Read-only dashboards are a thing of the past. With Vizlib Writeback Table, you can easily edit, update and comment on data points or entire rows directly in your dashboards, while remaining in the analysis flow. It’s a little like a more powerful version of spreadsheets in Qlik Sense, but a lot more powerful, as it lets you correct your data, insert new information, adjust numbers and create new data segmentations. Fully customizable, Vizlib Writeback Table lets you edit Qlik dimensions, measures and fields, and add new data using a wide variety of data types.
How to Set Up Vizlib Writeback Table
Setting up Vizlib Writeback Table only takes a few short steps. Watch our video tutorial to find out more.
If you want to see some examples and use cases? Watch our dedicated webinar for the Vizlib Writeback Table and Vizlib Input Form:
Creating a new Vizlib Writeback Table - Set up
If you want to start working with new data, click on the sheet you'd like to work from in Qlik Sense Hub. When the sheet opens, follow these steps (Figure 1).
- Click on Custom Objects in the far-left panel, to open the custom objects menu.
- Select the VizLib Collaboration option.
- Click and hold the cursor on the Vizlib Writeback Table option.
- Drag and drop the cursor into the central editing panel to create your table.
- Drag the corner of the table view (highlighted in orange) to increase or decrease the table size.
- Once the table initialises, you will see buttons for Set up and Manual Configuration.
- Click Set up to open the setup dialog, which will help you configure your data. You can find a full set of instructions on Set up in our Writeback Setup article.
- Click Manual Configuration to complete setup using Writeback Settings in the right hand panel.
Figure 1: Create New Writeback Table
Note: Once you've created a new writeback table, you can click Done in the right hand corner to save it in the app. The Done button will change to Edit, which you can click when you need to make any changes.
Adding New Data to Vizlib Writeback Table - Manual Configuration
Vizlib Writeback Table also uses Manual Configuration to add new data to your writeback table. You can add fields in the property panel on the right hand side of the screen.
When you click on the Add Column button, you'll see a dropdown with 3 options.
Figure 3: Add Column Dropdown
- Dimension - Dimensions are used to organise data into groups, e.g. a list of product types, or countries. They are defined in the data model loaded by the application hosting the writeback table, and can be added using Setup or Manual Configuration. You can add select a dimension already linked to a column in the data model, or you can choose to link to one of the Fields in the lower half of the dropdown.
- Measure -Measures are used for calculating data, e.g. the total sales for a product type sold, or the number of units sold per country. Like dimensions they are also defined in the data model using Qlik Sense aggregations, and can be added using Setup or Manual Configuration. You can select a measure which has an aggregation defined for a particular field, or select a field and add your own aggregation.
- Column - Columns can be added to display new data which hasn't been held in the data model, e.g. a comments section for each row. You can add a column using Setup or Manual Configuration, and select from a list of data types or utility types.
Once you've added a column, you can use the property panel to define the column properties.
Note on Column Order: With the current version of Vizlib Writeback Table, you'll need to disable touch screen mode in Qlik Sense if you'd like to use drag and drop to re-order columns in the property panel.
Property Panel
The property panel for columns in Vizlib Writeback Table is divided into several sections.
- Data section - contains the column name, and an expression editor to perform several functions, including adding a placeholder. If a column name already exists, another character is automatically added to avoid duplication (e.g. a second column named Performance is renamed Performance1).
Note on Placeholders: A placeholder isn't a data value, but it can be used to highlight a field for the user (Figure 4). In this example Select a Value has been added, and it's displayed until the user makes a selection. 
Figure 4: Placeholder
- Type - Controls the data type you assign to the column. The available range of data types and utility types is listed in Table 1.
- Data types are used to add and edit data fields, helping you to display any data you need to add to the table (e.g. a text section for comments).
- Utility types display data that is generated from other values in the table (calculated column) or generated by the data model (a timestamp).
- Validation - You can select and apply validation conditions for the column in this section.
- Custom Styling - You can set the colors and style used in the column.
- Bulk Edit - Enables editing for all the values held in a column, helping to apply general changes quickly.
- Other Settings - Properties are configured in the expression editor.
Table 1: Data Types and Utility Types
| Data Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Text/Text Area | Use text for providing commentary on a data point, and help you to provide more context to your data. |
 | Dropdown | Dropdowns can be used if you need to prepare several values, but only require one of them to be selected and displayed once it's selected. |
 | Checkbox/Toggle | Use a checkbox if you need to return one answer of a binary option (e.g. Enable/Disable). |
 | Rating | Ratings are useful for measuring data linked to performance as a value selected from a set of symbols (e.g. 4/5 stars). |
 | Icon | Icons are a visual identifier which you can use alongside text to highlight your data. |
 | Color | Select a color from the pre-defined palette, or configure your own by using a color code. |
 | Date | Display dates in a variety of formats, and set minimum and maximum date checks. |
 | Flag | Add extra visuals to country-specific data by displaying the corresponding country flag |
 | Chips (Array) | Use chips for displaying and sorting arrays, and they can also support tagging within a dataset. |
 | Numeric | Use the numeric data type to collect and display data in a particular numeric format. |
 | Slider | Sliders represent a scale between 2 points where the cursor is used to set a value, they're useful for indicating performance metrics. |
 | Radio Button | The radio button data type presents lists of options, but unlike a dropdown the entire list is still displayed after one of the options is selected. |
 | Multiple Choice | Multiple choice presents a list of options which remain visible once a choice has been made, but allow for more than one selection to be made. |
 | Expression | Configure your own data properties with the built-in Qlik Sense Expression Editor. |
| Utility Type | Name | Description |
 | Calculated Column | Use Calculated Columns to take data from other columns in the table, make calculations and display the results |
 | Timestamp | Use timestamp if you want to add a system generated time measurement. |
Sorting Column Values
Once you've added the columns you need and saved your changes, you can use the Vizlib Writeback Table Sort function to help organize your column data.
Sorting a Writeback Table is very simple, just click on the column header and the values will be ordered with the largest or highest value first. The example in Figure 4 shows how ordering works with a toggle and a Rating data type.
Note: Sort can only be used on data types defined in the Qlik Sense data model used by the writeback table, so you won't be able to sort on a Calculated Column, for example.
Figure 4: Writeback Table Sort
Vizlib Writeback Table - Articles
You can find out more about Vizlib Writeback Table features in the articles listed below.
Expressions - To find out more about using Qlik Sense expressions in Vizlib Writeback Table, please see the article on expressions here.
Binary Loads - Qlik Sense recommend configuring a binary load as part of the their architecture. To read about the benefits of using binary loads in Vizlib Writeback Table please see the article here.
Data Lock - Locking data in a table holds your changes until you're ready to publish them, to find our more please see the article here.
Pasting Data Values - Guidelines on pasting data in Vizlib Writeback Table. To find out more please see the article here.
Validation - For instructions on using the Validation functions, please see the article here.
Custom Styling - For instructions on using the Custom Styling panel, please see the article here.
Bulk Edit - For instructions on using the Bulk Edit panel, please see the article here.
Input Options - For instructions on using the input Options function to add features to the dropdown, icon, flag, radiobutton and multiple choice data types, please see the article here.
Security Rule - A summary of the security rule configuration for Vizlib Writeback Table can be found here.