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Comparing features available in the dashboard builder

Erin O'Callaghan
  • Edited
Zendesk Documentation Team

In Explore, the dashboard builder is where you create dashboards, customizable spaces for organizing and sharing information. There are two versions of the dashboard builder: the classic version, and an improved beta version that is still evolving.

This article compares the features currently available in the two different dashboard builders. With this information, you can decide which dashboard builder meets your needs in terms of currently available functionality.

Tip: In a hurry? Check out the comparison of the most-used features to see which dashboard builder meets your needs.

This article will be updated as new features are released for the beta dashboard builder.

Classic dashboard builder

Beta dashboard builder

For more on creating dashboards with the classic dashboard builder, see Creating dashboards. For more on creating dashboards with the beta dashboard builder, see Working with the new dashboard builder (Beta).

This article contains the following topics:

Most-used features

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Sharing Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Exporting Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Scheduling Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Drill in Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark

Viewing and sharing

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Dashboard restrictions (New) X Checkmark X Checkmark Checkmark
Embeddable dashboards (New) X X X X Checkmark
Sharing Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Cloning Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
External sharing Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Exporting Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Scheduling Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark

Components

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Templates (New) X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Drill into live agent status (New) X X X Checkmark Checkmark
Tabs Checkmark X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Text Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Image Checkmark X X Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here 		Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here
Bookmark Checkmark X X Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here 		Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here
Change metric Checkmark X X X X
Change attribute Checkmark X X X X
Top/Bottom Checkmark X X X X
What if Checkmark X X X X
Shape Checkmark X X X X
Drill into reporting data Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark

Component options

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Edit report Checkmark X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Exclude filters Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Background and visualization color Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark
Tooltip Checkmark X X X X
Legend Checkmark X X X X
Send to back Checkmark X X X X
Other report settings Checkmark X X X X

Filters

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Data filter Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Time filter Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Metric filter Checkmark X X X X

Filter options

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Hide filters Checkmark X X

X
(Dashboard restrictions)

X
(Dashboard restrictions)
Link filters Checkmark X X Checkmark Checkmark

Layout

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Single layer layout (New) X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Compaction type (New) X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Snap to grid (New) X Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Height Checkmark
(Manual)		 Checkmark
(Dynamic)		 Checkmark
(Dynamic)		 Checkmark
(Dynamic)		 Checkmark
(Dynamic)
Undo/redo Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Paint size Checkmark X X X X
Paint format Checkmark X X X X
Automatically reorganize components Checkmark X
(Snap to grid)		 X
(Snap to grid)		 X
(Snap to grid)		 X
(Snap to grid)
Font Checkmark X X X X
Tab fill color Checkmark X X X X
Fit to one screen Checkmark X X X X

Dashboard options

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Export options Checkmark X X X X
Interaction options Checkmark X X Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here 		Gathering interest
Submit your comments and votes here
Slide options Checkmark X X X X
Title options Checkmark X X X X

Permissions

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Role per dashboard (New) X X X X Checkmark

Auditing

Feature Classic dashboard builder Beta dashboard builder
Beta phase open to Explore Enterprise customers (Current) Beta phase expanded to Explore Professional customers General availability Post–general availability
Dashboard activity (New) X X X X Checkmark
Version control (New) X X X X Checkmark
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24 Comments

  • Qin Brian

    We have global business and to follow laws of privacy data protection from each country, we cannot let country A agents to see the data of country B. 

    Can Live data dashboard be flexible to show only country B's data to specific agents?

    3
  • Dion
    Zendesk Customer Care
    Hey Qin,

    The dataset permissions and other miscellaneous Explore permissions does not look like they can prevent agents from viewing the default Dashboards in Explore and this included the Default Live Dashboard, however, if this is a custom dashboard then you can decide who to share with and datasets may kick in there. 

    Regards,

    Dion
    -1
  • CJ Johnson
    • Edited

    Drill in appears to be completely missing as a feature on the beta. Is this an intentional change? 

    Opening a report to full size also appears to be gone, is this something that is planned to return? 

    How do we access Version Control? This is shown as a feature on this product but I can't find anything. 

    EDIT: Hold up, does an X mean that you won't have that feature in these charts?? What is the difference between a checkmark and an X for reading these? 

    3
  • Gerald J

    Since you will now have role permission per dashboard, will you make all dashboards visible to Admins? Shared or not

    0
  • Shayan Moussawi
    • Edited

    I seem to have an issue editing the dashboards from the Beta release. 
    When I click on "edit" on a Beta dashboard, nothing seems to happen.

    I can "create" infinite amount of Beta dashboards by clicking on the "try now" button with the banner on top. But once created I cannot edit them.

     

    CJ Johnson X seems to mean that the feature is not considered in that state of release.

    Which is rather odd, since that basically means a lot of features seem be be removed for 3 new features.


    Especially for the bookmark feature this seems problematic since bookmarks helped a lot to sync filters across different datasets.

    4
  • Stephen
    • Edited

    Hi,

    I am seeing the same issue Shayan mentioned - I can create beta Dashboards, but can't edit them. In addition, a bunch Zendesk Templates (named Teemplates) have been added to my Dashboard list that are inaccessible.

    On another note - looking at some of the feature additions / removals from this list, it seems a lot of functionality will be lost altogether:

    • Hiding filters
    • Change metrics / attributes
    • Top / bottom
    • Tooltips
    • Legends
    • And more...

    These are fundamental things used in my organisation currently in our Dashboards - particularly those shared with customers.

    Is my understanding correct based on this table that these features will be gone once the new Dashboard Builder is released?

    Best regards,
    Stephen

     

    2
  • Sy Sussman
    • Edited

    The block of text on my dashboard page that says, "Try out new improvements in Dashboard Builder beta" takes up over a quarter of the page and there's no option to click an x to get rid of this box. Therefore I can see far fewer of my dashboards at one time than I previously could. This is a major annoyance.

    1
  • Tom Erik Skjønsberg

    What exactly am I supposed to try?

    Clicking "Try it now" creates a new dashboard which I can't do anything with. Clicking New dashboard just opens the regular dashboard builder.

    Trying to look at the templates, or Teemplates, does nothing. They cannot be opened.

    At the moment this "beta" looks more like a pre-alpha release.

    1
  • CJ Johnson

    This article is really unfriendly to the visually impaired. I'm not sure you're aware of this, but all the marks that indicate whether a feature is included or not, is an image with no alt text. This makes it impossible to tell what features are coming when if you can't see the images.  I was trying to build a version of this that was easier to tell what was going on, but it's not copy/past-able into a sheet because of all the images as well. This is making a lot of extra work for me, just so that I can take the information in this article and create a summary for affected teams of what features are being removed, that is accessible to everyone. 

    3
  • CJ Johnson

    Could you clarify what it means that you're removing "Legends" as a feature in the new builder? 
    I'd also really like to know what "Other report settings" are being discontinued, as that sounds like it may have an impact down the road and I'd like to be sure of how it would effect our reporting. 

    1
  • Walter Bellante
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hello CJ Johnson, thanks for your feedback and questions. 
    Below you can find the answers to your questions.

    • Drill in appears to be completely missing as a feature on the beta. Is this an intentional change? 
      • Support for Drill in will be available starting from the “General availability” phase
    • Opening a report to full size also appears to be gone, is this something that is planned to return? 
      • At this stage, it is not planned, but it might come in the future. Currently, you can select the report and click “More options” from the side panel. This will redirect you to the report builder and allow you to see the report in full size.
    • How do we access Version Control? This is shown as a feature on this product but I can't find anything. 
      • Version control is not currently available and will be shipped after the “General availability”
    • Could you clarify what it means that you're removing "Legends" as a feature in the new builder? 
      • We've removed the ability to configure from the dashboard builder how the legend is displayed however you can still configure it from the report builder.
    • I was trying to build a version of this that was easier to tell what was going on, but it's not copy/past-able into a sheet because of all the images as well.
      • Got it. We’ll check how we can allow this table to be easily exportable. 
    • I'd also really like to know what "Other report settings" are being discontinued
      • The dashboard builder will no longer support settings that are not listed in the “Component options” section however they will still be available in the report builder. 
      •  We decided to remove them as having them duplicate both on the dashboard and the report builder caused some inconsistencies. Some customers performing a change to the report from the dashboard builder were expecting to perform an update to the original report while this wasn’t the case. In order to simplify the report editing workflow, we decided to keep these settings exclusively on the report builder and to propagate any change to the new dashboard builder.

    Thanks,
    Walter

    1
  • Walter Bellante
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hello Stephen, Shayan Moussawi and Tom Erik Skjønsberg, apologies for the inconvenience, I’ve checked with the team and you should now be able to edit the dashboards you’ve created with the new builder.

    Regarding the features you’ve mentioned, I’ll try to shed some light:

    • Bookmarks: we haven’t yet made a decision on their availability. We are currently gathering interest in the importance of this feature here. Feel free to upvote the post and share how you use it.
    • Hiding filters: this feature is currently used to prevent viewers from seeing unnecessary data. “Restricted data” will replace hidden filters and allow to easily adapt the content of the dashboard based on the viewer that is accessing the dashboard.
    • Tooltips, Legends and Top/Bottom:  the ability to configure these settings will be kept in the report builder while we currently do not plan to have them in the dashboard builder. 
    • Change metrics / attributes: @Stephen, I would love to learn how you use them and why they are a key use case for your business. Would you mind sharing how you currently use them?

    Thanks,
    Walter

    -1
  • Walter Bellante
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hi Gerald J,
    we are still defining how permissions will impact dashboard visibility for admins. I will come back to you once we have a clear scope of the feature.

    0
  • Shayan Moussawi

    Walter Bellante Hello  Walter,
    Unfortunately not. The banner for creating Dashboards with the new Dashboard builder disappeared for my account. The two dashboard I created while it was still there, are not editable.

    0
  • Tom Erik Skjønsberg

    Hi Walter Bellante

    Bookmarks: If these disappear, then so do I as a Zendesk Explore user. There are no ifs or buts about that one. Zendesk has been telling us since the introduction of Explore to use bookmarks in dashboards rather than filters in reports. Removing the bookmarks would undo years of work, and if that happens I have no choice other than to view that as a mark of how valued customers are by Zendesk. Harsh maybe, but the truth.

    Hiding filters: This is used together with bookmarks to make the reports useful for the viewers. So again this is something that is used extensively, and something I would expect to be kept.

    2
  • Sudharsun Padma Ravi

    Change metric is an important aspect. This would allow us to use one query/reporting with multiple metrics. 

    2
  • Erin O'Callaghan
    Zendesk Documentation Team

    In the beta dashboard builder, we’ve released four new templates that help you quickly create dashboards to report on historical (non-live) data:

    • Support solved tickets
    • Support resolution time
    • Support volumes
    • Support satisfaction

    You can choose a template when you start creating your dashboard.

    0
  • CJ Johnson

    What stage is this project in? Is this General Availability stage? 

    1
  • Coen Tjon-A-Joe

    Hi Walter Bellante, I have the same question as CJ here. Currently working with the beta and works pretty well, just missing the drill-in function. Happy to hear that it is on the planning.

    1
  • Stephen

    Hi,

    I have had the opportunity to play around with the new beta buiilder and it definitely seems like it will be much easier to build dashboards, however reiterating my comment from earlier in this thread, I can't help but feel like there is a substantial loss in features and control (even considering what is coming in the GA and Post-GA release cycle).

    There is far less control over the filtering capabilities (cascading prompts, enable / disable multiselect, linking with other filters, display options) and a disappointing lack of options for styling data filters / text component / reports (headers primarily). Also the inability to resize the Dashboard pane is upsetting. These changes coupled with the loss of hidden filters / bookmarks feels bizarre.

    With the changes in the new builder, I feel like we are losing the ability to build truly interactive, branded Dashboards.

    I believe the new builder is a great starting point and should help reduce the learning curve for new users to Explore, but for people with experience on the platform are losing out. I sincerely hope the classic builder won't be going anywhere for sometime.

    2
  • Walter Bellante
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hi Stephen,
    thanks for sharing your thorough feedback and trying the beta.

    Our objective is to reduce the learning curve and I am glad you felt the same while using this new experience.
    I hear your concern about the features you currently use in the classic builder and I would like to address some of them:

    - The ability to link multiple filters and set the dashboard width will be available before GA.
    - The combination of hidden filters and bookmarks is being replaced with "Dashboard restrictions". The aim is to enable editors to maintain a single dashboard while having data dynamically adapted to their viewers. This feature is coming soon in Q1 and I can't wait to get your feedback about it.
    - We are "Gathering interest" on the importance of bookmarks and we haven't yet made a decision. If you believe they are key for your business, feel free to share your thoughts in the post.

    If you feel like there are other features that are key for your business and we haven't covered in the list above I would invite you to share them in a new post here. This would allow us to better capture your needs and weigh the importance of these features for other customers.

    Thanks,
    Walter

    1
  • Walter Bellante
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Dear customers,
    today I would like to share more than an update and give you the opportunity to get a sneak peek into dashboard restrictions.

    I also want to reiterate that it will be available in Q1 ’23 as part of the beta builder.

    Dashboard restrictions empower editors to dynamically adapt data to different audiences. As many of you requested, this includes the possibility of creating an individual agent dashboard where data will be dynamically adapted based on the viewer that is logged in.

    I hope you’ll enjoy the preview.
    I will keep you posted once the feature is available. 

    -1
  • CJ Johnson

    >

    • Hiding filters: this feature is currently used to prevent viewers from seeing unnecessary data. “Restricted data” will replace hidden filters and allow to easily adapt the content of the dashboard based on the viewer that is accessing the dashboard.


      I have not encountered *any* organization using hidden filters this way, and I've literally worked on dozens of companies Zendesk's. This is a very strange approach to replacing this feature. 

      We use it to set the date range and groups that are shown. Say I want a report that shows how well each language team is doing, that's a ton of filter changes for every report dataset, so I bundled them all up, and set that as a bookmark. Then, they can use the bookmark to load English, Spanish, etc and see the corresponding results. I need all supervisors be able to load and switch seamlessly between these. How will I achieve this with "Restricted Data"? If I can't, this continues to be a dealbreaker and we will have to seek out alternative reporting products. 
    1
  • Stephen

    Thanks for the feedback Walter Bellante.

    Following CJ's comment above - the organisations I have worked with use Hidden Filters in that exact manner, in combination with Bookmarks. The demo for the Restricted Filters certainly looks interesting and I can see some use cases, but I don't see it resolving the loss of Hidden Filters / Bookmarks entirely.

    In some scenarios, we don't want our internal teams to be aware of filters on some of the filters, as they are not all aware on how they adjust and affect the data shown. Instead we offer several different bookmarks for them to quickly jump between different sets of data.

    With specific regard towards the Restricted Data functionality, if you have a set of filters configured on a per Viewer basis (as in the demo video), can that user adjust the filters present?

    I am also hoping we see some more styling options brought forward in the beta Dashboard as well.

    0

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