter of the dashboard in one place, with the same controls as the canvas. The number on the icon is the count of filters that are set.

A long list opens with a filter box. Type a few letters to find any value, even one the list does not show at first. Every list leads with a (Blank) row, which finds the rows with no value at all. In a multi-select list the row checks beside the other values, so one selection keeps a value and the blank rows together. A single-select list offers (Not blank) beside it. When the value you need is not listed, type it and select the Use "…" row.

Type in the filter box to find a value, then check it. The table follows the selection.

Some list controls carry an Exclude switch beside their label. With Exclude on, the control hides the selected values instead of keeping them. With (Blank) selected, it then keeps only the rows that do have a value. Clear empties the selection. Like any selection, the switch goes into the page address and does not change the dashboard.

A text or number control shows its test on the label row — "contains", "starts with", "is greater than", "is between", "is blank", and more. Select the test to change it. "is between" filters only after you fill both bounds. An excluding test — "does not contain", "is not" — keeps the rows with a blank value, and the control says so. Clear returns the test to the author's choice.

The Campaign name control, outlined, with its test menu open under 'contains': is, is not, contains (checked), does not contain, starts with, does not start with, ends with, does not end with, matches regex, is blank, is not blank.
The test menu on a text control. The checked row is the test that stands.

While a control is open, hovered, or focused, the canvas outlines the blocks its filter reaches. An amber outline marks a block whose data lacks the filtered column — the filter does not apply there.

The Campaign control open: the Exclude chip on its label row, then the filter box, the (Blank) row, and the campaign names, each with a checkbox. The control and the Top campaigns table under it carry outlines. The line chart between them has none.
An open list control. The canvas outlines the blocks the filter reaches: here, the table only.

Your selections become part of the page address. To share your exact filtered view, select Share in the header, then Copy link. A reload keeps the selections too.

On some blocks, the author lets a click filter the other blocks. Select a bar, a point, a legend entry, or a table cell to filter by its value. The other marks of that chart fade. Select the same value again, or the empty space of the chart, to clear the filter. Filter a dashboard describes how to add values, drag across dates or numbers, and filter with the keyboard.

Try a scenario with a slider or a field list

Some controls change what a chart computes or shows instead of which rows it reads. A slider sets a number, such as a growth rate, and the charts and numbers that use it move while you drag. A field list switches what a chart shows, such as the breakdown by region or by channel, or the metric on its axis. These controls filter no rows.

  1. Drag the slider, or type an exact value in the box beside it and press Enter. A value outside the slider's range is set to the nearest end.
  2. Open the field list and select a field. The chart, its axis title, and its title follow.
  3. To go back to the author's values, click Reset all in the Controls panel.

Like a filter, your choice goes into the page address and never changes the dashboard, so a link you copy opens on the same scenario.

Read a table

Unless the author turned sorting off, click a column header to sort by that column. Click the header again to reverse the order. A table longer than one page shows a pager under its rows. The sort and the page are yours alone, and the app does not save them into the dashboard.

Select a header to sort, select it again to reverse, and page with the pager.

A wide table scrolls sideways, and the author can hold the first columns in place while the others scroll. Scroll over a table to move through its content. When the content ends, the canvas pans instead. A footer row summarizes all the rows behind the table, on every page.

Some columns show their values as links or pictures. Select a link to open it. A link column does not filter.

A pivot table groups rows into levels. Select the control in the row header of a group to open or close that group. The pager of a pivot table counts row groups instead of rows.

Chart options

In view mode, a chart's header carries the Chart options button. It offers the comparison with an earlier period: turn the comparison on or off, or pick another period. The chart redraws for you alone. The dashboard, and what everyone else sees, do not change.

The popover shows your adjustment beside the dashboard's own setting, with Reset. An adjusted chart keeps the button visible, with the name "Chart options — adjusted". A CSV downloaded from the block then holds the adjusted rows.

The adjustment goes into the page address with your filter selections. When you share the address, the reader sees the chart as you adjusted it. A reload keeps the adjustment. Opening another dashboard drops it.

Chart options on a chart block: the earlier-period comparison, yours alone.

Read an article

An article is a finding its author wrote up beside the dashboard. Open Articles on the right icon rail, or select Read the article on an article card on the canvas. The icon shows only when the dashboard has an article.

Each chart in an article shows the filters its author set, whatever you set on the canvas. To explore from that point, select Open in dashboard under the chart: the canvas opens with those filters, and you change them from there. Select ‹ Canvas to go back without them.

When the data changed after the article was written, a notice at the top says so. The charts show the current data, and the text may describe the data as it was.

Read a dashboard page by page

Some dashboards are split into pages. On those, a Canvas | Pages switch shows over the top of the canvas. A link to a page opens on that page. Any other link opens the dashboard on the canvas, and on a phone on its pages.

  1. Select Pages. The first page fits the width of the window, and never shows larger than its real size.
  2. Select a page tab, or press → and ← to go to the next and the previous page. The tabs sit beside the switch, in page order, and each tab shows the name of its page. Home and End go to the first and the last page.
  3. To show the pages fullscreen, select Present at the end of the tabs. The open page fills the screen. Press → or Space for the next page and ← for the previous page. Press Escape to go back to the page view.
  4. To see the whole dashboard again, select Canvas.
Select Pages, then a page tab. Present sits at the end of the tabs.

Your filters stay the same on every page. A long page does not fit the window: scroll down to read the rest.

To send a link to one page:

  1. Open the page.
  2. Select Share in the header, then Copy link. You can also copy the address from the browser. The link opens the same page, with your filters.

The link gives no access. A person you send it to needs access to the dashboard.

Fill the screen with one chart

Point at a chart, a table, or a note, and a fullscreen button appears in its header. Select the button, and the block fills the screen. To come back, press Escape, or select the same button in the corner. The fullscreen header shows the row count and the refresh time of the block again, so a screenshot always shows the date of the data.

Open a chart fullscreen, then make its text larger.

At full width, a chart drawn for a small block has small text and thin lines. The sliders under the chart fix that. Text size scales the text. The weight slider takes its name from the mark the chart draws: Line weight on a line, Bar thickness on bars, Point size on points. More holds the other controls: Fewer axis labels, Gridlines, and Show every point on a line or an area. A control shows only when it applies to the chart.

Select the label of a slider to reset that slider. After you adjust anything, a Reset button appears. The app does not save these adjustments or put them in the page address. Each time you open fullscreen, the chart starts fresh.

A table fills the screen with as many rows as fit, and has no sliders. A pivot table fills the screen as a crosstab, the shape it has on the canvas. A note reads as a page: a centered text column that scrolls. To get a high-resolution image of a chart, download it while it is fullscreen. The picture then has the fullscreen size.

Select Rows in the fullscreen header to read the rows behind the block. The grid shows the data the chart or the table draws from, with the dashboard's filters applied — the same rows that Data as CSV writes. Select Rows again to come back to the block. A note holds no data, so it carries no Rows button.

NOTE — On a phone-size screen the app stays in view mode, and fullscreen opens without the adjustment bar.

A fullscreen line chart. The header states '96 rows · refreshed 2026-08-11 09:30', then the download button, Rows, and the button that closes fullscreen. Under the chart: the Text size and Line weight sliders, each at 1.00×, and More.
A chart fullscreen. The header restates the data's age. The sliders redraw the chart for the room it now has.

Take a chart with you

Point at a block and a download button appears in its header. A chart offers three files: Chart as PNG, Chart as SVG, and Data as CSV. Other data blocks offer the CSV alone.

The picture is the chart as you see it — theme, filters, current size — at twice the screen resolution. Choose the SVG to print or to resize: it stays sharp at any size. The CSV holds the rows behind the block, with your filters applied and without display formatting. The sort and the page of a table do not go into the CSV. The file takes the name of the block.

The download button of a chart offers two pictures and the data.

Leave a comment

Anyone who can open the dashboard can comment on it. Point at a block and a comment button appears in its header. Select the comment button to open the Comments panel at that block's thread. The Comments icon in the right rail opens the same panel and carries the count of unresolved comments.

Write in the box at the panel's foot. The comment lands on the selected block, or on the dashboard when no block is selected. Press ⌘/Ctrl+Enter to send it. Your comment carries your signed-in email as its author.

The comment button of a block opens its thread, and the box at the foot writes to it.
The Comments panel as a viewer: one thread on the Sessions by week block, a question and its reply, each with its author's email and time, with Reply on the thread. At the panel's foot: 'Commenting on the dashboard', the compose box, and Add comment. No Resolve appears for a viewer.
The Comments panel for a viewer: read, reply, and compose. Resolve belongs to editors.

Reply in any thread. You can delete your own comments. The app asks first, and a deletion has no undo. Only the editors of the dashboard resolve threads: a resolved thread means that someone acted on the feedback.

Once a block has unresolved comments, its comment button shows their count and stays visible without hover.

Add a chart of your own in a sandbox

Org installs only

When a dashboard lacks a chart you need and you cannot edit it, build the chart in your sandbox. A sandbox is your own charts over the live dashboard. You need view access to the dashboard, and its editors must allow sandboxes.

  1. In the header, select Sandbox in the View | Sandbox switch. A banner across the top says that you are in your sandbox.
  2. Point at a chart and select ⋯ in its header, then select Copy to sandbox. The copy appears a little below and to the right of the chart, and is selected.
  3. Change the copy as an editor changes a chart: drag it, resize it, and open Properties to change its fields and marks. The copy already reads the dashboard's data, so it needs no datasource of its own. Build on the canvas shows each control.
  4. Select Back to dashboard in the banner when you finish.
Sandbox in the header opens your sandbox, and the banner takes you back.

To start from nothing instead, add a block from the header in step 2. A chart that needs data the dashboard does not show reads it through a derived view: a datasource you add in the Data panel, written in SQL over the dashboard's datasources.

Your sandbox saves itself. You and the dashboard's editors see it, and nobody else does. The dashboard does not change: its own charts stay locked while the sandbox is open.

To get your chart onto the dashboard, ask its editors. In View, leave a comment on the dashboard that names the chart. Editors see your sandbox in their Sandboxes panel. Your chart stays in your sandbox until an editor adds it. When an editor adds it, a notice names the chart the next time you open the dashboard.

When a save fails, the notice says what to change — for example, a datasource name that the dashboard already uses. When there is no Sandbox in the header, you can edit the dashboard and add the chart to it directly, or its editors turned sandboxes off. In that case, leave a comment that asks the editors for the chart, or for sandboxes.

Pan and zoom the canvas

The dashboard opens fitted to its width. From there the canvas is free: drag empty canvas or scroll to pan. On a touch screen, drag anywhere — a finger on a chart pans too. Hold ⌘/Ctrl and scroll, or pinch, to zoom. The app does not save your position, so the dashboard opens the same way for everyone.

Drag empty canvas to pan. Hold ⌘/Ctrl and scroll to zoom.

See the dashboard in another look

The author chose the colors of the dashboard. You can see it in another look, in your browser only. The dashboard does not change, and nobody else sees your choice.

  1. At the bottom of the canvas, select the palette icon beside the zoom control.
  2. Select a look. The charts and the canvas redraw in the colors of that look, and a dot on the palette icon shows that another look is on.
  3. To go back, select As designed.

The menu lists these looks:

The choice lasts while the dashboard stays open. After a reload, and each time you open a dashboard, it shows as designed again. For when the menu offers Match my light/dark mode, read Theme a dashboard → View the dashboard in another look.

The palette menu changes the look for you alone.

Get it in Slack on a schedule

Org installs only

A subscription sends the charts and tables of a dashboard to your own Slack direct messages, on a cadence you choose. Only you receive it. The server needs a Slack bot that can send direct messages, and only an org install has one. When you are signed in, the header shows Subscribe on every dashboard you can open. On arkush.app, the panel says that subscriptions come with an org install, and offers Join the waitlist. Open the dashboard in the app when you want its latest data.

  1. In the header, select Subscribe.
  2. Pick a cadence, or choose Custom cron and type one.
  3. Keep the time zone, or type another IANA name.
  4. Clear the checkbox of any chart or table you do not want.
  5. Select Subscribe.

Each message comes from the server's Slack bot. It carries the dashboard title as a link, the age of the data, the charts as images, and the tables in the thread. Send now sends one message at once. Unsubscribe stops the schedule. Subscriptions in the account menu lists every dashboard you subscribed to.

If the Slack workspace has no member with your email address, the panel shows a field for your Slack member ID. Paste your member ID there.

A subscription can pause. The panel then shows the reason:

After the reason is gone, a paused subscription starts again at its next cadence. You do not need to do anything more.

Your inbox

The inbox tells you what happened on your dashboards while you were away. It shows an entry when:

You get no entry for what you did yourself, or for what your agent did for you. Ten comments on one dashboard make one entry with a count, not ten entries.

  1. In the header, select the Inbox button. Its badge shows how many entries you have not read.
  2. Select a dashboard name to open the dashboard. Its entries then read as read.
  3. To put an entry away, open its menu (⋯) and select Done. The entry moves to the Done view. Move to inbox brings it back.
The Inbox button opens your entries.

An entry goes away by itself when its problem clears: a refresh that runs again, a subscription that sends again, a delivery someone sent, a dashboard someone restored. An entry stays for 90 days after its latest event.

To stop entries from one dashboard, open an entry's menu and select Mute this dashboard. Replies to you, and scheduled refreshes that run as you, still arrive, because only you can answer them. The panel lists your muted dashboards, each with Unmute.

Who can see it

Dashboards are private by default. On arkush.app, a dashboard is private to its owner, or published to the internet, where anyone with the address reads the published copy. Only an admin of arkush.app can share a dashboard with a named person.

On an org install, a dashboard opens for you because its owner, one of its editors, or an admin shared it:

The link to a dashboard in the app gives no access by itself. A person you send it to needs the same access.

When a dashboard was shared with you and you no longer need it, you can leave it, and it leaves your list. See Share a dashboard → Leave a dashboard shared with you.