Report Linking

Report linking lets you build a report once as a master report, then create linked reports for each client that stay bound to it. Change the master and every linked report picks up the change — no bulk editing, no sync button, no drift.

Find it: open a report in the editor. A standalone report shows Save as master report in the toolbar. A master report shows a Master report banner with Create linked report. A linked report shows a client linked copy banner with Edit master report and Detach from master.

A master report is not a template. A template is a starting point — you create a report from it, and the two have nothing to do with each other afterwards. A master report is followed: its linked reports stay bound to it for as long as they exist. Use templates to start faster; use report linking to keep many client reports aligned.

Key terms

• Master report — The definition every linked report follows. Holds the layout, cards, metrics and chart configuration. Has no client bound to it.
• Linked report — A client's live copy of a master. Stores only what is specific to that client; everything else is read from the master every time the report loads.
• Shared — Configuration that always comes from the master and cannot be changed on a linked report (chart type, metrics, filters, layout geometry).
• Bound — Configuration that only ever lives on the linked report and is never inherited (the client, the page date range).
• Overridable — Configuration that comes from the master until you change it on the linked report (titles, commentary, theme, palette).
• Overridden — An overridable field you have changed on a linked report. It stops following the master for that one field.
• Master card — A card that comes from the master report. Present on every linked report.
• Local card — A card added directly to a linked report's page. It belongs to that client only and is not on the master.
• Detach — Break the link permanently. The report keeps its current configuration and becomes standalone.

The three tiers

Every setting in a report belongs to exactly one tier. The tier decides where you change it and whether master updates reach it.

In one line: Shared flows from the master, Bound never flows, Overridable flows until you break it on purpose.

‍

What you can change on a linked report

On a linked report, the controls for Shared settings are read-only and the banner offers Edit master report so you always know where the change belongs.

‍

How a linked report is built

A linked report is not a copy. It stores a pointer to its master plus the handful of fields that are genuinely its own. Everything else is read from the master each time the report is opened.

Two things follow from that:

• There is no sync step. A change to the master is live for every linked report the next time each one is opened. Nothing to push, nothing to remember.
• Nothing goes stale. Because the merge happens on load, a linked report that has not been opened in six months still comes up on the current master.

‍

Create a master report

Two ways in:

• From an existing report — open it in the editor and choose Save as master report. The client binding is removed and the report becomes the definition others follow. This cannot be undone from the editor.
• From scratch — build the report you want every client to have, then save it as a master before linking anyone to it.

A master report carries no client, so its cards have no data to draw. Pick a preview client from the master banner to render real data while you build. The preview is for your session only — it is never saved onto the master and never affects a linked report.

Tip: get the structure close to right before you link clients to it. Structural changes are cheap afterwards, but each one lands on every client at once, so it is worth one careful pass.

‍

Link a report for a client

From a master report, choose Create linked report and pick the client. Jepto creates the client's report and takes you straight to it.

The client's data connections are resolved from the client you picked — the master declares which platforms a card needs, never which account. That is what lets one master report serve every client without any per-client rewiring.

If a client is not connected to a platform the master uses, those cards have nothing to draw. Connect the source for that client and the cards fill in on the next load. See Connect a data source.

‍

What happens when you edit the master

The last row is the one to remember. Overrides are per-field, not per-card: if a client report has a custom title on a chart, it still receives master updates to that chart's metrics, chart type, palette and position — it only stops following the master for the title.

‍

Adding your own cards to a linked report

A linked page is not frozen. Alongside the master's cards you can add local cards that belong to that client alone — a commentary block about last month's campaign, a chart for a platform only this client runs, a client-specific callout.

• Local cards are fully editable. They are ordinary cards, not linked to anything, so every control is available including metrics and chart type.
• They are invisible to the master and to every other client. Adding one does not affect anyone else.
• You can hide a master card on a single linked report when it does not apply to that client. Hiding is per-report — the card stays on the master and on everyone else.
• Master cards keep their position from the master; your local cards are placed around them.

Rule of thumb: if every client should have it, put it on the master report. If exactly one client should have it, add it as a local card on their report.

‍

Overrides and resetting

Editing an overridable field on a linked report — a title, some commentary, the theme — creates an override. The field is marked Overridden so it is obvious at a glance which parts of a client report have diverged from the master.

Reset to master removes the override and inheritance resumes: the field goes back to the master's value and follows it again from then on. Resetting one field leaves every other override on that card intact.

Clearing a field is not the same as resetting it. An empty title stays empty; a reset title goes back to the master's title.

‍

Detaching and deleting

Detach — on a linked report, choose Detach from master. The report keeps exactly what it shows at that moment, permanently, and becomes a standalone report. Master changes no longer reach it and every control becomes editable again. Use it when one client has genuinely outgrown the shared structure.

Delete a linked report — removes that client's report only. The master and every other client are untouched.

Delete a master report — Jepto shows how many linked reports depend on it before you confirm. On confirm, those reports are automatically detached and keep working as standalone reports. Client reports are never deleted along with a master.

‍

Date ranges on linked reports

Each linked report carries its own page date range, so one client can be on last month while another is on last quarter, from the same master.

For that to work, cards need to follow the page date picker rather than holding their own fixed window — the Use Default Date Range setting on the card's Data tab, covered in Data Query. Leave it on for cards on a master report. A card with a fixed date range shows the same hard-coded window on every client report, which is occasionally what you want and usually not. Report-level defaults live in Report Settings.

‍

Linked reports and AI

Jepto's AI follows the same rules you do. Asked to change a linked client report, it will write titles, commentary and other overridable fields onto that report. Asked for a structural change — a new metric, a different chart type, another card — it routes the change to the master report, where it lands for every client at once.

Editing a master with AI is the fast way to roll a change across an entire client base. It is also the reason to be specific about which report you mean: “add a conversions chart to the monthly master” and “add a conversions chart to Acme's report” produce very different blast radii. See Report Chat and Card Chat.

‍

Tips

• Build the master against a preview client first. Structure problems are much cheaper to fix before clients are linked.
• Put anything every client should see on the master report, even if only one client has asked for it so far.
• Use overrides for voice and branding — titles, commentary, theme — not to work around a structural difference. If the structure genuinely differs, use a local card or a second master report.
• Check the Overridden markers before wondering why a change to the master “did not apply” to one client.
• Keep Use Default Date Range on for master cards so each client's date picker drives their own report.
• If two client reports have drifted so far apart that almost everything is overridden, they probably want separate master reports.

‍

Troubleshooting