Quick answers to common questions about building and sharing dashboards on Opionate. For a fuller walkthrough, see our Introduction to Reports.
Getting Started¶
Do I have to build a dashboard from scratch?¶
No - a survey gets a starter dashboard generated automatically, with chart types chosen based on each question's type as a reasonable starting point. From there, you can rearrange, add, remove, or reconfigure widgets to fit what you actually need to present.
What chart types are available?¶
Bar, column, line, scatter, doughnut, pie, and stacked variants of bar and column cover most everyday reporting needs. Beyond those, waterfall, treemap, polar area, and lollipop charts are available for more specific use cases - see our guide on when the unusual chart is the right one for when each of those is actually the better fit.
Is there a single-number "headline stat" widget, separate from a full chart?¶
Yes - a metric-style widget can show a single number (an average, sum, count, minimum, or maximum) rather than a full chart, useful for the one or two figures that deserve the most visual weight on a dashboard. See our guide on designing KPI tiles.
Filters and Cross-Tabs¶
Can I filter or cross-tab a widget by segment?¶
Yes - a widget can be configured with a filter or a cross-tab breakdown against another question or a classified category from Text Analytics.
Can a viewer change the filter or cross-tab themselves while looking at the dashboard?¶
No - filters and cross-tabs are configured by whoever builds the widget and render the same way for every viewer afterward, rather than being a live, interactive control a viewer can adjust on the fly. The practical approach is anticipating the breakdowns a specific audience is likely to want and building each one as its own clearly labeled widget in advance - see our guide on anticipating follow-up questions with pre-built filtered widgets.
Does a cross-tab include statistical significance testing?¶
No - a cross-tab widget shows the breakdown itself; it doesn't calculate or display a significance test. If you need to reason about whether a difference between two segments is likely real or just noise, our guide on is my survey result real, or just noise covers how to think it through.
Comparing Over Time¶
Can I compare two survey waves side by side on one dashboard?¶
Not natively - each dashboard is scoped to a single survey instance, so there's no built-in mechanism for comparing across separate survey waves automatically. Our guide on comparing survey waves on a dashboard covers practical workarounds, including keeping a simple external tracking log for genuine wave-over-wave trend lines.
Does a dashboard update automatically as new responses come in?¶
Yes - a dashboard reflects your survey's current data as responses arrive, without needing to manually refresh or regenerate the underlying charts.
Exporting and Sharing¶
Can I export a dashboard to PowerPoint?¶
Yes - standard chart types (bar, column, line, scatter, doughnut, pie, and their stacked variants) export as fully editable native PowerPoint objects. Waterfall, treemap, polar area, and lollipop charts export as flat images instead, since PowerPoint doesn't have a native chart type for them. Both look identical in a live presentation - the difference only matters if someone tries to edit the chart afterward. See our PowerPoint export guide for the full breakdown.
Can I share a dashboard with someone outside my organization?¶
Yes - a dashboard can be shared via a public link, optionally protected with a password or restricted to require the viewer to be logged in. You can also hide who specifically built the dashboard from the public view. See our guide on what to consider before sharing a dashboard with a public link.
Can I hide just one specific widget from a public link while sharing the rest?¶
No - sharing controls apply to the whole dashboard, not individual widgets. The practical approach is building a separate, purpose-built dashboard containing only what an external audience actually needs to see, rather than sharing an internal working dashboard as-is.
What a Dashboard Can and Can't Do¶
Can a dashboard tell me why a metric changed?¶
Not on its own - a dashboard is built to show you that something changed, not necessarily why. Classified open-ended themes, placed alongside the quantitative chart they relate to, are usually the fastest way to close that gap. See our guides on what a dashboard can't tell you and bringing open-ended themes into a quantitative dashboard.
Does building or viewing a dashboard cost credits?¶
No - building widgets, applying filters and cross-tabs, viewing your dashboard, and exporting to PowerPoint are all free actions. Credits are tied specifically to AI-assisted features elsewhere on the platform, not to reporting. See our guide on what actually consumes your credits.