Qualtrics dashboards - Reports tab

BACKGROUND

The Reports tab is the second of two dashboard options available as standard with any Qualtrics survey.
It can be used as a standalone dashboard, in contrast to the Results tab which is more easily used together with TotalXM Reports (or ‘TXRs’ from now on).

Its focus is to allow you to quickly format reports “from the ground up where you control the layouts”.¹

Responses from other surveys can be brought into reports created in the Reports tab, matching the same ability available in TXRs.
Dashboards/widgets/pages created in the Reports tab are not copied when you make a copy a survey project.

The following sections on this page provide a summary of more details information available on Qualtrics' support pages.

Further info can be found for example here:
Reports overview
Reports toolbar
Reports visualisations

SECTIONS ON THIS PAGE

INTRODUCTION

1. Accessing the survey Reports tab

In a survey with responses that can be used in the Reports tab, select the survey from the Projects screen and select the Reports tab at the top.

If there are no existing reports, click the +Create Report button

2. Pages
Dashboards created in the Results tab consist of pages that contain widgets and sundry content.
You can add more than one widget per question, and you can add as many pages as you wish.
Each page can hold up to 100 widgets.

3. Content comparison (Results vs Reports tabs)
The following table compares which page content options are available in Results and Reports tabs as at December 2024.

4. Widgets

Widgets represent visualisations you create of responses provided to your survey.
They can also show other data automatically generated or collected by Qualtrics as part of the survey such as response date, time taken to complete survey, estimated respondent location, and for text questions: estimated sentiment and emotional intensity.
Based on the type of information collected (eg number, text, choice, date) for a given question, Qualtrics will initially select what it thinks is a suitable chart type to illustrate this. You can replace these types with others, or adjust settings and styles for these suggestions to better represent your preferences.

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THE TOOLBAR

The Toolbar comprises the area at the top of the Reports tab. We will break this down into two areas in this guide: the Toolbar Menu and the Toolbar Banner.

TOOLBAR MENU

The Toolbar Menu consists of three areas: Report name and creation; Menu options; and Status and location details.

2. Report name and creation
   The report name and creation area controls display of the current report.
   

   1. Create new report
      Multiple reports can be created within the Reports tab.
      To create a new report, click on the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name and select +New…
      Check you are in the New Report tab, then enter a report name, report size, orientation and overall margin.
      If you want to specify the margin for each edge of the report, select the Advanced link and enter these.
      Finally, click the Create button.
      
      Note that you can have multiple reports with the same name.
      See below under Menu options > File for steps on how to rename and delete reports.
      

   2. Select current report
      If you have more than one report saved in your Reports tab, you can select the report to display by clicking the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name and selecting the name of the desired report.
      

3. Menu options
   The menu area consists of File, Share, Edit, View and Insert options.

   1. File
      The File menu allows controlling mostly file-related aspects reports generated in the Reports tab.
      
      This menu also duplicates options found in the Settings shortcut in the toolbar banner.

      1. New…
         This option is used to create a new report. See the Toolbar Menu > Report name and creation > 'Create new report' section above for more detail.

      2. Copy
         Use this option to create a copy of the currently displayed report. The new version of the report will have ' (Copy)' at the end of its name.

      3. Export to QRF
         An exported QRF file should contain all settings and visualisations from the source report.
         Qualtrics doesn’t include the name of the survey project in the filename it suggests, so while it is possible to find this survey from within the QRF file, it might be quicker to include this in the filename when saving it.
         Since you can include content from other surveys in Reports tab reports, QRF files should not need to be used in the same survey project they were created in.
         
         QRF report files can be imported into the Reports tab by clicking the report name dropdown in the toolbar menu, clicking on the ‘Import from QRF’ tab, then using ‘Choose a file’ to browse in your system to find and upload the file.

      4. Delete
         To delete a report, select it via the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name. Then in the Toolbar Menu select File > Delete and confirm the deletion.

      5. Rename…
         To rename a report, select it via the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name. Then in the Toolbar Menu select File > Rename.

      6. Settings… and Page Setup…
         These options provide much the same functionality across their Visualisation, Page and Locale tabs.
         On selecting either of these options, a dialogue box is displayed.
         - The Visualisation tab allows setting these options across the entire report: typeface including font size and colour for body text, table header, table body, and chart text; default table density, response count, metric, decimal places, weighting, table totals and cell character limits, colour palette, visualisation margin, response lower limit; and the ability to create custom metrics.
         Some of these options may be offered at the widget level, in which case they would only apply to the widget being edited
         - The Page tab
         The Page tab in this menu option is a duplicate of the options available when creating a page.
         See the Toolbar Menu > Report name and creation > ‘Create new report' section above for more detail.
         - The Locale tab provides options for length units and timezones.
         For the length unit display, you may only be able to select between Cm and Centimetres since our Qualtrics instance may not have been set up to include American measures such as inches.
         For the timezone, NIDA’s standard setting is Australia/Canberra UTC+10 (or UTC+11 during daylight savings).
         
         In addition to these tabs, there is the option to save these settings as defaults so that they can be applied to new reports.
         To save a default, select the dropdown arrow to the right of ‘Apply my default settings’ at the bottom of the dialogue box and click ‘Save as my default settings’.
         No confirmation is provided that the settings have been saved, however if you then make a change to a setting and then select ‘Apply my default settings’, your change should be reversed.
         Another option that can be used to restore settings is 'Apply Qualtrics default’
         
         

      7. Help Link
         Clicking the Help Link opens a new browser tab to https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/reports-module/reports-section/paginated-reports-overview/?utm_medium=ReportsSection&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=AdvancedReportsOverview, which is a landing page on the Qualtrics website with more in-depth information on Reports tab options.
         
         

   2. Share
      The Share menu allows controlling access to reports generated in the Reports tab.
      
      This menu also duplicates two options found in the Banner: Download PDF and Manage Public Report.

      1. Download PDF
         Clicking this option creates a pdf of the currently displayed report.
         
         Once processing is complete, Qualtrics will then open a new browser tab showing the pdf which can then be downloaded using the browser’s standard download options.
         The pdf is given a random filename which can be changed when saved.
         A message is not added in to the Notifications pane (at the top right of the screen) when the file is created.

      2. Manage Public Report…
         The Manage Public Report is the single method available in the Reports tab for providing dynamic/online access to Reports tab reports.
         A password option is offered with the link created to allow more access control.
         
         To create the link, select the tick box next to ‘Public Report Available’ then click the Save button.
         Optionally then select the tick box next to ‘Password Protection’ and enter a valid password (suitability criteria are displayed)
         Select the Copy button next to the generated link to copy this to your device’s clipboard.
         The format of this link will be similar to https://nida.au1.qualtrics.com/reports/public/[arandomlygeneratedtextstring]
         
         To remove access to a report, select the report, click this Manage Public Report option, deselect the tick box next to ‘Public Report Available’, then click the Save button.
         A different url/password combination is available for each report created in the Reports tab.
         
         See the Menu Options > View > Preview Public Report section below for information on how to check your report if you want to see how it looks before making it available to others.
         Use the Manage Public Report option in combination with the Preview Public Report option
         

      3. Schedule Email…
         To schedule an email, in the dialogue box off the Schedule Email option, click +New Email at bottom left.
         The email options then provided are similar to those found in Email tasks within survey Workflows tabs.
         
         After entering a destination email address, subject line and optional message body, options are available to then schedule the report to be emailed at a given time weekly or monthly.
         Times entered in 24 hour format are converted to the 12 hour equivalent
         Weekly emails can be selected by weekday.
         
         Monthly can be selected by day of the month, first and last days.
         
         A choice is provided to either send the report now or at the scheduled time.
         The schedule is created after clicking the Create button and is listed as a new tab in the Schedule Email dialogue box from which point it can be sent immediately, updated or deleted.
         
         The report is then attached. Its filename doesn’t appear to be related to the survey or report urls.
         
         
         The schedule can be re-reached at any point by selecting the Schedule Email option.
         

   3. Edit
      The Edit menu allows performing actions with selected content in the report.
      Note that to move content around the report, click on it until its border appears, and then drag it to its new location - a horizontal bar will show the current new position.
      

      1. Copy
         Use this to copy a content item into the ‘clipboard’.
         To copy an entire page, use Shift to select the top and bottom items within the page. Once you have selected these and all items between them, use the Copy option.
         If you copy an item with filters applied to it, the copy will also have these filters applied.
         
         The equivalent Copy option is also available off the Options context menu when you have a content item selected.
         

      2. Paste
         You can paste item/s added to the clipboard to a new destination. Select the destination by clicking a piece of content you want the item/s added underneath.
         There is no equivalent Paste option off the Options context menu.

      3. Remove
         To remove a content item from the page, select it then click Remove on the Edit menu.
         Alternatives to this approach are:
         - clicking the Remove option is also available off the Options context menu when you have the item selected
         - clicking the Remove button that appears in the Settings pane to the right.
         
         
         To remove a page, remove the page break between it and the preceding page.
         Any content on the removed page will then move up onto the preceding page.
         Remove the break by mousing over the ‘Page Break’ text until a red x appears, then click on this x
         
         
         Thus, to remove a page and its contents, delete the contents then remove the page break.
         Remove all the content by using Shift to select the top and bottom items within the page.
         After selecting all items on the page, click Edit > Remove.
         Alternatively a Remove All Widgets button should appear in the Settings pane at the right.
         
         

   4. View
      The View menu allows controlling some overall aspects of report display which may make editing easier.
      For example, switching on the Page Grid option may make it easier to align images.
      
      There are four options that reveal the current layout: Page Margins, Page Grid, Outlines and Highlight Blank Spaces and each can be applied separately.
      The following zoomed-in shot shows all these options applied.
      
      
      This menu also duplicates two options found in the Banner: ‘Preview Public Report’ and ‘Zoom’.

      1. Page margins
         This marks the outside limits of where content can be placed.
         For information on how to charge margin settings, see the section File > Settings… or Page Setup… > Page tab

      2. Page Grid
         This displays a square grid, which may be useful when aligning images or working with resized content object borders

      3. Outlines
         This shows the border around content objects.
         Note that this border is resizeable - for example an object can be made to occupy more vertical space by dragging the bottom resizing point downwards.
         Content will then resize to fit the new dimensions if it can.
         Some objects will allow only horizontal sizing (for example because their vertical size is automatically controlled by Qualtrics based on the amount of contained content), while others such as widget boxes allow side and edge dragging.
         
         

      4. Highlight Blank Spaces
         This helps you identify where you might have unused space that could be removed to shorten your report.

      5. Zoom
         This will allow you pick from a range of set zoom sizes
         
         or opt to fit the report to the maximum Content Area screen size excluding the Settings and Styles pane on the right.
         
         Note that Zoom doesn’t change the layout of a content item or its borders, so you may need to use options such as Outline to resize the item’s borders, or Filters to reduce the amount of data being displayed in order see content more clearly.

      6. Preview Public Report
         You can preview your report if you intend to for example export it to pdf or create a public link to it.
         This option is available off the View menu or as a quicklink on the toolbar banner.
         
         

   5. Insert
      The Insert menu offers options to add content to a report.
      

      1. Survey Data

         1. Questions
            This allows you to select the question the responses to which you want illustrated in widgets in the report.
            Qualtrics will show you questions that are part of the survey the Reports tab is in.
            For selecting responses from other surveys, see the Insert > Other Projects below.
            
            The icons to the left of the question give you an idea of the question type used.
            For matrix table questions, you can select one or all of the statements in the question.
            
            Note that some widgets allow selecting multiple questions so that more than one set of responses can be visualised.
            Chart types that allow this are bar and line charts, and data tables. For more information see here.

         2. Survey Metadata
            This option lets you select information collected by the Qualtrics about responses provided, e.g. how long a user took to complete a survey or when they completed it
            

         3. Embedded Data
            This option lets you select information that is either
            - automatically generated by Qualtrics based around the questions asked, or
            
            - collected in custom fields that survey designers can add to a survey that can then be used to combine information or control the survey in different ways.
            

      2. Other Projects
         This option lets you select data from other surveys.

         1. Recently Used
            This will show you surveys you have already selected from in the current report.
            Depending on the survey selected, sources available to select from will depend on what information has already been collected by that survey.
            Sources may include responses, metadata and embedded data
            

         2. All Projects
            This will allow you to select data from sources new to your report.
            There may be some restrictions on which projects you can select from.
            For example, TotalXM Reports are not listed.

      3. Page Components

         1. Text area
            Two sub options are provided under the menu selection 'Text': Text Area and Filter Summary

            1. Text Area
               This allows you to insert a text box which you can then use to provide text for the report.
               See the text edit mode section under Toolbar Banner below for details on how to format added text.

            2. Filter Summary
               Adding a Filter Summary inserts a text box that lists the currently active filters at page level.
               
               This can be useful to show what filters were in force when a report is shared, exported or downloaded popopopopo
               
               Since only one filter can be active per source survey, only one from that source will be listed here.
               

         2. Image

         3. Blank Space

         4. Divider

         5. Visualisation

            1. Chart

            2. Table

            3. Other

         6. Page Break
            These can be removed on a page by page basis and then readded if needed

         7. Page Header

         8. Page Footer
            

4. Status and location details
   This area displays the report’s …

   1. status in terms of when it was last saved

   2. location in terms of timezone along with relative UTC reference

If necessary, the timezone can be changed for the survey
(If you want to change your timezone across your entire Qualtrics login, you can do this by going in to Account Settings off your login details at top right.)

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ix. Pushing content from other areas

It appears you can’t for example push widgets from the Results tab into the Reports tab.
You thus need to build the same widget in both tabs if you want it displayed in each.

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TOOLBAR BANNER

The toolbar banner operates in two modes: standard and text edit mode.

In standard mode, the Toolbar Banner consists of four areas: shortcuts; zoom level; response count; and filter management.

1. Shortcuts

2. Zoom level

3. Response count

4. Filter management
   
   Adding filters
   The Add Filter option allows setting limitations on what data is displayed in a widget.
   Filter options are based on what surveys have been used as sources of data for the report.
   For this reason, when selecting Add Filter…, you need to select which survey you want to filter data from.
   
   Once you select the survey, you then select the relevant Manage Filters option.
   
   If no filters for that survey are in place, you are asked to create a filter
   
   You are then taken to the New Filter tab in the Manage Filters dialogue box.
   Supply a name for the filter then select the criteria to apply. The filter name will then be shown as the tab name
   
   When you complete a criterion statement, Qualtrics will show how many survey responses the filter will apply to.
   
   You can apply multiple criteria to a single named filter, and you can group criteria into ‘condition sets’.
   When finished, click on Save and Apply.
   You are then returned to the main screen and the Add Filter link now displays as Modify Filters.
   
   Checking and enabling filters
   If you then click on Modify Filters, any ticks you see indicate active filters: if a survey has active filters it will be shown ticked, then then under that survey any active filters are also shown ticked.
   
   If you can’t find a filter, check in any other source surveys listed in the Modify Filters dropdown.
   
   If you click on a ticked survey, this filter will then be disactivated. Any affected widgets will then update after a few seconds.
   To reactivate a filter, check it is unticked in the Modify Filters dropdown then click o it.
   
   You can only activate one filter at a time per source survey, however if you have multiple source surveys, you can have a filter from each active at the same time.
   When applying a filter, you will only see changes in widgets which point to data in the same source survey that the filter is built from.
   
   For large reports, it may take a while for Qualtrics to apply the filter across the entire report.
   You may also find that Qualtrics fails to apply filters for this reason.
   If you experience this, it may be worthwhile breaking your report into smaller sections.
   
   Copying and deleting filters
   Mousing over this survey then provides options to either manage all filters, or to go directly to modify your previously saved filter.
   
   If you select ‘Manage Filters’ at this point, in the dialogue box that then appears all existing filters are shown and can be searched by name in the text box at the top left.
   Additionally, icons appear to the right of each filter name allowing copying and deleting.
   
   
   Filters at widget level
   Filters can also be added at the widget level. If so, they also get copied up to report level and can be accessed via the Manage Filters dialogue box for the same source survey that you are adding the filter for.
   They are then available to be applied within any widget in the report which points to data in the same source survey.
   
   Filters added at widget level are available across any report generated in the Reports tab for a given project.
   In contrast, filters created at report level in one report will not be available in another report withing the same Reports tab.
   
   Once applied within a widget, these filters can then be activated and disactivated as needed.
   This effectively gives two levels of filter control - at report and widget level.
   
   If you apply filters for a given source survey at both the report and widget levels they will be applied at the same time.
   If these filters are mutually exclusive, you may thus see nothing displayed in your widget.
   
   Copying a widget also copies any filters that are applied to it.
   
   See the Settings and Styles > Settings > Filter for more detail on applying per-widget filters.
   
   

In text edit mode, the Toolbar Banner shows some standard and extra text tools

Text edit mode is enabled when you double click text that you wish to edit.
- you are reminded to double click when a text box has been added without text

- you can exit text edit mode by clicking outside the text box.

1. Paragraph styles
   The paragraph styles option allows selecting from standard heading, body and footnote styles.
   A Configure Styles link provides the option to customise these presets, and the defaults option at the bottom allows resetting customisations to standard or saved settings.
   

2. Font
   The Font dropdown lets you choose between a range of typefaces including some monospaced fonts. A search box at the top of the dropdown allows you to search quickly for a desired font.
   Fonts can be applied to selected text independent of text around it.
   

3. Font size
   The font size option provides the ability to select font sizes from 8 to 96 point.

4. Font accents
   Bold, italic and underline are offered to accent text.

5. Font colour
   Font colour can be selected off a palette or by specifying a hex code
   

6. Bullet style
   Numbered and bullet point lists are available. Both offer several indent levels, with numbered lists providing different schemes at each indent level.

7. Alignment
   Left, centre and right alignment is provided, with alignment applied to selected text independent of text surrounding it.

8. Remove styles
   This option removes any paragraph, font or bullet styles applied to text within the currently selected text box.
   The styles returned to are the ones defined as defaults in the File > Settings… or File > Page Setup… dialogue box.

9. Link management
   This lets you insert links off text in the report. Since reports can be previewed and shared, this link can also be to other reports.
   
   It’s difficult to edit or remove links once created. Clicking on the linked text in anticipation of being able to edit the link simply takes you to the url linked to.
   To edit or remove, it might be easier instead to add fresh text, add a link to that then delete the old link text.

10. Text piping
    You can use this option to bring in a range of field values in the current or other surveys. This includes metadata, embedded data, report names, as well as responses and calculations made about those responses where possible (eg averages, minimum).
    
    Once chosen, the piped text’s field name is shown in dark background.
    
    

CONTENT AREA

The Content Area is the main work area in the Reports tab.

Content can be inserted by selecting a point in the content area then

• using either

  • the Insert button and selecting the content to add

  • the Options button

• using the Insert menu in the Toolbar Menu to select a content item, then configuring the options for that item after insertion

The following sections describe these two actions in more detail.

1. Insert
   See the Toolbar Menu > Menu options > Insert section above for details on options available from this button

2. Options
   a. Copy
   b. Insert title
   b. Export as JPEG image
   b. Export as Word document
   b. Remove
   
   

SETTINGS AND STYLES

The Settings and Styles pane appears when an item in the Content Area is selected which has options that can be changed.
This pane appears to the right side of the Content Area.

Only those settings and styles that are compatible with the item being displayed will show in the pane.
However, there are options that display regardless of the item selected, ie a Remove button on the Settings tab, and Margin option on the Styles tab.

The following tables show what Settings and Styles options are available for different content items.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1. Settings

   1. Breakout

   2. Column values

   3. Display logic

   4. Field

   5. Filter

   6. Metrics

   7. Response count

   8. Show percentages

   9. Sort

   10. Table totals

   11. Total counts

   12. Visualisations

   13. Remove
       

2. Styles

   1. Response count

   2. Table header

   3. Table body

   4. Table density

   5. Margin
      
      
      >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

3. Summary table
   The following table summarises options across items that can be added to the Content Area
   

SHARING

x. Sharing Reports visualisations
(Potentially (also) sharing it internally and/or externally (eg by adding jo.bloggs@gmail.com) by collaborating the survey and ticking only the ‘View Reports’ option when doing so?)
https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/reports-module/reports-section/sharing-your-report/

Note the precautions listed here re publicly sharing information via dashboards.

‘Sharing’ inhttps://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/reports-module/results-dashboards/results-dashboard-overview/?parent=p002090#Sharing

Go to top
Go to Introduction
Go to Guide 1: Results tabs
Go to Guide 3 (ie next page): TotalXM Reports

Sources
1. Results vs. Reports