Email updates for dashboards and collections
Email updates send the people a dashboard or collection is shared with its headline numbers, either when new data is published or on a schedule. This page is for dashboard editors who want viewers to see the numbers without opening Mammoth. You set it up once in the share settings, and everyone it's shared with gets the emails, including people you share with later.
For emailing a view's rows as a CSV file, use a Messaging automation instead.
Where to find Email updates
| Shared item | Where |
|---|---|
| A dashboard | The Share panel, in the Email updates section under the viewers. See Publishing and sharing dashboards |
| A collection | The collection's Share window, below the people it's shared with |
| From Audience | Under the people list, "Rather put the numbers in front of them each time the data changes?" with Email them updates |
For a dashboard, the section appears once the dashboard has been published with Sign-in required access and has at least one viewer. Email updates go to signed-in viewers only, so a public link doesn't show it.
When a collection isn't shared with anyone yet, its section reads "Share it with someone first. Updates go to the people it's shared with." and the toggle stays off.
Turn on email updates
- Open the Email updates section.
- Turn on the toggle. While it's off, the line under it says who would get them, for example "Email these 12 people each dashboard's headline numbers when the data changes."
- The section opens for editing. Choose when to send and which numbers, as described below. Each choice saves straight away.
- Click Done to fold the section back to its summary line. Click Edit to open it again.
The audience line reads "To the 4 people above. Anyone you share with later gets them too." When some have unsubscribed it reads, for example, "To 3 of the 4 people above (1 unsubscribed)."
For a collection, the line can also say "2 of them haven't opened it in 30 days."
Choose when it sends
Under Send, pick one:
| Option | When it sends |
|---|---|
| When new data is published (default) | "At most once a day, at 9:00 the morning after the data changes." Mammoth checks once a day at 9:00 in the update's time zone (shown in the hint, for example "(Europe/London)") and sends only if a dashboard's data was published since the last email. Changes to several dashboards go in one email |
| On a schedule | At a fixed time, whether or not anything changed. "If nothing changed since the last one, it still goes out and says so." |
For On a schedule, choose a repeat and a time:
| Repeat | Sends |
|---|---|
| Every weekday | Monday to Friday |
| Every Monday | Once a week, on Monday |
| 1st of the month | Once a month, on the 1st |
The time list runs on the hour, from 00:00 to 23:00. The default is 09:00. Times use the time zone shown under the choice, which is your browser's time zone when you first set the update up (for example "In the schedule's time zone (Europe/London)").
The first email goes out "the morning after the data next changes" for new data, or "at the next scheduled time" for a schedule.
Choose the numbers
Under Numbers, each dashboard sends "The first 3 KPIs on each dashboard" by default. Click Choose to pick others:
- Each published dashboard is listed with the KPI cards you can pick.
- You can pick up to 3 numbers per dashboard. Once 3 are ticked, the others are disabled until you untick one.
- At least one number stays picked. You can't untick the last one.
- The numbers appear in the email in the same order as on the dashboard.
- Click Done to close the list.
A dashboard with no KPI cards on its first page still goes in the email, as a link with "updated" next to it. The section says so, for example "1 dashboard has no KPI cards, so it shows as a link with "updated" next to it."
Preview and test
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| See the email | Opens "What they'll get": the sender line, the subject, each dashboard with its numbers, and a View the dashboard button (View the dashboards for a collection) |
| Send me a test | Sends the email to your own inbox now. A toast confirms "Test sent to your inbox" |
Both are disabled until at least one dashboard is published.
The preview shows the numbers you can see. The footnote reads "These are the numbers you see. Each person gets the numbers they're allowed to see."
Subjects look like this, for a dashboard called Sales review:
| Send | Subject |
|---|---|
| When new data is published | New numbers in Sales review |
| Every weekday | Sales review, then the date |
| Every Monday | Sales review, then "week of 3 Nov" |
| 1st of the month | Sales review, then the month |
Row-level security
When a dashboard limits rows by viewer, each person gets the numbers for their own rows only. The section says so, for example "Sales review limits rows by viewer, so each person gets their own numbers." See Publishing and sharing dashboards for setting up row-level security.
Dashboards in a collection
A collection's update covers every published dashboard in it. A dashboard's own update skips anyone who already gets that dashboard's numbers from a collection with updates on, so nobody gets the same numbers twice. The dashboard's section then says, for example, "Also in Q4 board pack, which has its own email updates; people there get this dashboard's numbers from that one."
If a collection already reaches everyone the dashboard is shared with, the dashboard's section has no toggle and reads "Everyone it's shared with already gets these numbers from Q4 board pack."
A dashboard in a collection that isn't published is left out of the email until you publish it.
Check that updates are going out
With updates on, the section shows a summary line, followed by any problem. It reads, for example, "When new data is published · first 3 KPIs · last sent Mon 3 Nov · 4 delivered".
On a collection's own page, the header also says how its updates are going: "Emails on new data" or "Emails on a schedule", plus the last send once there is one (for example "Emails on new data · last Mon 3 Nov"), or "Email updates paused: nothing here is published".
The status line under Edit can read:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Last sent Mon 3 Nov · 4 delivered" | The last update went out to 4 people |
| "Last checked Mon 3 Nov · no new data" | Mammoth checked for new data and found none, so nothing was sent |
When the last update didn't go out
A problem shows as a short clause on the summary line, and in full when you click Edit:
| Short | Full message | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| paused, nothing published | "Updates are paused: nothing here is published yet. Publish a dashboard to start them." | Publish at least one dashboard |
| 1 dashboard left out | "Left out of the last update because it isn't published: Pipeline review. Publish it to include it." | Publish that dashboard |
| shared with no one | "The last update didn't go out: this isn't shared with anyone." | Share it with someone |
| everyone unsubscribed | "No one is getting updates: everyone unsubscribed." | Nothing to fix. Ask people to turn them back on if they want them |
| some emails failed | "Some emails in the last update couldn't be sent." | Check the addresses of the people it's shared with |
| last update failed | "The last update didn't go out: none of the emails could be sent." | Check the addresses, then wait for the next send |
If an update fails twice in a row (nothing published, or emails that couldn't be sent), the person who turned the updates on gets one email: "Email updates for Sales review didn't go out", with the reason. Having no new data, or everyone unsubscribing, doesn't count as a failure.
In the dashboards library, the Has email updates shelf filter lists what sends updates. A dashboard row marked "Left out of email updates: not published" needs publishing before it's included.
Turn email updates off
Turn off the toggle in the Email updates section. Nobody gets further emails. Turning it back on keeps your earlier choices.
How viewers stop or restart updates
Every email has a link to stop them. After clicking it, the viewer sees "You won't get these email updates any more. You can still open the dashboards any time." An old link that no longer works shows "This link to stop email updates isn't valid any more."
When the viewer next opens the dashboard, a banner reads "You've stopped email updates for this dashboard." with Turn them back on. Clicking it shows "Email updates are back on".
Unsubscribing only stops that person's emails for that dashboard or collection. They keep access to the dashboard.
Related articles
- Publishing and sharing dashboards: access, viewers and row-level security
- Dashboard audience and engagement: who opens the dashboard
- Messaging: email a view's rows as CSV files on a schedule