- Decompose: Enables the report viewer to slice the query results with another attribute they choose.
- Drillthrough: Drillthrough gives you a more in-depth view of your data by displaying a table of metrics and attributes that relate to the data selected in the query.
- Focus: Zooms in to one data point or a data range. If your chart has several data points grouped together, focus can be useful for calling out a specific area.
You perform these interactions by selecting a data point on a table or chart or by clicking and dragging across multiple data points. After you click, a drop-down list appears displaying the available interaction options.
Use the following topics to learn about the interaction options and how to use them:
Decompose
The decompose interaction slices the data points you selected by additional attributes.
To decompose a query
- In your query, select one or more data points and then click Decompose.
- On the next page, choose one or more attributes to slice the selected data points.
By default, decompose allows viewers to select any attribute in your dataset. You can restrict the available attributes or set a Decompose path in Chart configuration > Decompose type.
- If you want the new attributes to be placed in the Columns panel, click On columns or if you want them in the Rows panel, click On rows.
- If you want to keep your original attribute in the query, select Keep original element on the axis.
- When you are finished, click Ok.
The selected data points will be sliced by the new attributes you have selected. If you have chosen not to keep the original elements those attributes are added to the Filters panel.
Example 1
You’re measuring the number of Tickets by Ticket solved - Year, and you decompose the 2018 year data point by Ticket solved - Month on columns. Your results would resemble the image below.
Example 2
The example below uses decompose to examine the number of tickets created by channel each quarter. You can replicate these steps using any metrics and attributes.
- Click the bar of the quarter you want to view.
- Click Decompose.
- Choose the Ticket channel attribute.
- Click On columns.
- Click Ok.
The bar for Q1 is decomposed to show the ticket channels used in the Q1 period.
Drillthrough
If you are looking for a more in-depth view of your data, use the drillthrough interaction. Drillthrough provides you with a table of attributes and metrics that relate to the data selected in the query. Drillthrough first filters data based on the values you click or multi-select and then slices it by every attribute you have selected in drillthrough. For time attributes, the most granular level will be used.
To make sure that the drillthrough table meets your needs and is easy to navigate you can choose which attributes and metrics will be displayed in the table. To select the necessary elements go to Chart configuration > Drillthrough.
For more information about drillthrough, and solutions to common problems, see Using Drillthrough.
In the drillthrough below, the selected data point is the last month and selected attributes are Ticket ID, Ticket Group and Ticket Created - Timestamp.
Focus
For a more simple interaction option, you can use focus to zoom in to one data point or a data range. If your chart has several data points grouped together, focus can be useful for calling out a specific area. For example in the decomposed monthly ticket resolutions chart above, you can focus into the specific month to have a closer look at the data.
The focus results will resemble the image below:
Copy (tables only)
In tables only, you can select one or more data points and then click Copy to add the data to your computer clipboard. You can only copy the result data points, not the attribute names.
Reverting interaction options
After you've used a drillthrough, decompose, or focus operation to dig into your data, you can use this procedure to revert to your initial query results.
To revert an interaction option
- In query builder, click the undo button.
The query results revert to their previous state. Depending on how many query interactions you performed, you might need to click undo more than once,
Disabling interaction options
You might want to turn off query interaction options depending on your needs.
- Click the chart configuration icon (
).
- In the chart configuration menu, select Interactions.
- Clear the options you don't want to use.
- Save the query.
Dashboard interaction options
The Filter others and Filter others only query interactions can be used when the query is placed on the dashboard alongside with other queries.
Filter others allows selecting a value from a chart to be a filter for all dashboard charts, including itself. For example, if a user selects the Open Tickets Status value on a chart, and clicks the Filter others interaction, all charts will show results for only open tickets.
Filter others only acts in a similar way, the only difference is the chart where the value was selected is not be filtered.
19 Comments
Once I've entered the decompose option on my query, how do I return back to the regular view? There are no tooltips or indicators on how to "go back."
I was testing the Focus in a table report. Now I can only see only one cell, and I have no idea how to get the full report back to normal.
I've reloaded the page etc. but it's the same. No indication where to remove it. Very frustrating.
I now have to build the report from scratch again since there's no answer in Explore, or in your documentation.
Kris Parker and Kristin Bouveng sorry for any confusion this has caused you! Once you've applied the decompose or focus option, if you'd like to go back to the previous screen you can select the Undo option towards the top right.
Screenshot for you below:
Let me know if you continue to experience issues on your end.
Cheers!
Thanks for your reply Brett Bowser
I'm not seeing an "undo" on the top right when I'm viewing this in my Dashboard. Here's what I see after choosing these options:
Hi Brett Bowser, Kris Parker and Kristin Bouveng thanks for this great feedback. I've added a new section "Reverting interaction options" to this article to cover this. Kris, this procedure applies to a query open in query builder.
Thanks Rob Stack - what about if I'm on the dashboard and not the query builder?
Kris I did a test on this and if you look at the actions above your query, you should have the option to click "Initial" to go back a step (in this case, I'd done a decompose). I hope this helps!
When I use Drillthrough on a table and select a specific cell of data (for example, the cell below has the value "2"),
the Drillthrough results loads more than two values:
Is this the expected behavior? How can I get it to display just the 2 values in the cell? if not, what metric is driving the Drillthrough results in a table (e.g., the first column)?
I'm having the same issue with reverting. I'm in the builder, there are no options to undo, and I do not see an actions section above the query.
@Ryan looks like we missed this question! Are you still seeing more than two results in the drillthrough you're using? I may need to create a ticket on your behalf so we can look into this further.
@Kristal, any chance you could provide a screenshot of what you do see on your end so we can take a look?
Brett Bowser, Thanks for the follow-up. Yes, even when I focus in a single value in a cell and click drillthrough, it does not provide me with that number; rather, it provides me with all values associated with the first column in the table.
For example, I have the Ticket Assignee in the first column and then different ticket values for other columns. If I click on a cell with a ticket value (e.g. 100 tickets) and hit drillthrough, it doesn't provide me a list of only 100 tickets, it provides me all tickets for the Ticket Assignee (the initial column).
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for the update! I've gone ahead and created a ticket on your behalf so our Customer Care team can look at this report with you.
Cheers!
I'm interested in creating bookmarks or defaults based on "Filter Others Only". However it seems like bookmarks only work for dashboard filters, is there any way to default to different query options?
Brett Bowser Was there any resolution to the issue that Ryan Boyer reported where Drillthrough is displaying all values and not restricted to the values pertaining to the cell your doing the drillthrough on?
Hi Bill -
I read through the ticket, and it looks like the solution ended up being to use the the Decompose Interaction to better highlight the "slice" of data he was interested in viewing. Then it was also determined that the decompose was behaving the same way as the drillthrough where it needed a filter at the query level. The suggestion for Ryan was to apply a filter for the Knowledge Capture type that he wanted to decompose before doing the decompose itself.
I hope that makes sense and is helpful, but let us know if you have additional questions on this.
So it seems like once you've done an interaction and gone past the point where you can just Undo to go back, for example, I Focused, made some other changes, then saved and closed the Query, you can then never undo your interaction, and have to completely rebuild that Query?
Hi Melissa, while the query is still open, you can indeed undo to go back, but once you save it, the undo history is no longer stored.
If you'd like to see this work differently, please open a feedback request at https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/360001200913 Thanks!
I seem to be having the same issue as a few other people here: after I use Decompose on a Query on a Dashboard, how do I make this "Actions: Initial > Decompose" line go away (the default view)?
There was previously no line between "Agent public/internal comments" and the legend with the dot colors.

Hi Liene,
I'll need to take a closer look into your dashboard so I can properly provide you a better resolution for your concern. I've gone ahead and created a ticket on your behalf so I can take a look at the dashboard for you. Looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers! :)
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