How to Replace Storyboard Contents

The Replace Storyboard Contents feature is available in the Storyboard Settings tab of a Storyboard and allows Storyboard designers and Admins (with the appropriate permission) to replace the tiles, tile contents, and the Storyboard filter template without changing the Storyboard ID.  The Storyboard ID is an embedded part of each Storyboard’s unique web address (URL) and this is used as part of the Storyboard embedding feature.  

When using this feature with multi-page Storyboards, the page IDs in the URL are recreated resulting in broken page links, so we added an error message to alert you to a non-existent page or pages without a page ID so you can update the embedded or linked page url. Any linked tiles pointing to deleted pages will be redirected to the first page of the Storyboard. 

Note; that this feature does not apply to the homepage Storyboard. Learn more about the Home Page Storyboard here.

If you are an Admin or Storyboard designer of a large Organization with multiple users and viewers of Storyboards who bookmark or save the URL of each Storyboard, this feature enables you to make edits or changes and overwrite the existing Storyboard contents without altering the URL or breaking any other locations (e.g. SharePoint) that has a specific Storyboard embedded. In practical terms, this means that you can make changes seamlessly without disruption or interference with Storyboard users.

The first step is to enable the Storyboard Administrator permission that activates the Replace Storyboard Contents feature. The second step is to make a copy of the Storyboard you want to change or update and start experimenting with different metrics and dimensions, styles of data visualization and previewing different tiles in your Storyboard until you’re ready to replace the original. 

The Replace Storyboard Contents feature will; 

Make changes to;

• Storyboard filter template,
• Storyboard tiles and their contents.

NOT change the following;

• Storyboard settings
• Individual saved filter sets
• Sharing permissions
• Storyboard URL used for bookmarks and embedding

To enable the Replace Storyboard Contents feature, the Storyboard Administrator permission must be selected.

Go to the Admin tab.

Then select;

1. Application Access Roles
2. Select the link for the relevant role - Permissions
3. Check Storyboard Administrator
4. Click Update Permissions

The Replace Storyboard Contents feature will be activated in the Storyboard Settings tab where you will see the Replace button in the menu, as shown below. 

Using the Replace Storyboard Contents feature assumes you already have a source Storyboard from which to copy all the content from. The most common workflow for this feature will be to take a copy of a Storyboard that you have in production to make changes without disrupting end users, and then when you are happy with the changes in your copy, replace the production version. 

The steps are;

Copy a Storyboard

Edit your Storyboard

Replace Storyboard Contents

If you don't already have a Storyboard to edit, start by making a copy of your original Storyboard.

1. Go to the Storyboard tab and click to open the Storyboard Library.

2. Find the Storyboard you want to copy, and click on the three dots at the end of the row to open the Settings menu.

3. Click Copy - in this menu, you can rename the copy, add or edit the description.

4. Click Copy to save to Unshared Storyboards in the Storyboard Library.

Make your changes and edits to the copied Storyboard. This is where you can try a new layout, test different metrics, sample different types of data visualizations, and more.

1. Go to the Storyboard tab and click to open the Storyboard Library.
2. Find the Storyboard you want to edit.
3. Click to open.
4. Click the pencil button at the top right of the Storyboard navigation bar to enter Modify Mode.

5. Make your changes.
6. Click Save to keep your changes or Leave without Saving to discard.

Learn more about Customizing your Storyboards.

To replace Storyboard Contents;

1. Open the Storyboard that you want to overwrite (replace content) without changing the URL.
2. Click the three dots at the top right to open the Storyboard Settings tab.
3. Click Replace at the top right. 

4. From the dropdown menu, select the Storyboard you want to use to replace Storyboard contents. I.e. the Storyboard you copied and edited in the previous steps. 
5. Checking the box at the bottom will create a backup copy of the original storyboard in ‘Unshared Storyboards’ category on save. This is useful just in case there have been changes between versions, but the backup copy will have a new URL.
6. Click Replace.

Step 4: Update bookmarked Page URLs

The Replace Storyboard Contents feature was developed when Storyboards were a single page, but with the introduction of multi-page Storyboards,the Storyboard ID is maintained but the page IDs are recreated resulting in broken page links. So we implemented the following:

• Any linked tiles pointing to deleted pages will be redirected to the first page of the Storyboard, and;
• We added an error message to alert users to a non-existent page or without a page ID so they can update the bookmarked URL.