Title: Custom report builder
Author: Abdul Rahim
Published: February 6, 2025
Last modified: September 23, 2025

---

 1. [User handbook](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/)
 2. [Measuring and reporting performance](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/measuring-reporting-performance/)
 3. [Reports guide](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/measuring-reporting-performance/reports-guide/)
 4. [Details report](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/measuring-reporting-performance/reports-guide/details/)
 5. Custom report builder

#  Custom report builder

The custom report builder, available when creating a [Details report](https://docs.parse.ly/measuring-reporting-performance/reports-guide/details/),
allows you to preview data and customize its display before generating the final
report.

With the custom report builder, you have flexibility to:

 * Personalize the report’s structure by selecting the factoids and data displays.
 * Edit and rearrange listings and factoids to focus metrics and insights on what
   matters most to your team and stakeholders.
 * Preview the data and layout before finalizing the report in [HTML or PDF format](https://docs.parse.ly/measuring-reporting-performance/reports-guide/html-pdf-csv-xlsx/).

**Note**

The custom report builder is used for the Details report by default. In future releases,
it will be available for other report types, as well.

## Building a custom report

![](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/09/image-120.png)

Creating a custom report.

When building a Details report, you can customize:

 * **Factoids: **Choose which factoids to include in the report. Factoids are metrics
   that help analyze content performance.
 * **Report listings and sections: **Select the type of listings and sections displayed
   in the final report.
    - Top Posts, New Posts: The highest performing posts or videos, sorted by the
      selected “Listings Sort” metric.
    - Top Authors, Sections, Tags: The highest performing authors, sections, or 
      tags, sorted by the selected “Listings Sort” metric.
    - How people find your content: A breakdown of referral traffic from different
      sources, including Social, Search, Other, Internal, and Direct.
    - Visitors and Device Breakdown: Insights on the number of [new and returning visitors](https://docs.parse.ly/measuring-reporting-performance/calculations/visitors/new-returning/)
      during the selected time period, as well as where audiences accessed your 
      content (via desktop, mobile, or tablet).
    - Campaigns breakdown: Details on marketing campaign performance, demonstrating
      the impact of those campaigns in driving traffic.
 * **Layout: **Rearrange listings and sections to highlight what’s most important,
   and remove those you don’t need.

## **Switch to the classic report builder**

The classic method of creating reports, in which data and layout are only visible
after the report is delivered, is still available.

![](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/09/image-121.png)

Switching to the classic report builder.

 1. First, visit the [Reports tab](https://docs.parse.ly/dashboard/reports-tab/) and
    begin creating a new Details report.
 2. Click the info icon to the right of “Details Report.”
 3. This opens a drop-down box with more information on the custom report builder. 
    Click the link to “Switch to Classic Report Builder.”

When switching to the classic report builder, you won’t lose customizations in reports
already created or reports generated using the custom report builder.

You can also go back to the custom report builder by starting a new Details report,
then clicking “Switch to New Report Builder” at the top of the page:

![](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/09/image-122.png)

Switching to the custom report builder.

Last updated: September 23, 2025