The report editor

Every report — from the library, from a dashboard card, or from a blank page — opens in the same editor. The left side shows the result: the chart, the table, the totals. The right side holds the panels that shape it. Change anything and the report re-runs live across every store you have connected.

You never need to write a query: the panels write it for you, and the query text stays visible above the result so you can always see exactly what the report is asking. (Reading and writing that text yourself is covered in the query language.)

Metrics

Metrics are the numbers the report measures — total sales, orders, units sold, gross profit. Add them from a searchable picker grouped by category, exactly like the report library. Hovering a metric shows what it measures, and for computed metrics the exact formula — total sales, for example, is net sales plus shipping, duties, additional fees and taxes — so you know what a number includes before it is in your report.

Drag metrics to reorder them; the column order in the table follows.

Dimensions

Dimensions are the breakdown — by product, by variant, by sales channel, by country, by store, by day. A report with no dimension is a single totals row; each dimension you add splits it further. Two dimensions nest: products within a week, variants within a product — with per-group subtotal rows when you want them.

The store dimension is the one Shopify cannot offer: it splits any metric across the stores that produced it, in one currency.

Filters

Filters narrow the report. Each filter is a field, a condition and a value — "Sales channel is Online Store", "Country is one of Canada, United States", "Total sales greater than 500". The value picker is built from your actual data, so you choose from real values instead of typing guesses.

Each field gets the right editor: dates offer before/after/between with a calendar, money and numbers offer ranges, yes/no fields offer just true or false, and list fields offer a searchable set of values.

Money filters work on whole orders. "Total sales over 500" keeps the orders worth more than 500 and drops the rest — returns and refunds stay attached to the orders they belong to, so totals stay honest and filtering can only ever lower a number, never raise it.

Visualization

Pick how the result draws: line, bar, horizontal bar, donut, stacked area, table and more. The chart follows the shape of the data — time series draw as lines, rankings as bars, shares as donuts — and you can cap how many items the chart shows while the table keeps everything. A cumulative toggle turns a daily series into a running total without touching the underlying numbers.

With a comparison period on, charts carry a dashed previous-period line and donut slices show their own movement against the previous period.

Dates, comparison and scope

The controls above the result apply to the whole report:

  • Date range — rolling windows ("last 30 days"), calendar periods ("this quarter"), or any custom range, anchored to your store's timezone.
  • Comparison — previous period, previous year, or a custom range. The comparison series is named by its actual dates, so you always know what you are comparing against.
  • Currency and timezone — every money value converts to the currency you pick; date boundaries follow the timezone you pick.
  • Store scope — all stores by default, or any subset.

Computed columns

When a report needs a number we do not ship, add a computed column — a small formula over each row's values, summed like any other metric. Give it a name and a format (number or money) and it behaves like a built-in column, exportable included.

Tutorial: reshape a report without writing a query

  1. Open Total sales by product from the library.
  2. In Metrics, add Units sold beside total sales.
  3. In Dimensions, change the grouping from product to vendor.
  4. In Filters, add Sales channel is Online Store.
  5. In Visualization, switch to a horizontal bar and cap it at the top 10.
  6. Press Save and name it "Online top vendors" — it is now in your library, and can go on your dashboard as a card.

FAQ

Do I need to know the query language to use the editor? No — the panels cover metrics, groupings, filters, charts and computed columns with clicks. The query text is always visible if you are curious, and the panels keep it in sync both ways.

Can I break any report down by store? Yes. Add the store dimension to any report and every metric splits across your connected stores, converted to one currency.

What happens to the original report when I edit it? Nothing. Library reports are templates — your changes live in your session until you save, and saving creates your own copy in the library.

Can charts and tables show different amounts of data? Yes — cap the chart at the top N items while the table keeps the full list, so the picture stays readable and the data stays complete.