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faq.md

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Frequently Asked Questions

I can't log into Metabase. Can you reset my password?

If you are running the MacOS application on your laptop, you can click on the Help menu item and click Reset Password.

If you are using a browser to access Metabase, then someone downloaded our software and installed it on a server. We at Metabase don't host your instance. We write software that someone at your company decided to run. You should ask whomever it was that set up your company's Metabase for help resetting your password.

How should I use the Mac OS X application?

Our Mac OS X application is best thought of as Metabase in single-player mode. It's meant to be a way to quickly try out the program and see if it's something you'd want to use across your team. It's also useful for use on your own.

When you need to share dashboards or pulses with others, we strongly recommend you run our server application.

Does Metabase support SQL Joins?

Metabase does not expose a "Join" operator, but we do provide ways for non-SQL-proficient users to perform the tasks that joins are used for such as filtering or grouping by columns in other tables, etc.

For more info see our blog post on the subject

Can I use SQL with Metabase?

Yes.

Do I need to know SQL to use Metabase?

No

Why can't I do X in the Query Builder?

The primary audience of the GUI querying interface is a non-technical user who doesn't SQL. Advanced users can always use SQL.

We're constantly trying to walk the line between putting more functionality into the GUI interface and creating a confusing mess. You can expect it to improve and change with time, but in the meantime, you can always lean on SQL directly for the complicated matters.

Why can't I seem to use drill-through or question actions?

Metabase allows you to click on your charts or tables to explore or zoom in, but these features don't currently work with SQL/native queries (this is because Metabase doesn't currently parse these kinds of queries). The same is true of the question actions menu in the bottom-right of the question detail page.

However, in an upcoming version of Metabase we'll be including a feature that will let you use the results of SQL/native queries as the starting table for GUI-based questions. This means you'll be able to use sophisticated SQL/native queries to create the exact segments you need, and you and your team will be able to use drill-through and actions if you create GUI-based questions from those segments.

Does Metabase support database X?

Metabase currently supports:

  • Amazon Redshift
  • BigQuery
  • CrateDB (version 0.57 or higher)
  • Druid
  • H2
  • MongoDB (version 3.0 or higher)
  • MySQL (and MariaDB)
  • PostgreSQL
  • Presto
  • SQL Server
  • SQLite

Can Metabase support database X?

Metabase is built by a small core team, and we have very limited engineering bandwidth. Each additional database we connect to slows down overall product development, increases the time and cost of our automated testing and requires us to learn a lot about the edge cases of the specific database driver. While writing a given driver might only take a few days, supporting it places a cost on us indefinitely.

That said, we will build out additional database connectors as we are able to. We generally select additional drivers based on demand from the community and our ability to set up a test database server easily in our integrated testing environment.

We welcome community contributions of database connectors. If you're able to help, we have open issues for a number of databases. We'd greatly appreciate your help!

Can Metabase connect to Google Analytics, Salesforce, etc.?

Metabase currently supports Google Analytics as a data source. The connection can be set up by an admin the same way database connections are set. If you are using Google Analytics Premium, one of the features is direct access to a BigQuery database with your personal Google Analytics data. BigQuery is also supported by Metabase.

We do not currently offer a way to connect to other third-party APIs or services directly. What people do instead in these situations is download data from these services into a database they control and then use Metabase to access that database directly. This can be done either by writing code or more commonly using a third-party service. There are a large number of these services, and you can ask other users and discuss pros and cons at our user forum.

Can I upload data to Metabase?

Not exactly. Metabase provides access to data you have in an existing database you control. We currently do not add or modify the information in your database. You should ask whomever controls the database you are accessing how to upload the data you're interested in accessing.

Can you help me debug something?

Yes, to the extent that we are able to and have time.

In the event of a clear bug, please open an issue.

If you're having other trouble, please start a conversation at our discussion forum and check out the other threads. Someone else might have experienced the same problem.

Do you offer paid support?

We are experimenting with offering paid support to a limited number of companies. Contact us if you want more information.

Can I embed charts or dashboards in another application?

Yes, Metabase offers two solutions for sharing charts and dashboards. Public links let you share or embed charts with simplicity. A powerful application embedding let you to embed and customize charts in your own web applications.