In order to create sheets effectively in Qlik Sense, you need to be aware of the different options available within the sheet. This article will cover the sheet interface. Note that your sheet interface may differ slightly depending on your Qlik Sense product and version.
The sheet viewing mode interface
When you first create a sheet, the view will be similar to the screenshot below.
The various sections are:
- The top bar
- The sheet menu
- The sheet workspace
The top bar
On the right side of the top bar are the Qlik Sense global options such as the notifications, launcher menu and your user profile menu. Note that this is a screenshot of the Qlik Cloud product, these options will be different for Qlik Sense on-premise.
The other top bar options are app-specific.
The leftmost ‘…’ is a menu to add data to the app, go to this ‘app overview’ screen and enable or disable the touchscreen mode. The ‘Add data’ options here are to add it from the data catalog (Qlik Cloud only) and files or other sources.
Clicking ‘Data catalog’ (Qlik Cloud only) will launch a pop-up where you can see datasets available to you and select the required one.
Clicking ‘Files and other sources’ will launch a pop-up that will allow you to manually enter data, upload files, pull on existing data connections or set up a new connection.
The second section of the top bar lets you navigate to the ‘Data manager’ or the ‘Data load editor’. Both of these are where you can load and transform data. The data manager is where you can do this visually, and the load editor is where you can do this through code.
The next option, ‘Analyze sheet’, takes you to the last sheet you were on in the app. As we are already on a sheet, this button will not take us anywhere.
The next option, ‘Narrate storytelling’, takes you to the ‘story’ area of the app. This is a native Qlik Sense presentation tool.
The final option, the app name, will toggle the app meta on and off if you click it.
The sheet menu
The sheet menu includes a number of sections: the notes, insight advisor, selection tools, selections bar, selections, bookmarks, sheet navigation and a toggle between editing the sheet and viewing as a user.
The ‘Notes’ button toggles on and off and app notes. This is where users can leave comments for each other when viewing the app. Users can also leave private comments that only they can see.
The default space shown for storing the notes (1) is the same as the app’s space, but this can be changed by clicking on it. The notes are then stored below (2). When you are viewing your own notes, you have the option to create a new note (3) or to view an existing note (4). There are also options for existing notes (5) such as ‘share’, ‘delete’ etc.
Note that as of writing, this is relevant to the Cloud version of Qlik only.
The next button, insight advisor, will open up the insight advisor menu.
Then come the selection options. First, are the selection tools which allow users to interact with the app: search, undo, redo and clear. Next, is a list of existing selections made, if any. Users have further options if they click on any of the existing selections. The final selections button will bring up the selections screen where the user can see their currently applied selections at the top and other existing app dimensions/ fields at the bottom which they can interact with as required.
The ‘Bookmarks’ button opens up existing bookmarks in the app and has the option for the user to create a new bookmark.
The ‘Sheets’ button opens up the overview of sheets in the app for easy navigation but the navigation buttons next to it can also be used to simply move to the next or previous sheet in the app.
The ‘Edit sheet’ button changes the sheet into editing mode which is what you need to use as a developer to begin building your sheet.
The sheet workspace
The sheet workspace in an empty sheet gives you a few options for how to begin building your sheet. You can use the first two options to utilise the insight advisor or choose the third option which will put the sheet into editing mode. The editing mode sheet interface is what the remainder of this article will cover.
The sheet editing mode interface
The editing mode of the sheet will look like this:
The various sections are:
- The top bar – is unchanged from viewing mode so see above for details.
- The sheet menu
- The assets
- The properties
- The sheet workspace
The sheet menu
The sheet menu is slightly different when in editing mode. The options are:
- Assets – this button toggles the assets panel (3) on and off.
- Properties – this button toggles the properties panel (4) on and off.
- Visualisation tools – including cut, copy, paste and delete.
- Undo/ redo – buttons to control your development.
- The sheets button – is unchanged from viewing mode so see above.
- Navigation arrows – are unchanged from viewing mode so see above.
- Edit sheet – this button will revert the sheet view to the viewing mode.
The sheet assets
The sheet assets are made up of 5 sections:
- Fields
- Master items
- Charts
- Custom objects
- Variables – the small button at the very bottom of the section.
When you click on any of the asset types, you will toggle an additional sidebar containing the relevant assets for you to choose from.
The fields asset type contains a list of all fields loaded into the app. You can toggle to view fields from all tables or a given table. The field can then be dragged onto the relevant visualisation to add it there.
The master items asset type contains all master items created within the app. Master items include dimensions, measures, visualisations and alternate states.
The charts asset type contains all native Qlik Sense visualisations you can drag on to your sheet.
The custom objects asset type contains any extensions that have been loaded into Qlik Sense by you, other developers or Qlik Sense admin (depending on your business hierarchy).
When you click on the variable button located at the bottom of the assets panel, it will bring up a pop-up containing all app variables. These will be variables created in the script and front end of the app. From this pop up, you can edit, duplicate and delete existing variables as well as add new ones.
The properties
The properties panel contains the properties from whatever you are currently selecting. If you have clicked on the sheet, the properties are of the whole sheet. If you have clicked on a visualisation the properties are of the visualisation. The sheet properties will be the same for all sheets but they will vary for different visualisations.
For sheet properties, here is where you can do things like change the sheet name and description, add a thumbnail, add actions etc.
For visualisation properties, here is where you can add data to the visualisation and control the various appearance options.
The sheet workspace
The sheet workspace in edit mode is where you will drag visualisations that your user will see. It is a bi developers canvas. Once you have dragged a visualisation onto the sheet, you can move it around by dragging it and resize it as needed.
If you are using Qlik Sense Cloud, you will also see a toggle to edit the sheet using ‘advanced options’. If it’s toggled on (toggle is green), the editing sheet view is as above. If you toggle this off (toggle is grey), the view and options available are somewhat different. The remainder of this article will describe the sheet editing view when the ‘advanced options’ is toggled to off.
The sheet editing mode interface – without advanced options
When the advanced options toggle is off, this is what the editing mode looks like:
The various sections are:
- The top bar – is unchanged from viewing mode, so see above for details.
- The sheet menu – looks like a combination of viewing and advanced editing modes, so see above for details.
- The assets – the assets now contain only fields and master items. Master items shown include only dimensions and measures.
- The properties – the properties panel is now only for visualisations with fewer options than in the advanced editing mode. The sheet name can now be changed by clicking on the name at the top of the sheet workspace (5).
- The sheet workspace – this is still where you add your visualisations, but the process is a bit different. You no longer drag a required visualisation onto the sheet but instead click on one of the suggested visualisations in the properties. If you want to add more than one visualisation, you have to use the ‘+’ buttons on the right and bottom of the default visualisation provided.
- The source table viewer – this section shows the top rows of your data in a given table. You can toggle which table you would like to view. This section can be hidden using the small table icon in the bottom right of the sheet workspace if it isn’t required.
I think the simple sheet builder is fantastic for those who are just starting out with Qlik Sense or for non-bi developers (users in other departments who like to build their own sheets). I think for experienced developers, due to more control over the final product, the advanced editing mode is much more useful.
