Drill-down

Drill-down lets users navigate from summary charts to detailed views by clicking on data points in your dashboards. When a user clicks a chart element, a modal opens showing another Embeddable—automatically filtered to the context of what they clicked.

Why use drill-down?

• Show underlying data: click a bar in a chart to see the individual rows that make up that total
• Progressive disclosure: navigate from high-level summaries to detailed breakdowns
• Contextual exploration: open filtered dashboards that automatically focus on the clicked data point

How it works

When a user clicks on a data point in a chart with drill-down configured, a modal opens displaying a dependent Embeddable. Any variables in the dependent Embeddable can be automatically set based on the clicked element, creating a seamless filtered experience.

Example:

1. User views a dashboard with an Aircraft Deliveries by Program chart
2. User clicks on A350 in the chart
3. A modal opens showing a detailed breakdown of A350 assembly and delivery data
4. If the detail view also has drill-downs configured, users can continue navigating deeper

Setting up drill-down

Below, we'll take you through the steps of setting up your first drill-down:

Step 1: Create a dependent Embeddable

The dependent Embeddable is the dashboard that opens when a user clicks. This must be created first, as it must exist before it can be selected later. Follow these steps to build and test it before wiring up the drill-down.

Step 2: Configure drill-down interactions

Open the chart editor

In your dashboard, click Edit on the chart where you want to add drill-down.

Navigate to the Interactions tab

In the edit modal, click the Interactions tab. If no interactions exist yet, you'll see an "Add your first interaction" prompt.

Add a drill-down interaction

Click Add interaction and select Drill-down as the action type.

Choose the dependent Embeddable

From the Embeddable to open dropdown, select which Embeddable should open when users click. Use the search bar to find it quickly.

You can save at this point if you only need basic navigation (no filtering).

Pass data from the clicked element (optional)

Click Add a variable to update to filter the target Embeddable based on what the user clicked:

• Select which variable in the target Embeddable you want to update
• Choose an event property as the source value—this is the data from the clicked element (e.g., the dimension name or metric value)
• Add multiple variable overrides as needed; each variable can only be overridden once

Save your configuration

Click Save to apply the interaction. It will collapse to show a summary.

Using variables as source values

In addition to event properties, you can use variables from the current Embeddable as source values. This is useful when you want to pass existing filter state—like a date range—into the drill-down view.

Example: your dashboard has a date range filter. When users drill down, you want the target Embeddable to use the same date range.

Setup: when configuring a variable override, choose Variable as the source type instead of an event property, then select the variable from your current Embeddable.

This lets you combine clicked data (via event properties) with existing dashboard state (via variables) for richer, more contextual drill-down experiences.

Use cases

Drill-down to a filtered table

Show users the individual records behind an aggregated metric.

1. Create an Embeddable with a table component
2. Add a variable for filtering (e.g., program)
3. Configure drill-down on your summary chart, selecting this Embeddable as the target
4. Override the program variable with the clicked dimension event property

Result: clicking a program in your summary chart (e.g., A350) opens a table filtered to only A350 records.

Drill-down to a filtered dashboard

Navigate from a summary view to a comprehensive filtered dashboard.

1. Create an Embeddable with multiple charts and filters
2. Add variables for key dimensions (e.g., program, date_range)
3. Configure drill-down on your overview chart
4. Override program with the clicked event property
5. Optionally, override date_range with a variable from your current Embeddable to maintain time period context

Result: users explore detailed dashboards automatically filtered to what they clicked.

Multi-level drill-down

Create progressive disclosure with multiple levels of detail.

1. Configure drill-down on your summary chart to open a mid-level view
2. On the mid-level Embeddable, configure additional drill-down interactions
3. Each level can drill down to more specific views

Result: users see breadcrumb navigation allowing them to move through multiple levels of detail within the same modal.

Maintaining dashboard context across drill-downs

Combine event properties and variables for sophisticated filtered experiences.

1. The user has applied filters on the main dashboard (e.g., date range, customer segment)
2. Configure drill-down to pass both the clicked data point (via event property) and the current filter states (via variables)

Result: the drill-down view shows detail about the clicked item while respecting all filters the user had already applied.

The drill-down modal

When a user clicks a chart element with drill-down configured:

• Breadcrumb navigation shows the drill-down path and lets users navigate back
• Close button lets users exit at any time
• Nested drill-downs open in the same modal, not stacked modals
• Responsive design works on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Theming respects your Embeddable theming customizations

Multiple interactions on the same chart

You can combine different interaction types on a single chart—multiple drill-down interactions, a mix of drill-down and set variable interactions, or different actions for different events. This gives you flexibility to build sophisticated interactive experiences.

Publishing drill-downs

When publishing an Embeddable with drill-down interactions:

1. Open the publish modal
2. You'll see a list of all dependent drill-down Embeddables
3. The modal shows which environments each dependency has been published to
4. You can only publish to an environment where all drill-down dependencies have also been published

This ensures users never encounter broken drill-down links in production.

Best practices

Design for context — pass relevant context through variable overrides so users land on filtered, relevant views. Don't make them re-filter after clicking through.

Keep hierarchy shallow — multi-level drill-downs are powerful, but avoid going too deep. Most use cases work well with 2–3 levels maximum.

Start with event properties — in most cases, the data from the clicked element is what you want to pass to the target. Only use variables as sources when you need to preserve broader dashboard state.

Pre-create dependent Embeddables — plan your drill-down structure in advance and create all dependent Embeddables before configuring interactions.

Name Embeddables clearly — descriptive names make them easy to find in the drill-down configuration dropdown.

Test the full flow — always test drill-downs from the end-user perspective to verify variables are passed correctly.

Refresh variable dropdowns — if you create or modify variables while configuring a drill-down, click the variable dropdown to refresh and see your latest changes.

Troubleshooting

My target Embeddable isn't showing in the dropdown

• Ensure the Embeddable has been created and saved
• Click the dropdown again to refresh the list

Variables aren't updating in the drill-down target

• Verify variable names match exactly between your configuration and the dependent Embeddable
• Confirm you're passing the correct event property or variable as the source
• Click the dropdown to refresh and ensure you're seeing the latest variables

The drill-down modal isn't opening

• Ensure the interaction has been saved
• Verify the Embeddable has been published with the drill-down configuration
• Check that all dependent Embeddables have been published to the same environment

I can't publish my Embeddable

• Check the publish modal for unpublished drill-down dependencies
• Publish all dependent Embeddables to your desired environment first

Technical notes

• Drill-downs respect all security settings from your security token, including row-level security
• The savedVersion from your security token determines which version of the dependent Embeddable is rendered
• If a dependent Embeddable's published version doesn't match the savedVersion, users see an error: "Embeddable published with savedVersion 'X' could not be found"
• If an overridden variable has been deleted or renamed in the dependent Embeddable, the drill-down continues without error—the override is simply skipped
• All drill-down interactions are part of the same dashboard session for analytics purposes
• Drill-down modals work seamlessly when your Embeddable is embedded in your application