When you first log into your Qlik Sense environment, the interface will be slightly different depending on the product and version of the product you are using. The biggest differences are going to depend on whether you are using a SaaS solution (Software as a Service) and deploying Qlik Sense entirely in Qlik’s cloud or you are deploying on-premise. This article will cover the interface in the Qlik Cloud and Qlik Sense Enterprise on-premise.
Qlik Cloud home page
Upon logging in, your Qlik Cloud home page (the hub) may look something similar to this:
There are 4 distinct areas on the screen:
- The left sidebar menu
- The main screen
- The top bar
- The connect widget
The left sidebar menu
The side menu can be toggled on and off using the lines widget at the very top left of the screen. The menu itself has 4 options:
- Getting started: clicking on this will change the main screen to show links to useful videos, such as ‘How to create an app’, that will take you to Qlik’s learning portal.
- Home: this is your home page as seen in the screenshot above. It is customisable.
- Catalog: this will show a catalog of all assets existing in your Qlik Cloud environment, such as apps, charts, data etc.
- Collections: collections are a way for you to organise your assets. For example, you could create a ‘Marketing’ collection into which you would add all the apps you use to monitor marketing activities. This marketing collection would then appear on this ‘collections’ screen.
The main screen
The main screen will change given what option is selected in the sidebar menu. Further than that, your ‘Home’ and ‘Collections’ screens can be customised. Using the ‘Customize your home’ button will bring up a set of options:
You can add out-of-the-box sections to your home screen such as ‘Your apps’, ‘Your data’, ‘Your charts’ etc. You can also add specific collections that you have created. This is great for a developer as you can organise your ongoing projects into specific groups by collections and then choose where (or if at all) they appear on your home page.
The top bar
The top bar allows you to perform a few different actions:
- Search: when you search for a term, you will be taken to the ‘Catalog’ screen with the search results displayed there. You can then use the standard catalog filters and sorting options to narrow down the results.
- Ask Insight Advisor: when you click this button, you will trigger a pop-up window. This window will bring up Qlik’s native insight advisor which is an AI-powered assistant that can help you answer questions. For example, you could type in a question such as ‘What are the top 5 products sold yesterday?’ and the insight advisor will help to find the answer. This is a user tool but as a developer, you can control how the advisor works by adding a ‘logical model’ and a ‘vocabulary’. The logical model helps the insight advisor interpret the data in the app. The vocabulary helps the insight advisor to link normal language terms a user may say to specific data fields.
- Add new: this button will bring up a whole host of options for creating a new asset such as an app, a note, a data connection etc.
- Notifications: this is where you will see notifications when you log in
- Admin menu: when you click this button you will see links to various admin areas such as the ‘Management Console’, ‘My Qlik’ and various useful external links
- Profile: this button will give you the option to view your profile settings, check your alerts, subscriptions, log out etc.
The connect widget
The connect widget is a ‘connect & learn’ resource. You will see links to the onboarding guides, upcoming events and seminars, demos and help resources if you click on it. All very useful things when you are first starting out using Qlik.
Qlik Sense on Windows home page
Qlik Sense on premises products will look something like this when you first log in:
The Qlik Sense Enterprise home screen (the hub) has a few distinct areas:
- The top bar
- The profile
- The main menu
- Personal space
- Streams
- The main screen
The top bar
The top bar consists of just a few interactable sections. The 3 lines on the left side toggle the left sidebar on and off. On the right side, there is a search option and a global menu option to find help or navigate to the Qlik Dev Hub.
The profile
Clicking on your profile gives you the option to log out and also shows you your username.
The main menu
The main menu is really a way for you to adjust your view by toggling the way the apps are sorted as well as changing how they are displayed in a list. There is also a button to ‘Create new app’ which is how you initiate a new app build in Qlik Sense Enterprise.
Personal space
The personal space is the upper section of the left sidebar. The ‘Work’ section here shows all the apps you are currently developing. In addition, you can also see all the apps that you have published by clicking on ‘Published’.
Streams
Streams are a way to organise apps in the Enterprise environment. Each stream will contain a group of apps that serve a specific purpose. For example, you may choose to have a stream per department in your organisation. Note that the basic Qlik Sense Enterprise setup allows for app user permissions to be given on a stream basis.
The main screen
This is where the apps from the stream or a personal section you have selected are shown.
