Drill-through
Click a figure in a summary to open the detail rows behind it, narrowed to the row you clicked.
A drill-through links one report to another. In a summary such as Spend by Vendor by Month, the amount can be a link. Click ACME's figure for August, and the purchase order lines behind it open in the detail report, narrowed to ACME and August.
Following a link
- In a summary report, click a figure that shows as a link.
- The detail report opens with a bar at the top that says what it is showing, for example Vendor: ACME, Month: 2026-08.
- To see the detail report as it normally opens, choose Show everything.
- To return to the summary, use your browser's Back button.
The carried values replace the detail report's own starting filters. Without this, a detail report that normally opens on "this year" would hide a row from last year that you just clicked through to. The bar lists every value it applied.
A figure is a link only when you are allowed to open the report behind it. For anyone outside the detail report's audience, the figure is plain text.
How values land in the detail
The app fits each value to the type of the detail column it fills:
| Carried value | Detail column | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
| A month, 2026-08 | Month column | That month |
| A month, 2026-08 | Date column | Every date in August 2026 |
| A quarter or a year | Month or date column | Every month or date in that quarter or year |
| A name | Dropdown column | That value ticked |
| A name | Text column | An exact match |
| An empty cell | Any column | Rows where that column is empty |
The app drops a value that has no matching column in the detail report.
A drill-through works with the grain switch too. If the summary is grouped by Quarter, clicking 2026-Q3 narrows the detail to the three months of that quarter.
Record links
Some columns link to a NetSuite record rather than to another report. They open the record, such as the sales order, vendor or customer, in a new tab. The author chooses which record type a column links to, and an administrator maintains the list of linkable record types.
From a dashboard
On a dashboard, every widget names its report in its title bar. Clicking the name opens the report with the dashboard's filters that apply to that widget. Each one becomes a column filter on the report, on the matching column and in that column's own shape. For example, a month filter on a date column becomes that month's dates.
A drill-through from a table widget on a dashboard carries the dashboard's filters as well. Where a column receives both the clicked row's value and a dashboard filter, the row's value wins.
For authors: setting up a drill-through
You set up a drill-through in the report wizard, on the Columns step.
- On the summary column that should be a link, open the link choice and pick Another report (drill-through).
- Pick the report that a click should open.
- Add one line for each value to carry. The detail report's column goes on the left and this report's column on the right. The wizard fills in the lines for columns that have the same name in both reports.
- Where a figure covers a subset that the row has no column for, set a line to A fixed value instead of a column. Examples are open opportunities only, the billed side of freight, or the income lines of a profit and loss. Type the value exactly as the detail report shows it, for example Status is Open. The detail then opens on the rows that add up to the figure you clicked.
- Save the report.
The link names its target by the target's export key, not its internal id. A report built in the account gets an export key the first time an author chooses it as a target. As a result, a drill-through survives Import / Export between accounts without changes. If the detail report is not in the receiving account yet, the figure stays plain text until someone imports it.
Checking a drill-through
A well-built drill-through reconciles. The total of the rows that open should equal the figure you clicked. If it does not, the summary may count something the carried values do not narrow, and a fixed value usually fixes it.
Related: Filters and the grain switch · The report wizard step by step · Dashboard filters · Import and export