Before you start
The property needs an active analysis area. Everything you can pick in Explore comes from that area's measures and fields. See Semantic Models.
Open Explore
Go to Analyze. On the welcome screen click Build it yourself in Explore. When an answer is already on screen, click Open in Explore next to it. The Explore panel opens beside the answer and shows every part of the analysis; Hide Explore closes it. Lens remembers in your browser whether you left it open.
Build the analysis
- Under Metrics, click + Add metric and pick a measure. Add up to 4. Type to search. A measure that cannot be combined with the rest of the analysis is grayed out, with the reason under it.
- Under Breakdown, click + Add breakdown and pick a field, such as Source or Date. Add up to 3. With more than one, use the arrows to change their order: the order is the order of the columns.
- For a breakdown by date, pick the grain next to Each: hour, day, week, month, quarter or year, as the area allows.
- With a breakdown by a field, use Show to keep only the top rows: All, Top 5, Top 10 or Top 25. The ranking follows the first measure.
- Under Filters, click + Add filter, pick a field, then choose is, is not or contains. For is and is not, tick values from the list of recent values; for contains, type the text. Click Apply.
- Under Date range, pick a period. The exact dates are shown under the list.
- Under Compare to, pick No comparison, the previous period, or Same period last year.
The answer updates after each change. To clear everything, click Start over.
Date ranges
| Option | Covers |
|---|---|
| Today, Yesterday | One day |
| Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days | The days before today |
| This week, Last week | Calendar weeks, using the property's week start |
| This month, Last month | Calendar months |
| This quarter, Last quarter | Calendar quarters |
| Year to date, Last year | Calendar years |
Custom dates appears when the analysis came from a question or a link with exact dates.
Drill into a row
In a table, row labels are underlined with a dashed line. Click one to see up to three next steps for that row:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Break row down by field | Filters to that row and splits it by the next field |
| Row over time | Filters to that row and shows it by date |
| Only row | Filters to that row |
Each one is an ordinary edit of the same analysis, so it shows up in the chips, in History and in a saved or shared analysis.
Check it worked
- The chips under Your analysis match what you picked.
- The line under the number gives the date range and, with a comparison, the dates it was compared with.
- Pick Number, Line, Bar or Table to change the view. See Analyze for when each is available.
Troubleshooting
| You see | Why |
|---|---|
| Can't answer yet | The measures and breakdowns you picked cannot be combined in this area. Lens lists what it can show instead. |
| "No complete data for this period yet" | The data does not cover the date range yet. Pick an earlier, complete period. |
| "Lens couldn't get this answer right now" | Nothing was shown rather than a wrong number. Try again in a minute; if it keeps happening, tell your Lens admin. |
| "No values seen recently. Use contains to match text." | The field has no recent values to list. Switch the filter to contains and type the text. |
| "3 breakdowns is the most one analysis can carry" | Remove a breakdown to add another. |