Report Builder Troubleshooting

This page lists the problems people most often meet in the Report Builder, and what to do about them.

Menu	Reports > Report Builder
Permission	Build reports and manage own custom reports and views
Feature	Report Builder

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Menus, data and buttons

Problem	What to do
There is no Report Builder under Reports	The Report Builder feature may be off, or you may not have the Build reports and manage own custom reports and views permission. People who only run shared reports see Shared Reports instead, once a report is shared with them. Ask your administrator.
Add data set says No data sources are enabled or No data sets are available to you	Your site does not use a feature that offers data, or you do not have the permission a data source asks for. See Data sources.
A data set says it is not available to you	You may not view that content type or that data. Ask your administrator.
A content type shows drafts, or only published items	People who may edit a content type see the latest version of its items, drafts included; others see the published ones. Filter on Published to leave out the items whose latest version is a draft.
A query offers no fields	A query's fields are found in the rows it returns. Make sure the query returns rows without parameters.
A content picker shows IDs, not names	A content picker gives the IDs of the items it picks. Add the picked content type as a data set, join the picker to its Content item id, and use its Display text. See Join data sets.
The Anonymous role cannot be checked, or there are no share links	You need the Share custom reports publicly and through share links permission. Share links also need the report to be published.
A share link cannot be created	Every recipient must be a user of the site: check the user names and emails. To email the link, the Email feature must be on; otherwise turn off Email the link to the recipients and copy the link.
A recipient cannot open a share link	They must sign in with the account the link was made for: a link opens for its recipients only. A link that expired, was used as many times as allowed, or was revoked no longer opens; create a new one.
You want everyone to see a report without a link	Share it with the Anonymous role on the Sharing tab. Share links are always for named people.
Edit or Delete is missing on a report	You may change only your own reports, unless you have Manage all custom reports and views. Use Actions > Clone to make your own copy.
The export button is missing	The report's owner turned off Let people the report is shared with export it, or the share link does not allow export.

Reports that do not run

Problem	What to do
The preview says Add a data set, then drag fields to Columns to see a preview	Add a data set and at least one column.
A join is red, or says Not joined yet	Click the join and add the columns that must match. See Join data sets.
The report says it cannot run because its owner has no active account	Ask someone who designs reports to clone it, and share the copy again.
The report shows a list of problems instead of running	It was published with problems. Open it in the builder, fix them and publish again.
A formula says it mixes aggregated values with row-level fields	Wrap every field in an aggregate function, or remove the aggregate function. See Columns and formulas.
A formula says a field does not exist	The field was renamed or its data set removed. Click it again in the field list of the formula window.
Your change is not saved and a yellow bar names someone else	They changed the report since you opened it. Pick Reload their changes or Keep mine. See Publish and versions.
A view cannot be deleted	Reports or other views read it. The message names them; remove the view from them first.

Numbers that look wrong

Problem	What to do
A warning says only the first rows were read	The data set is larger than the builder reads at once. Add filters that narrow the data, such as a shorter period, or ask your administrator to raise the limits.
The report shows fewer records than expected	Check the date filter a new report starts with: it shows the last 30 days. Pick a longer Default period or All time. See Filters.
Totals are too high after joining two data sets	A join repeats a row for every match, such as a customer once per order. Use Count distinct instead of Count, or sum values from the data set with one row per record.
A shared report shows data the viewer cannot open	That is expected: a shared report reads data with its owner's access. Share only what viewers should see.
A scheduled view shows old data	It shows the data as of its last refresh. Click Refresh now on the view's Settings tab.
Dates are a few hours off	Dates and times are shown in the site's time zone. Ask your administrator if the site's time zone is wrong.