Automation Champion

Some time you want to share the Dashboard with other users, but due to business constraint you can’t give users to dashboard access nor add him/her to the schedule dashboard list. The best option is to  post a snapshot of a dashboard component to a Chatter feed inoder to  help other users follow changes in the data. A snapshot is a static image of a dashboard component at a specific point in time posted to a Chatter feed. Today we will go through the steps how to post dashboard snapshot to a Chatter user or Group. This feature is available in Developer, Performance, Enterprise, Professional, Contact Manager, Group, and Unlimited editions.

Use Case :- In your organization Their is a user named as Chatter Free User (Profile:- Chatter Free User and License Type :- Chatter Free) and  you want to share dashboard with this user.

Possible Solutions

1) If you want to share a dashboard to Chatter Free User by giving access to  folder. You can’t Share report or Dashboard folder with Chatter Free User because they don’t have Report and dashboard access. You can’t include this type of user into Schedule a dashboard refresh but you can include Salesforce licensed users so they will get email notification with dashboard snap shot. In our case this solution won’t work.

Note:-  Schedule a Dashboard Refresh feature available in Enterprise Edition, Unlimited Edition, and Performance Editions.

2) You can post dashboard snapshots to Chatter.

Enable Dashboard Component Snapshots

–> First of all you have to enable Chatter Feed Tracking for dashboard. To enable feed tracking for dashboard follow the below steps

1) Click on Name | Setup | App Setup | Customize | Chatter | Feed Tracking
2) Click on Dashboard object, enable it and select all four fields, Same like below screen shot

Enable Feed Tracking for Dashboard

3) Click on Save

–> Now you have to enable Enable Dashboard Component Snapshots, To enable this feature follow the below steps

1) Click on Name | Setup | App Setup | Customize | Reports & Dashboards | User Interface
2) Select “Enable Dashboard Component Snapshots” checkbox

Enable Dashboard Component Snapshots

3) Click on Save.

Now It’s time to test this feature

1) Click on Dashboard Tab, and select the dashboard you want to share
2) Hover over a component to display the  menu. To clear the hover menu, click an empty part of the screen.

Posting Dashboard Snapshots to Chatter Step -1

3) Click on Post Snapshot to User or Group Feed, as shown in above image
4) Now add user or group name, then write a comment in the text box

Posting Dashboard Snapshots to Chatter Step -2

5) Once done, Click on OK. The snapshot and comment immediately appear in the dashboard feed.
6) Now login through Chatter Free User Credential and check Chatter feed.

Posting Dashboard Snapshots to Chatter final outcome

Note :- Snapshot images display in feeds for four months. After four months, only the comments remain.

Related Ideas:-
1) Background color in Dashboard Snapshot
2) dashboard snapshots to external chatter users
3) Post a snapshot of a report chart into chatter