Homepage

On 9 April 2024, we updated the homepage and removed the other homepage layout options. Read the FAQs section below for more information.

When you first sign in to Phocas, you arrive at your homepage. To return to the homepage from anywhere in Phocas, click the Home button at the top of the Phocas menu on the left side of your screen.

Take a tour of your homepage

The following image shows a typical homepage. There are three key elements, as identified by the numbers in the image and described below.

1. Tabs - browse the contents

All your Phocas content items are listed in a grid, organized into four tabs:

All: This tab opens by default and contains a list of all the items that have been shared with you, such as dashboards, favorites, alerts, and databases. When you create your own items, they’ll also be displayed here.
Alerts: This tab contains a list of alerts that have been shared with you or any you create. Alerts allow you to monitor performance against set targets. The color coding identifies items that require your immediate attention.
Bookmarks: This tab contains a list of items that you have bookmarked. Bookmarks allow you to quickly access the items you use frequently or are currently working on. You can bookmark items from any tab on this homepage and the All tab on the Budgets & Forecasts homepage.
Subscriptions: This tab contains a list of favorites and dashboards to which you have subscribed.

2. Filters and sort functionality - find specific items

To quickly find a particular item, use the search box in the top-right corner. As you type a keyword, the grid contents are filtered to display only the items that match. Often you don’t need to enter a whole keyword, as the search results are so fast.

To refine the list of items that display in the grid, use the following column filters:

Type: Filter the grid to see only a specific type of item, such as all the favorites that have been shared with you or all the databases you have access to.
Database: Filter the grid to see only the items associated with a specific database. For example, you might want to see all the favorites, dashboards, and alerts in your Finance database.
Folder: Filter the grid to see only the items stored in a specific folder. For example, you might want to see only items in the Marketing folder.
Owner: Filter the grid to see the items owned by a specific user. The owner is the user who created the item initially or has been set as the owner at some stage afterward. For example, you might want to get a quick list of all the items that you own.

To sort the items in the grid by a specific condition, click a column header. It’s particularly useful to sort by Last Opened or Last Updated to see the most recently opened or updated items.

3. Menus - take further action

There are several other actions you can take from your homepage. The available actions depend on the item and your user permissions. Click the menu button (three dots) at the end of the item row and select the required option:

Set default period: This option is available for database items. It allows you to change the default period (timeframe) you see when you open the database.
Share: This option is available for favorites, alerts, and dashboards. It allows you to share the item with an individual user or put it in a folder, so it’s available to a group of users.
Bookmark: This option adds the item to the Bookmarks tab.
Subscribe: This option allows you to subscribe to favorites, alerts, and dashboards. When you are subscribed to an item, the option changes, allowing you to manage the subscriptions.
Edit: This option is available for favorites, alerts, and dashboards. It allows you to change the name, description, or owner of the item.
Delete: This option is available for favorites, alerts, and dashboards. It allows you to delete the items you own. You can’t delete items that were shared with you but you can use the grid filters to remove such items from your view.

Open an item

When you find the item you're looking for, click its name to open it.

Afterward, it’ll display at the top of the list on your homepage and in the Recents list in your Phocas menu.

Change your homepage

If your homepage does not meet your needs, you can replace it with a custom home dashboard that contains the information you want to view as soon as you sign in to Phocas.

Related pages

FAQs: Homepage changes

Yes, some things have changed or moved! We released the updated Phocas homepage in April 2024. Before that date, there were two homepage options that you could switch between. The updated homepage combines the best bits from those homepages to give you a cleaner layout with enhanced functionality. Here are answers to some questions you might have…

	Questions	Answers

	Questions	Answers
		Comparison with homepage version 2	Comparison with homepage version 1
1	Where are my recent items?	We removed the Recents tab because you can now click the Last Opened column to sort the list and see the most recently opened items at the top. You can also use your Phocas Recents menu.	Not applicable; recent items were not listed.
2	Where can I find the items I created?	We removed the My section tab because you now use the filter in the Owner column to find the items you created.	Not applicable; the owner of items was not identified.
3	How do I know if it’s an item I created or was shared with me? Where can I find shared items?	You only see items that you created (own) or were shared with you by other users. We removed the Shared with me tab on the homepage because the Owner column identifies the person who created the content (or was been added as an owner of that content) and therefore, shared it with you. You can filter this column to find the items owned by a specific user. The New tag no longer displays on newly shared items. You can use the Last Opened column as a quick way to identify new items; if you have ever opened an item, there’ll be no date against the item in that column.	Not applicable; the owner of items was not identified.
4	How do I filter by item type now?	We removed the Favorites, Dashboards, Databases and Budgets & Forecasts filter buttons because you can now use the filter in the Type column to get a list of items of a specific type, such as a database, favorite, or budget workbook.	The items are no longer grouped by type because because you can use the filter in the Type column to get a list of items of a specific type, such as a database, favorite, or budget workbook.
5	Where’s the folders filter? How do I filter items by folder now?	We removed the folder filter because you now use the filter in the Folder column to get a list of items that are stored in a specific folder.
6	I don't see any Budgets & Forecasts notifications. How will I know if I’ve been assigned to a task in a workflow?	Those notifications no longer display on the Phocas homepage but they do display on the Budgets & Forecasts homepage.	Not applicable; no notifications were displayed.
7	Why can’t I see any forecasts on the homepage? All I see are budget workbooks.	As forecasts are built from budget workbooks, only the budget workbooks display on the Phocas homepage. You can either open a budget workbook, then switch to the forecast, or use the Budgets & Forecasts homepage to browse your list of forecasts.
8	Where’s the New Dashboard button?	Not applicable; no such button existed.	You can no longer create a dashboard from your homepage, as you can now do it from the Dashboards menu, a more intuitive location.
9	I prefer the old new homepage. Can I still use it?	There’s no option to revert to an older version of the homepage. You can take advantage of the bookmarks feature to create a custom list of items you want to access frequently. Alternatively, you can replace the homepage with a custom home dashboard.

Documentation