How Do I Share a Link to a Report?

Another entry in our 'Basics' series, this article will cover how to setup a Shared Link for a report in Report Toaster. 

Video more your thing? Check out the video version of this guide here.

Note - You must be on a paid plan of Report Toaster to have access to this feature. You can check out our app listing for more information on our various plans.

For instance, suppose I wanted to create a Shared Link to a Taxes report to send a copy of the data to my accountant. 

We'll start with the Monthly Tax Summary report from the built-in reports section

Creating a Shared Link

Once I've found the report I'm looking for, it's time to create the hyperlink.

Start off by clicking the Share button next to a report. 

This option exists for both built-in reports (under the Reports menu) and those you've saved to My Reports.

Generally speaking, we would advise saving reports to My Reports first before sharing a link to them. 

This ensures that any future changes you make to the report will be carried over to version you have shared.

Otherwise, sharing a link to the built-in report is strictly limited to the defaults for that report. 

For multistore users, bear in mind that the Shared Link will utilize data from all of your stores for this report. 
If you want to limit the shared link to only show data from one (or more) stores, then utilize a filter for Shop Name accordingly.

Read-only links 

If you haven't created a Shared Link to this report before, it pops up with the following dialog box with a couple of options:

(If you've already created a Shared Link before, it skips this step) 

First, you have the option to prevent users from modifying the report (read-only mode)

When you choose this option, anybody with the link will not be able to make changes to the report.

This includes changing columns, filters, or the date range (the date range appears as you can see, but cannot be clicked on to change it)

Note - Changing the columns, filters etc does not change the report you have saved in your My Reports (i.e. all changes are temporary) 

To modify the report you have saved, you will have to navigate to the report in your My Reports, make the changes, and save the report again as normal. 

Redact Personal Info

The other option you have when creating a shared link is to redact personal identifiable information. 

Toggle this option to redact Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on the report.**

**Note, you can only toggle the option to redact Personal Identifiable Information (PII) from a shared link when you first set it up.

If you later want to go back and add/remove PII from a report, you will need to revoke the link (see below) and create a fresh one with this toggle enabled/disabled. 

Remember to give any recipients of your link the new one when you're done!

This essentially replaces any fields like customer name, email, phone etc with asterisks (***)

Doing so is especially relevant to European customers who have GDPR requirements and for those links you plan on sharing externally from your organization. 

This is what the end result looks like for anybody with the link: 

Using Shared Links

Once your link has been created, you will see the following dialog box:

From here, you can select the text to copy the link (or click the 'copy' icon to the right).

You can then paste the link in an email, document, or any other application just like a regular hyperlink. 

This is what the recipient will see when they click on the link and navigate to the report: 

As you can see, unless you've chosen one of the sharing options (above) then sharing a link to the report gives the recipient access to the exact same data you see when you open the individual report.

From here, they can still export the report (CSV, PDF, JSON) and adjust the columns, filters, date range or customize the view (e.g. adjust the Rows /Page) for ease of readability.

However, they won't be able to see any of your other reports or change any of the actual settings on your account. 

This is therefore a great way to share data with another recipient without having to give them access to your Shopify or your Report Toaster account. 

Revoke a Link

Sometimes you want don't want the link to your report to be permanent.

For instance, maybe your intended recipient only needs access to your data for a short duration, or you simply no longer want them to be able to see your data. 

By clicking on the Revoke button, you can cause any Shared Links you have created for a report to immediately expire. A warning message will appear to confirm this decision like so: 

By clicking Revoke, any prior recipients of this Shared Link will no longer be able to access this report.

If you wish to share the data with them again, you can simply create a new Shared Link by following the process outlined above. 

And that's it! 

For other articles in our Basic Guides series, check out our main section here.

• Related Articles

• Creating Shared Links (Shorts)

  Learn the basics of how to create a direct shared link to a report in <5 minutes! (Be sure to switch to Full Screen and high resolution for best results. Refresh your browser if the above embedded video doesn't display, or view directly here.) In ...

• Report Toaster Scheduled Reports and Slack

  Lately we've gotten a couple of questions about how to setup Report Toaster's Scheduled Reports feature with Slack Channels. In short, some of our users have asked about how they can make the Slack Channel the recipient of a Scheduled Report that is ...

• What Do I Get In Report Toaster (that I don't get in Shopify?)

  What do I get out of Report Toaster that I don't get in Shopify? I already get reports in Shopify - why do I need Report Toaster? Why should I upgrade my Report Toaster Account? If you find yourself reading the above and having similar thoughts, then ...

• How Do I Run a Report from a Mechanic Task?

  For some of the more keen-eyed users of Mechanic, you may have noticed that we recently published a task last week using the Report Toaster special action. This task is designed to help you take a report out of Report Toaster and export it via email ...

• Premium Report - Cohort Reports

  Cohorts (By Revenue, By Customers, By Retention) Cohort reports are used to display data about repeat purchases by customers based on when they made their first purchase. Each row of the report represents a cohort of customers that made their first ...