Spring ’21 Reports and Dashboard Release Features

As with every Salesforce release there are new features rolled out across that platform. With Spring ’21 there are a some specific enhancements to Reports and Dashboards. Let’s take a look at what we have available to us.

Multi-Field Selection During Report Creation

Now we can create reports even faster by being able to select multiple fields at once to add into columns. Simply use Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) when clicking and drag the fields into the Outline panel. This feature is not currently available for joined reports.

Report Details Emailed in .xlsx Format

We now have an additional option to choose from when exporting reports. In addition to .xls and .csv, .xlsx is now available when selecting to export details only. If you’re not clear what the difference between .xls and .xlsx are, these are both Excel formats, with .xlxs being the newer ( Excel 2007 and later) which uses the Open XML format. There is an option to ‘Hides the option to export a report in XLS format in Lightning Experience’ in the Report and Dashboard Settings accessible via Setup.

Save Dashboard Results with Filter URL Parameters

With this feature we can avoid having to re-select the same filters when viewing a dashboard. To do so you need to create a custom URL with the filter parameters added to the end of the dashboard URL. The example used in the release notes and depicted below pre-sets the filter in the URL to show Closed Won Opportunities for Acme.

The baseline URL for the dashboard is: https://company.salesforce.com/lighning/r/Dashbaord/01ZRM0000005jrv2AA/view?qyueryScope=useFolder

The custom URL then becomes:
https://company.salesforce.com/lighning/r/Dashbaord/01ZRM0000005jrv2AA/view?qyueryScope=useFolder&fvo=Closed%20Won&fv1=Acme

The fvo and fv1 related to each Dashboard filter with the first being 0 and the second 1. The ‘&’ signifies a new parameter in the URL. Parameter values are always URI encoded, such as Closed Won becoming ‘=Closed%20Won’.

A good use case for this is those of you on the Professional Edition who do not have access to dynamic dashboards. You could create a custom URL for each rep, so that the main dashboard gets pre-filtered to their Opps, Leads etc.

Postponement of Auto-Activation of Enhanced Folder Sharing

Originally scheduled for Spring ‘20, this auto-activation has been pushed to Spring ’22. With the use of enhanced folder sharing new user permissions are needed and this will change the access to existing reports and dashboards for your users. Once enabled user are given view access to report and dashboard folders, this includes those users who previously had editor access. This does not apply to hidden folders, which are not shared with anyone initially. You’ll need to View Reports in Public Folders or Manage Reports in Public Folders to gain access to these and will require granting additional user permissions and Folder level access. The main premises of Enhanced folder sharing are:

• Standardized sharing model among users, roles and groups
• Ability to share reports and dashboards with individuals
• View, Edit and Manage access levels to choose from
• More consistent user permissions for reports and dashboards

This is definitely one to get ahead of before it’s released and once it’s turned on it can be turned off. Make sure to thoroughly test in a sandbox.

Note: Images courtesy of Spring ’21 Release Notes