Introduction to Annotations

Annotations add user context and insight to specific data points, trends, or patterns within charts, helping your team members interpret the data more effectively and derive meaningful conclusions. Use of annotations is widely extensible and can be used to call out or clarify data points in many scenarios such as promotional campaigns, product launches, app redesigns, or A/B test results.

Getting Started

Create an Annotation

First, navigate to a saved metric or funnel trend and hover over the general area you wish to create an annotation for. Upon hover, you will see an add icon. Click on the + icon.

The Create annotation modal will appear. Fill out the necessary inputs and fields.

• Select an emoji in the drop-down to be used for marking and referencing the specific annotation on the chart.
• Modify the date and time drop-down to align your annotation to a date and time on the chart. Check the checkbox for Annotate a range if you wish to apply an annotation across multiple dates or times.
• Add a description that will help add context to the annotation.
• Select the visibility for the annotation to show only on the selected metric or funnel or for the annotation to apply across all metrics and funnels.

Save will be enabled once you provide a description. Click Save when you are done.

Viewing Annotations

The annotation will appear on the date or date range of the saved metric or funnel trend that you have applied it to, indicated by the emoji that you have selected. The annotation can be seen directly on the object's detail page or in any dashboard, space, or on home if the card is displayed. Rectangular icons depict single point-in-time annotations and circular icons depict annotations that apply across a date range. Hovering on a date range annotation will highlight the chart area to which it applies.

If annotations overlap with one another in your current view, they will be indicated by a numeric icon instead of the emoji. 

Hover over the emoji or numeric icon to preview the annotations. Click on the emoji or numeric icon to open up the sticky view to avoid the annotations disappearing if you hover away from them. If there are multiple annotations that overlap, the newest by creation date will appear at the top.

Managing Annotations

To edit an annotation, click into the annotation icon to open up the sticky view. Next, hover on the right side of the annotation near the creation stamp until the ⋮ icon appears which indicates more actions. Click on the ⋮ icon and then click Edit. The Edit annotation modal will appear where you can make changes to the emoji, date, description, or visibility. Click Save to apply your changes.

To delete an annotation, click on the ⋮ within the annotation and then click Delete. After you confirm your deletion, the annotation will be removed from all views and cannot be reversed. 

Bulk Management

Clicking on Annotations on the left navigation bar under Tools will bring you to the annotations management page where you can view, edit, or delete annotations across your organization.

Show or Hide Annotations

On the Annotations page, you can manage your annotation chart display preferences by clicking on the Chart Display Settings button in the top right corner of the page. This is a global user setting that will allow you to show or hide annotations across all charts.

The ability to show or hide annotations is also available on Dashboards or within the individual metric trend or funnel trend view. Simply locate the Annotations toggle and show or hide per view. This setting does not save your preferences and will reset each time you revisit the page.

FAQs

What can I apply an annotation to?

At this time, annotations can only be applied to saved metrics or funnel trends.

Who can see the annotation I created?

Anyone with access to the metric or funnel that the annotation applies to will be able to view the annotation.

Who can edit or delete my annotation?

Only the owner of the annotation will have permission to edit the annotation. In addition to the owner of the annotation, admins or architects will also have permission to delete the annotation. 

Why can’t I see my annotation?

Here are some common reasons why you may not be seeing your annotation:

• The time frame in which you are viewing your metric is outside the window in which your annotation is applied. Change the time frame to the window in which your annotation was dated.
• The annotation is outside of your product analytics retention window. The annotation will be deleted if the date falls outside your retention period. 

Is there an annotations API?
Yes, there is an API to create annotations. For more information, go to https://developer.fullstory.com/server/annotations/create-annotation/.