Current User report filter not working on Dashboard

GaryVR

I have created a project Homepage using a Dashboard and would like to be able to display a list of actions, risks and issues owned by the "Current User" on this dashboard. To do this, I have created reports for each of these items and, using the report builder, filtered the data to show records that have Current User in the Owner column (set as a Contact List type). I have shared the reports with project users as editors. The reports work fine if the users run the reports, but on the dashboard, the report widgets only ever display my actions, risks and issues rather than those of the user viewing the dashboard.

I am clearly doing something wrong and would appreciate any advice on what I have missed.

Andrée Starå

Hi Gary,

You aren't doing anything wrong!

Unfortunately, it's not possible at the moment to use the current user for dashboards as it works elsewhere, but it's a great idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

More info: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/518547-create-edit-dashboard-portal

Report Widget: Who Sees What

People don't need to be shared on the underlying sheets to see data in a report widget. The report widget displays data based on the perspective of the person who created it, including what they’re shared to and their own sharing permissions. The data in the widget will not change based on who is viewing the dashboard.

Here’s a scenario to help illustrate this:

1. You create a report from sheets that only you can access.

2. You share that report to someone else. If they look at the report directly, it will appear blank to them since they don’t have access to your source sheets.

3. Now, you add that report to a dashboard with a report widget, then share the dashboard with the same person. The report widget on the dashboard will not appear blank to them—they’ll see the same information that you see when you look at the report directly.


Current User Report Criteria in Dashboards

The example above also extends to the Current user criteria in reports that are added to a dashboard with the report widget. The person who adds the report widget to the dashboard will be treated as the current user for everyone else who views the dashboard. For more information about current user report criteria, see Creating Reports.

Hope that helps!

Have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

gregjohnsondsm43126

I hope that this was a mistake?  The dashboard idea is to allow complex data to be seen and analyzed by the person using the dashboard.  Until the "current_user" really means the current user, this option in a report is almost entirely useless.

Dashboards must be able to display reports from the perspective of the person viewing the report.  Can we vote on this fix?

Andrée Starå

Hi Greg,

There are new possibilities now.

More info: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2480331-control-what-people-see-report-chart-widget

I hope that helps!

Best,

Andrée

haddadmazen

I know this is old, and maybe things have changed since. I had the same issue, but was able to find the solution by reading this: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2480331-control-what-people-see-report-chart-widget

Basically, it's an option in the "Viewer Mode" section of the widget configuration (see attached)