diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md index 784d13d1a0f09237a9bf19b2dfbd0d8c62dae7c4..d80b6852c9b482b4f00d239f5f1bbc0fa8f1c433 100644 --- a/docs/README.md +++ b/docs/README.md @@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ ## Installation and operation - [Installing Metabase](./operations-guide/installing-metabase.html) +- [Setting up Metabase](setting-up-metabase.html) - [How to upgrade Metabase](./operations-guide/upgrading-metabase.html) - [Application database](./operations-guide/configuring-application-database.html) - [Backing up Metabase](./operations-guide/backing-up-metabase-application-data.html) diff --git a/docs/getting-started.md b/docs/getting-started.md deleted file mode 100644 index 67a8bca5ffb0a399bdd248a66ea75fa7be7d9a95..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 --- a/docs/getting-started.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,119 +0,0 @@ -# Getting Started with Metabase - -Metabase is a simple and powerful analytics tool which lets anyone learn and make decisions from their company's data. No technical knowledge required! We hope you love it. - -## Logging in - -The way you log in to Metabase will depend on how you or your admin set it up, so if you don’t know where to go, just ask the person who sent you your Metabase invite. - -## The homepage - - - -Fresh out of the box, Metabase will show you a few things on the home page: - -- Some [automatic explorations](./users-guide/14-x-rays.md) of your tables that you can look at and save as a dashboard if you like any of them. -- An area where things you or your teammates create will show up, along with a link to see all the dashboards, questions, and pulses you have. -- A list of the databases you've connected to Metabase. - - - -## Asking a new question - -But, enough about that — let’s get to asking questions. For the next few examples, we'll be using the **Sample Dataset** that comes with Metabase. - -Go ahead and click **Ask a question** at the top of the screen. There are several ways you can ask a question in Metabase, but we'll click on the Simple Question option for now. You'll then need to pick the table that you have a question about. Click the database that the table is in, then pick the table from the list. Once you do, you'll see the table's contents. - - - -## Our first question - -The Orders table has a bunch of fake data in it about product orders for a made up company. Let's start with a simple question about these orders: how many orders have been placed with a subtotal (before tax) greater than \$40? More precisely, this question translates to: "How many records (or rows) are in the table 'Orders' with a value greater than 40 in the Subtotal column?†- -To find out, we want to _filter_ the data by **the field we’re interested in**, which is **Subtotal**. Since each row in this table represents one order, counting how many rows there are after we’ve filtered them will give us the answer we want. - - - -So, we click the Filter button to open up the filtering sidebar, then select Subtotal as the column to filter on, and we’ll get some options for the filter. We’ll choose **Greater than**, type the number 40 in the box, and click Add Filter. - - - -Next we need to tell Metabase what number we want to see. When we ask things like "how many," "what's the total," "what's the average," etc., we need to **summarize** our data. So we'll click the Summarize button to open the sidebar where we can pick how we want to summarize this data. The "Count of rows" metric is selected by default which is great since we want to count the total number of rows that match our filter. - - - -### And our first answer! - -Okay, cool — we’re ready to ask our question, so let’s click **Done**! - -So it looks like there were 16,309 orders, each with a subtotal greater than \$40. Nice. Another way of saying this is that there were 16,309 _records_ in the table that met the parameters we set. - - - -### Tweaking our question - -Okay, so that’s pretty useful, but it would be even _more_ useful if we could know in _which months_ our customers placed these big orders. That’s not hard to do at all. - -If we open up the Summarize sidebar again, below where we picked our metric, there's a list of all the columns that we can use as **groupings**. The one we want is **Created At**, because this will now give us a separate total count of orders over \$40 for each month the orders were placed in (or “created atâ€). So we’ll select **Created At**, and Metabase immediately shows us a line chart of the orders over time. - - - -If we want to quickly check the results in tabular fashion, we can click the little toggle at the bottom center of the page to toggle from our chart to the data and back again. - - - -### Changing the visualization - -Metabase can present the answers to your questions in a variety of ways. To change the visualization, just select one of the options from the **Visualization** sidebar. Click the Visualization button in the bottom-left to open it. Let’s choose the **Area** chart option. - - - -Sweet! Looks like business is booming — up and to the right is always good. - - - -You’ll notice that some visualizations aren’t the best way to show an answer to a question. If Metabase think that's the case with a specific answer and visualization combination, that visualization choice will appear faded in the sidebar. For example, it wouldn't make sense to show the total number of orders over \$40 as a single bar graph, or as a map. - -If you want, you can try playing around with your question, like changing the number 40 to a different number. To do that, just click on the filter badge below the page title. - -## Sharing answers with others - -You can use Metabase all on your own, but it becomes even more useful when you start sharing your answers with other people on your team or in your organization. The first step is saving some of your questions. - -### Saving questions - -Sometimes you’ll find yourself asking certain questions again and again, whether it’s running regular reports, looking up something about an important segment of users, or just answering the same question for other people in your company. To keep from repeating the same set of steps each time you want to ask the same question, you can save your questions to use later. - -To do this, click on the **SAVE** button in the top-right of the question builder screen. - - - -Metabase will take a stab at giving your question a meaningful name, but you can (and should) use your own naming convention that’ll help you and others find your questions later on, after amnesia has sunk in. You can also pick which folder, or "Collection," to save your question in. - - - -Once you’ve saved your question, Metabase will ask if you want to add it to a new or existing dashboard. Let’s click **Create new dashboard** and give that a try. You’ll see a dialog that prompts you to create a new one and give it a name and description. Name it anything you’d like. We’ll call ours “My First Dashboard.†- - - -### Creating a dashboard - -Dashboards are great when you have a set of answers that you want to view together. Your saved questions will be displayed as cards on the dashboard, which you can resize and move around to your heart’s content. - -So, after you click the button to create your dashboard, you should see your chart as a little card. - - - -You can move and resize your chart so you can get it looking just how you want it. Just click **Save** in the top-right when you’re done. We’ll make ours a bit wider to let those data points breathe. - - - -### Sharing answers directly - -One other thing: once you’ve asked a question or saved a dashboard, the URL in your browser will link directly to that question or dashboard. That means you can copy and paste that URL into an email or chat and let other people see what you’ve found. This will only work if Metabase is installed on a shared server, and will require creating Metabase accounts for the people you want to share with. - ---- - -## That’s it! - -We hope this was helpful. Want to learn more? Is your thirst for knowledge insatiable? Check out our [Users Guide](users-guide/start.md) for more in-depth explanations of the ins and outs of Metabase. diff --git a/docs/images/AccountSetup.png b/docs/images/AccountSetup.png index 6759f31a979a9bca13657375e11962fc1f23664f..5953dafed4771601f55e9dc3250abc32e7dbbb7c 100644 Binary files a/docs/images/AccountSetup.png and b/docs/images/AccountSetup.png differ diff --git a/docs/images/AddDatabaseInfo.png b/docs/images/AddDatabaseInfo.png index bd9d017f80c121e98b8ce824ad413d48f7fa8cd2..54d6c19771d3cace1b0342ac95a2fc6cfc38921f 100644 Binary files a/docs/images/AddDatabaseInfo.png and b/docs/images/AddDatabaseInfo.png differ diff --git a/docs/images/NewsletterSignup.png b/docs/images/NewsletterSignup.png index 7c662d9f8b580216e215e49096ec3c9b65869996..a56ebd17e1406a21024f72d819d84c19759161b8 100644 Binary files a/docs/images/NewsletterSignup.png and b/docs/images/NewsletterSignup.png differ diff --git a/docs/images/UsageData.png b/docs/images/UsageData.png index 2f2e742bee4c2a1434280ea26cd9b0a9e2221d3b..194506cf28de9e63c6c69d40e1e3272c0bf6d877 100644 Binary files a/docs/images/UsageData.png and b/docs/images/UsageData.png differ diff --git a/docs/images/WelcomeScreen.png b/docs/images/WelcomeScreen.png index e545357f379ca0d14f0e716404912b5fe37db64e..a269a92f91aa65acc30a040fb524e0568e6bf379 100644 Binary files a/docs/images/WelcomeScreen.png and b/docs/images/WelcomeScreen.png differ diff --git a/docs/operations-guide/installing-metabase.md b/docs/operations-guide/installing-metabase.md index 84e1af24b584521e8523d7bae85f7f580e4538a4..91580d040f3d2434288510987579d185ac5b935e 100644 --- a/docs/operations-guide/installing-metabase.md +++ b/docs/operations-guide/installing-metabase.md @@ -1,18 +1,26 @@ # Installing and Running Metabase -Metabase is built and packaged as a Java jar file and can be run anywhere that Java is available. Below we provide detailed instructions on how to install and run Metabase in a variety of common configurations. +Below we provide links to detailed instructions on how to install and run Metabase in a variety of common configurations. If you're not sure which way is right for you, check out [How to run Metabase in production](/blog/how-to-run-metabase-in-production/index.html). + +## Different ways to install and run Metabase + +Metabase is built and packaged as a Java jar file and can be run anywhere that Java is available. #### [Running the Jar File](running-the-metabase-jar-file.md) This is the simplest and most basic way of running Metabase. Here we'll cover the general requirements for running Metabase and provide some information about how to customize your installation for any scenario. -#### [Running the Mac Application](running-the-metabase-mac-app.md) -Metabase provides a binary Mac OS X application for users who are interested in trying Metabase on a Mac system. - #### [Running on Docker](running-metabase-on-docker.md) If you are using Docker containers and prefer to manage your Metabase installation that way then we've got you covered. This guide discusses how to use the Metabase Docker image to launch a container running Metabase. +#### [Running the Mac Application](running-the-metabase-mac-app.md) +Metabase provides a binary Mac OS X application for users who are interested in trying Metabase on a Mac system. + ### Cloud Platforms +#### [Metabase Cloud](/start/hosted/) + +Our hosted version, [Metabase Cloud](/start/hosted/). All you need to do is sign up for a free trial, and you're off to the races. + #### [Running on AWS Elastic Beanstalk](running-metabase-on-elastic-beanstalk.md) Step-by-step instructions on how to deploy Metabase on Elastic Beanstalk using RDS. This is the most common way to run Metabase in production. diff --git a/docs/setting-up-metabase.md b/docs/setting-up-metabase.md index 5425191e9eb0237e2546bcf0d98c4daa2bf195b8..0ab03bd13e861b1b1984b06c80f9e2459c6138fe 100644 --- a/docs/setting-up-metabase.md +++ b/docs/setting-up-metabase.md @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ For now, let's just create an account for ourselves to explore Metabase. Type in  ## Gathering your database info -At this point you’ll need to gather some information about the database you want to use with Metabase. We won’t be able to connect to your database without it, but you’d like to deal with all of this later, that’s okay: just click **I’ll add my data later**. +At this point you’ll need to gather some information about the database you want to use with Metabase. We won’t be able to connect to your database without it, but you’d like to deal with all of this later, that’s okay: just click **I’ll add my data later**. Metabase comes with a [Sample Dataset](/glossary.html#sample_dataset) that you can play around with to get a feel for how Metabase works. If you’re ready to connect, here’s what you’ll need: @@ -33,27 +33,27 @@ Now that you have your database info you can connect to your database. Sweet, sw  -For more on connecting to databases, see [Adding and managing databases](./administration-guide/01-managing-databases.md) +For more on connecting to databases, see [Adding and managing databases](./administration-guide/01-managing-databases.md). ## Usage data preferences -One last quick thing that you’ll have to decide is if it’s okay for us to collect some anonymous info about how you use the product — it helps us a bunch to make Metabase better! Like the box says: +One last quick thing that you’ll have to decide is if it’s okay for us to collect some anonymous info about how you use the product — it helps us make Metabase better. Like the box says: * Metabase never collects anything about your data or question results. * All collection is completely anonymous. * Collection can be turned off at any point in your admin settings.  -If you’re ready to start using Metabase, go ahead and click **Next** +If you’re ready to start using Metabase, go ahead and click **Next**. ## Staying in touch At this point you are all set and ready to use Metabase. Since we like keeping in touch with our friends we made it easy to sign up for our newsletter (infrequent emails) with a single click!  -Once you're done here simply follow the link to **Take me to Metabase**. And if you decided to skip the newsletter sign-up it's cool, we still like you :) +Once you're done here simply follow the link to **Take me to Metabase**. And if you decided to skip the newsletter sign-up, it's cool, we still like you :) -# Next: Getting started with Metabase -For a quick overview of how to use Metabase, head over to the [Getting Started Guide](getting-started.md). +## Getting started with Metabase +For a tutorial on getting up and running with questions and dashboards, head over to [Learn Metabase](/learn/getting-started/getting-started.html). For information on adding team members, connecting additional databases, configuring Metabase settings, and more, check out the [Admin Guide](./administration-guide/start.md).