Explorer

Explorer lets you explore SQL run results, chart data sources, and table preview data through a GUI. You can analyze data with filtering, sorting, aggregation, and pivoting without writing SQL, and even add charts or SQL blocks to the notebook from the results.

Key features

Feature	Description
Switching views	Switch the exploration approach between Raw data, Aggregated data, and Pivot.
Setting conditions	Specify Filter, Sort, Limit, and more through a GUI.
Result tabs	Switch between Processed data, Distribution, Chart, SQL, and Source data.
Column header operations	Add sorting, filters, or column statistics from a table's column.
Using exploration results	Add a chart or SQL block, or download data.

Opening Explorer

You can open Explorer in any of the following ways.

Doc page

• Once a SQL block has run successfully, select Explorer in the run result header.
• Select Explorer from the float menu of a chart.
• Select Explorer on a Table preview block.
• From the icon on a value cell in column stats, select Open explorer.

Grid page

• From the menu of a Query result or Chart on a grid page, select Explorer.

When opened from a grid page, you can't add a chart or SQL block. Only exploration and downloading (if allowed) are available.

Layout

Explorer opens as a full-screen view, divided mainly into the following areas.

Area	Content
Header	Title, auto-run toggle, adding a chart or SQL block, Download.
Left pane	Data source (column list) and the condition form.
Right pane	Result tabs.

Exploring data

1. At the top of the condition form in the left pane, choose Raw data, Aggregated data, or Pivot.
2. Drag and drop columns from Data source, or add fields using each item's selector. Use Filter columns to narrow the list. You can toggle the display between By data type and In original order.
3. Set Filter, Sort, and Limit in common conditions.
4. If the right pane shows Conditions changed. Please re-run the query., select Run query, or turn on Auto-run in the header.
5. Review the results in the tabs of the right pane.

Turning on Auto-run re-runs SQL automatically whenever conditions change, for as long as Explorer stays open. It turns off again when you close Explorer.

Using exploration results

When opened from a doc page and you have edit permission on the notebook, you can do the following.

Operation	Description
Add chart	Adds a chart suggested from the current exploration conditions, and closes Explorer.
Add chart and continue	Adds the chart while keeping Explorer open.
Edit in chart editor	Opens the chart editor, and closes Explorer.
Add SQL block	Creates a new SQL block with SQL equivalent to the current conditions, and closes Explorer.
Add SQL block and continue	Adds the SQL block while keeping Explorer open.
Download	Downloads data based on the current Explorer conditions.

Adding a chart is available when Explorer was opened from a SQL block's run result (or a chart under it). When opened from a table preview, select Add SQL block first, then add the chart.

Views

Field settings carry over as much as possible when you switch views in the condition form. Details for each view are as follows.

Raw data

Explores unaggregated raw data.

Item	Description
Target data > Columns	Specifies the columns to display.
Common conditions	Filter / Sort / Limit.

Aggregated data

Explores data grouped and aggregated by selected columns.

Item	Description
Aggregation conditions > Group by	Specifies the columns to group by (equivalent to a chart's dimensions).
Aggregation conditions > Values	Specifies the columns to aggregate and the aggregation method (equivalent to a chart's metrics).
Common conditions	Filter / Sort / Limit.

Either Group by or Values is required. See Dimensions and metrics for details on aggregation method.

Pivot

Explores data aggregated across two dimensions: rows and columns.

Item	Description
Pivot conditions > Rows	Specifies the columns to use as the row axis.
Pivot conditions > Columns	Specifies the columns to use as the column axis.
Pivot conditions > Values	Specifies the aggregated values shown in each cell. Required.
Pivot conditions > Row sort / Column sort	Specifies the order of each axis. Defaults to descending order of the value.
Common conditions	Filter (no Sort or Limit).

Common conditions and options

Filter

Filter narrows down data by combining a column, an operator, and a value. Operators and the handling of Custom SQL are the same as a chart's source filter. Custom SQL isn't available for snapshot sharing (such as reports).

Sort

Raw data and Aggregated data let you specify Sort. You can sort by multiple columns.

Limit

Raw data and Aggregated data let you specify Limit between 1 and 1000. See Limits for the upper bound.

Disabling in-memory processing

Turning on Options > Disable in-memory processing re-runs SQL according to the current conditions instead of processing already-fetched data.

By default, if the result has 1000 rows or fewer and there's no Custom SQL, filtering and aggregation can be done through in-memory processing in the browser. If the source data has more than 1000 rows and has been truncated, SQL needs to be re-run. See Chart concepts for how this relates to the same option on charts.

Result tabs

Tab	Description
Data / Processed data	Shows a table as Data when no conditions are set, or Processed data once conditions are set. In the pivot view, this is a pivot table.
Distribution	Choose Parallel or Scatter plot matrix as the display method, and check the distribution of up to 5 target columns. Requires 2 or more columns.
Chart	Switch between suggested chart candidates for the current conditions using chart type, and preview the appearance after adjusting quick settings.
SQL	Shows the processing SQL issued based on the current conditions.
Source data	Shows the source data before processing.

Column header operations

Hovering over a column header in the Processed data table gives you the following operations.

Operation	Description
Sort	Sorts by ascending or descending order. Use Add to add to existing sort conditions.
Filter by value	Adds an IN condition by selecting from candidate values. If a value isn't in the list, use Fetch unsampled values to expand the candidates, then select Apply.
Exclude by value	Adds a NOT IN condition by selecting from candidate values.
Filter by condition	Adds a condition such as Equal to, Not equal to, Between, or Greater than.
NULL filter	Adds IS NULL or IS NOT NULL.
Column stats	Select Get column stats to check the count, unique count, number of NULL values, max / min / average, and more.

Where you can use it

Location	Availability
Notebook (doc page / grid page)	Available. Add operations are limited to editing a doc page.
Report	Available for interactive reports with Enable explorer turned on in the publish settings. Disabled by default.
Signed embed	Available when Enable explorer is turned on in the publish options. Disabled by default.
Public link	Not available.

See Sharing for a comparison of notebook sharing methods.