Drilling down within Core UI reports

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
  • You can drill down within a report to visualize a subset of its data. For example, you can click on the critical section of a report sorted by priority to view the categories of those critical incidents.

    For reports with a defined drilldown, click on a portion of the chart to display a subset of data. The subset may use a different chart type. In the example, the user clicks on the critical incidents in a bar chart to reveal the categories of critical incidents in a semi-donut chart.

    Note:
    This topic refers to Reporting in the Core UI. For instances migrated to Platform Analytics experience and new Zurich instances, see Chart interactions in a data visualization.
    Figure 1. Drilldown example
    Drilldown example with two report types
    All chart types except for list, histogram, calendar, control, box, and trendbox charts support drilling down. Drilling down is not available on charts added to forms, and charts embedded as iframes. You can define any number of drilldown levels for a report.
    Note:
    Drilldown reports do not export to PDF. If you select Export to PDF on a drilldown, a PDF of the top level report is generated.

    Define a report drilldown

    You can define a report drilldown to enable reporting users to view subsets of the report data. When you define a report drilldown, it applies only to the report for which you define it.

    Before you begin

    Role required: itil, report_user, report_group, report_global, report_admin, or admin.

    The report that you want to define a drilldown for must exist.

    Note:
    You can only drill down to data in the same table as the report. The following report types do not support the drilldown feature: list, histogram, calendar, control, box, and trendbox.

    This topic refers to Reporting in the Core UI. If your instance is migrated to Platform Analytics experience, see the Chart interaction section of the data visualization type you're configuring.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > Reports > View / Run.
    2. Select the report you want to add a drilldown to.
    3. Click the Show report structure icon (Show report structure).
      A badge on the Report structure icon displays the number of defined drilldowns.
    4. Click the Add drilldown icon (Plus sign button).
      Figure 2. Drilldown example
      Drilldown example with two levels
    5. Enter a Title for the drilldown and click Next.
    6. Select the report Type to display the data and click Next.
      See Report types. The drilldown report type can be different than the parent report.
    7. Configure the drilldown report the same way you would configure any other report.
      Configuration options depend on the selected drilldown report Type.
    8. Click Save drilldown.

    Result

    The user can drill down from the top-level report to the specified drilldown report visualizations.
    Note:
    All users can view report visualizations, such as pie charts and column reports. However, the last level of a drilldown is always a list. Platform access control lists determine user access to list information. Users may see a message indicating that rows were removed from the list by Security constraints. For more information, see Access control list rules.