# Flash Reports

Flash reports give you the option to schedule reports on a daily, weekly, or monthly frequency and distribute them, via email, to users manually added to the _Owner_, _Editor_, or _Viewer_ role. Flash reports are not sent to the _Report Administrators_ and _Report Owners_ system-managed groups. Vault sends a link with instant access to the most recent cached report results in Vault without needing to rerun the report, as well as the date and time the report ran. You can also set flash reports to include the report in the email itself, allowing recipients to access it without logging into Vault. Additionally, Vault does not require that flash report recipients have view permissions on the report's underlying object records or documents to view the cached results. Flash reports use the [Vault Time Zone](/en/lr/13309/#vault_time_zone).

## Scheduling Flash Reports {#scheduling}

When scheduling a flash report, you can determine the frequency, the preferred start time, and notification preferences. Note that the scheduling action is not available for reports with prompts and including the report in an email is not available for matrix reports.

To schedule a flash report:

  1. Select **Schedule Flash Report** from the report's **Actions** menu to open the **Schedule Flash Report** dialog.
  2. Select the scheduling frequency from the **Run report** picklist.
  3. Select the scheduled start time from the **Preferred Start Time** picklist. Note that flash reports do not honor daylight savings time.
  4. Select a notification preference from the **Email and Vault notification preferences** picklist. When you select the **Only send when at least one record is returned** option, Vault only sends a notification when the report returns at least one record.
  5. Optional: Select the [**Include report in email**][1] checkbox if you want to include a copy of the report in the flash report's email.
  6. Optional: Clear the [**Collapse report groups in email**][2] checkbox.
  7. Select the [**Customize email message to the users in the report**][3] checkbox if you want to customize the flash report email, then modify the **Email Subject** and **Email Body**.
  8. Optional: Clear the **Allow flash report to be refreshed** checkbox if you do not want to allow users to refresh flash reports.
  9. Click **OK**.

You must add users to a flash report by [manual assignment](/en/lr/33946/#manual-assignment) for them to receive the flash report and related notifications via email.

### Dynamic Distribution to Grouped Users

You can distribute flash reports grouped by user fields to the associated users. Users only see the report results associated with them.

While scheduling a flash report, select **Send to users in Group By user field** in the _Email and Vault notification preferences_ drop-down to distribute the report.

Users can click the link in the Vault notification email to access the report results associated with them. However, users cannot access the report from the **Reports** tab.

The email link expires when Vault reruns the flash report. If users click an expired link, Vault opens the newest report results associated with them.

Users can also [export their report results](/en/lr/3622/).

<div class="note-border alert-info">
  <div class="alert alert-info" role="alert">
    <div><i class="far fa-info-circle"></i></div>
    <div class="alert-text">
      <p><strong>Note</strong>: You cannot distribute flash reports based on the <em>Person</em> object or to user groups.</p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>



### Customizing Flash Report Emails {#customize-emails}

When scheduling a flash report, you can customize the subject and body of the email notification that Vault sends to users. To customize the email notification, select the **Customize email message to the users in the report** checkbox and modify the default text in the **Email Subject** and **Email Body** fields. In the **Email Subject** and **Email Body** fields, type a plus sign (**+**) or a dollar sign (**$**) to display a list of [tokens](/en/lr/6382/) you can add to the email. The _Email Subject_ field has a 256 character limit. The _Email Body_ field has a 1,024 character limit and supports limited use of [HTML tags](/en/lr/2157/#supported-html).

The following text is used by default:

**Email Subject**
: Flash Report _${reportName}_ ran at _${reportLastRanDate}_ includes you

**Email Body**

: Please review the following _${reportName}_
: _${reportFilters}_
: _${reportBody}_

When you customize a flash report email notification, Vault sends the standard flash report email notification to manually added users by default. If you do not want Vault to send the custom flash report email notification to manually added users, clear the **Send standard email notification to manually added report users** checkbox.

## Flash Reports Preview {#preview}

When you select the **Include report in email** checkbox, Vault includes an HTML copy of the flash report in the email notification. This allows users to view the report directly from their email or access the report in Vault.

With the <a id="collapse"></a>**Collapse report groups in email** setting enabled, the HTML version of the flash report sent via email will only show group-level data in the report. Users will not be able to expand the group to see all report results without logging into Vault.

<div class="note-border alert-info">
  <div class="alert alert-info" role="alert">
    <div><i class="far fa-info-circle"></i></div>
    <div class="alert-text">
      <p><strong>Note</strong>: The Gmail app for Android devices resizes emails to fit the device screen. To view flash reports in their respective size, navigate to <strong>Settings &gt; General Settings</strong> in the Gmail app and clear the <strong>Auto-fit messages</strong> checkbox.</p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>



## Modifying Flash Reports

Flash reports' _Lifecycle State_ column is set to _Flash Report_ to differentiate from standard reports. You can select **Schedule** from the report's **Actions** menu to modify the scheduling details of a flash report, or to unschedule it. To unschedule a flash report, click **Unschedule** in the **Schedule Flash Report** dialog. Only the following users can modify or edit flash reports:

  * The user who created the flash report
  * Vault Owners
  * Members of the _Report Owners_ [system-provided group](/en/lr/3200/#system-provided-groups)
  * Users granted the _Owner_ role through [Manual Assignment](/en/lr/46041/#DAC-reports)

## Refreshing Flash Reports

When enabled, you can click **Refresh** in the report viewer to ensure you are seeing the most accurate and recent data. When you refresh a flash report, Vault runs the flash report job as the user who created the report and updates the _Last Ran_ time. Refreshing a flash report updates report data for all users, but does not send the associated email notification. When enabled, clicking **Refresh** on a dashboard also refreshes the flash report.

When creating a flash report, you can also click **Run** in the report builder after you save the report. This runs the flash report job.

## Flash Report Job

When you schedule a flash report, Vault automatically creates and adds a new job to the **Job Definitions** and [**Job Status**](/en/lr/24762/) pages. From the [**Job Definitions**](/en/lr/22897/) page, you can make any necessary changes and update the job status. You cannot create a flash report job type from the **Job Definitions** page.

## Related Permissions

You must have the _Objects: Reports: Edit_ and _Dashboards and Reports: Schedule Reports_ permissions to schedule a flash report. Any users assigned to the _Owner_ role for that _Report_ object record can also edit the flash report. Both the user who schedules the flash report and the user who initially created the report have the _Owner_ role.

The results of the flash report are based on the permissions of the user who scheduled the report (displayed in the _Runs As_ field on the report). This user must have an active Vault account in order for the flash report to send. It is recommended to update the _Runs As_ user on flash reports as part of the user offboarding process. To change the _Runs As_ user, another user must unschedule, and then reschedule the flash report.

## Limitations

  * A single Vault cannot have more than 400 flash reports
  * Vault limits flash report emails to 3 MB
  * Flash reports timeout after 2 hours
  * Vault will not send flash report emails for reports with over 10,000 unique users. If the limit is exceeded, the user who scheduled the report will receive an email notification.
  * Formula fields that display icons are not supported in flash report emails. However, alternative text applied to the icon displays in the email.

[1]: #preview
[2]: #collapse
[3]: #customize-emails