Dashboards: Reusing the same question, while customizing visualization options

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1

Hi! I am trying to create a dashboard that shows different views (visualizations) of essentially the same data (query results).

I have an initial question. I see how to add that same question to the dashboard multiple times. This is great because presumably Metabase is only running that underlying query once, and reusing that data for each instance of the question in the dashboard.

Using the "visualization options" :art: icon, I can customize elements of the chart/view for each instance. This is great so far.

What's not working is when I click the "edit series" :heavy_plus_sign::bar_chart: icon, I would like to be able to remove certain series so they don't display in that particular instance. Clicking "edit series" shows the chart, with each series listed at top, with an X next to each. But clicking the X does nothing; they can't be removed.

I'd love to know:

  • how to remove a series from a specific question instance in the dashboard, and
  • is there documentation on which visualization options can be customized and saved at the dashboard level (as opposed to what has to be saved at the original question level)?

Many thanks! :bar_chart::chart_with_upwards_trend::heart:

2

Hi @smurray
Use Saved Questions. So create one question, which makes the actual query you want, and then you make another question, which uses the first question as its base.
https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest/users-guide/custom-questions.html#picking-your-starting-data

"Edit series" is used for combining multiple questions into one card. That is not what you're looking for.
But it's a known issue, not being able to remove a series:
https://github.com/metabase/metabase/issues/12794 - upvote by clicking :+1: on the first post

You can change anything in the "Visualization options", but not the actual data columns nor the type of visualization.

1 Like
3

Thank you so much for the detailed reply.

For my use case, when the "remove a series" X button is fixed, that will allow me to create this particular dashboard from a single question (cool!).

But I take your point: For now, use a saved question (where the initial query runs, once), then other questions that reference that one and each generate a different vis from the saved question.

4

I am not sure this is the case. When you add the same question twice, I see the query been fired twice. Can you please confirm? And let know how to re-use query results for different visualization

5

Not true.
Metabase fires every question multiple times.

6

Yes this is confirmed, I profiled the database. For every card (even if same question) query is fired. So if you replciate the same question thrice on a dashboard as many queries are filed.

7

Not true. Only if you have caching enabled. If not, every question in the dashboard is fired, whatever the nesting for creating those were.

8

this doesn't work if the saved question is raw SQL with parameters {{}} :frowning: