Explore Mode

Explore Mode is a toggle in an app's toolbar that opens an editing pane on the right side of the dashboard. It lets you add, remove, rearrange, and reconfigure charts, filters, data tables, KPIs, and layouts, and save the result as a view your team can reopen.

You may also see Explore Mode referred to as custom views, saved views, shared views, or the bookmark. Customers often ask about it as "how do I edit the dashboard" or "how do I customize an app."

Applies to: Insight Cloud apps, which run on an embedded Sigma dashboard
You'll need: A role that includes Explore Mode access. The Viewer role does not include it. See Who can use Explore Mode below.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-02

Where to find Explore Mode

Open an app from My Apps. In the toolbar at the top of the app, find the toggle labelled Explore. It turns blue when it is on. The bookmark icon that manages saved views sits directly to the right of the toggle.

If you don't see the Explore toggle, your role may not include Explore Mode. See If Explore Mode isn't working.

What Explore Mode does when you turn it on

Explore Mode changes the dashboard from something you read and filter into something you configure. With the toggle off, you can view the dashboard, filter a KPI, and download its data. With the toggle on, you can select any element and see its configuration.

When you turn the Explore toggle on, an editing pane expands on the right side of the dashboard. Turning the toggle off hides the pane. Your edits stay visible on the app while you remain on it, but they are not saved. They are lost if you refresh the page, navigate away from the app, or log out before saving them as a view.

Example

You open an app and filter it to one brand. You decide you never use the Total Units KPI, so you select that card and delete it. You then save the result as a view. The next time you or anyone else with access to that app variant opens the saved view, they see the filtered dashboard without the Total Units card.

What you can do with Explore Mode

• Set preconfigured filter controls.

• Add, remove, or rearrange any element in the dashboard.

• Add charts, filters, data tables, controls, and new layouts.

• Change the calculation behind a KPI, for example by adding your own logic on top of a column in the app's output.

• Adjust formatting, labels, sorting, and sizing for charts and tables.

• Save your changes as a named view so you can return to them.

Who can use Explore Mode

The Viewer role does not include Explore Mode. The Explorer, Builder, and Admin roles do include it.

Explore Mode access is a permission, and roles are groups of permissions. An Admin can grant or remove Explore Mode access for individual users. Roles can also be applied to teams, so a user can receive Explore Mode access through a team.

Publishers do not control Explore Mode. It is part of the Insight Cloud platform, not a feature a publisher ships inside an app.

For the full list of roles and permissions, see Roles.

Insight Cloud grants full Explore, not basic Explore. Sigma describes basic Explore as lightweight customization in view mode, and full Explore as the complete set of interactions and customizations. Every user with Explore Mode access in Insight Cloud gets the full set.

Saved views in Explore Mode

A saved view is a named snapshot of your filters and Explore Mode changes for one app variant. Saving a view captures any Explore Mode changes you have made, so you do not need to save them separately first.

Saved views are shared. Anyone who has access to the app variant can see every saved view for that variant. You cannot make a saved view private, and you do not need to share it for colleagues to see it. Each variant of an app has its own saved views, independent of the other variants.

Sigma's own documentation describes these as personal views. Insight Cloud's embedded implementation shares them instead, so follow this article rather than Sigma's documentation.

Save a view

1. Open the app and apply the filters or Explore Mode changes you want to keep.

2. In the toolbar at the top of the app, click the dropdown arrow next to the bookmark icon, beside the Explore toggle.

3. Select Save as new view…

4. In the Save view dialog, enter a Name.

5. Optionally, check Set as your default view.

6. Click Save.

You'll know it worked when the bookmark icon turns green and your view appears in the Saved views panel. If you set it as the default, it is labeled Default.

Set as your default view sets the default for everyone with access to the app, not only for you, even though the label says "your."

Manage saved views

1. Click the dropdown arrow next to the bookmark icon.

2. Select Manage saved views to open the Saved views panel.

3. Open a view's options menu (⋮) to rename it, set it as the default, or remove it.

The Saved views panel also shows when each view was created and what changes it contains.

Switch views or return to the standard view

Open the Saved views panel from the bookmark dropdown to switch to any saved view. To return to the app's standard view, open the bookmark dropdown and select Exit view.

Saved views and app updates

Saved views stay in place when an app is upgraded to a new version. A saved view stops working correctly if it references a component that the new version of the app removed.

Limits and what Explore Mode can't do

• Explore Mode does not save automatically.

• Explore Mode changes are lost if you navigate away from the app or log out without saving them as a view.

• A saved view cannot be made private. Every user with access to the app can see it.

• Any user with access to the app can delete a saved view, including one you created. A deleted view cannot be recovered.

• Explore Mode changes do not overwrite the published app.

• Explore Mode does not modify dataset permissions or data models.

• Explore Mode is not available to the Viewer role.

• Explore Mode does not offer basic Explore. Insight Cloud provides full Explore only.

• A saved view belongs to one app variant. It does not appear in other variants of the same app.

Explore Mode vs. the Explorer role

Explore Mode is the feature described in this article. Explorer is one of the system roles, and it includes Explore Mode access. Having Explore Mode access does not require the Explorer role. Builder, Org Admin, and Seek Admin also include it. See Roles.

If Explore Mode isn't working

If you don't see the Explore toggle, check your role. The Viewer role does not include Explore Mode. Roles can also be assigned through teams, so if a user should have Explore Mode access through a team but does not, ask your Org Admin to check that their roles and team assignments are set up correctly.

If you do have access and Explore Mode misbehaves, such as changes not saving or a calculation erroring, the issue is in the embedded Sigma experience. Contact support@seekinsights.com and include the app name, the variant, and what you were doing.

Related articles

• Roles — what each role includes and how roles are applied to users and teams

• App Basics — what an app is and what it contains

• App Variants — how variants work, since saved views belong to a single variant