Opening an Existing Workbook

If you have questions about the Discoverer workbook names, whether you have access to them, the location of workbooks on company servers, and so on, see your Discoverer Administrator. The Discoverer Administrator also supplies the passwords and server access instructions that you need to connect to your company's database and open a Discoverer workbook.

To open a workbook you first connect to your company's database. Choose the workbook to open from the Open Workbook from Database dialog. One workbook can be open at a time. To open another workbook you close the workbook already opened. You can open a workbook in your database account, or in another person's account which is shared to you.

Click to learn how
To connect to your company's database:
To open a workbook:
To open a scheduled workbook:

See also:
Viewing Scheduled Workbooks
Opening Workbooks in a Non-Oracle Database
Creating a New Workbook


To connect to your company's database:

1. Launch your Web browser.

2. Go to the Discoverer Web site address that your Discoverer Administrator gives you.

3. Depending on the Web browser you are using and your company's Web server configuration, you may need to follow a one-time-only set up process. See your Discoverer Administrator for details.

   You may also see a dialog about security. This security dialog appears because Discoverer requests extra permissions so it can access the Discoverer server or local devices, such as a printer. If you don't want to see this dialog every time you connect, click the option "Always trust content from Oracle Corporation." Click Yes (or OK or Grant depending on the type of dialog) to continue launching Discoverer.

   A Welcome page appears.

   
   

4. Click the Click to Start icon.

   The Connect to Oracle Discoverer dialog appears.

   
   
   5. Type the username, password, and database name given to you by your Discoverer Administrator.
      
      NOTE: For information about connecting to an Oracle Applications EUL, see Appendix B, "Oracle Applications Support".

   6. Click Connect.
      
      The Workbook Wizard appears, which means you are connected to the database and ready to use Discoverer.

      
      

   
   
   
   To open a workbook:
   1. Click Open an existing workbook.

      The dialog then shows options for opening a workbook from the database or a scheduled workbook.

      
      
   2. Select one of the following:

      Database--displays a list of workbooks in the database to which you are connected.

      Scheduled--displays a list of scheduled workbooks that have run and are now available. Scheduled workbooks run automatically at the time you specify, usually overnight, on the weekend, or at some periodic interval. You can view the most current results when you open the scheduled workbooks.

      NOTE: If the button for opening a workbook from the database is not available, you can only open scheduled workbooks. Your Discoverer Administrator decides the types of workbooks you can open.

      
      
      3. Depending on your selection, either a list of stored workbooks or a list of scheduled workbooks appears. Select a workbook that contains the data you want to see, and click Open.

         The workbook opens. Discoverer evaluates the query to determine how much time it will take to open the first worksheet. Depending on the default options you've selected for opening worksheets, a progress dialog shows you the time estimate for loading the first sheet. See Setting General Options for the choices to load a worksheet.

         
         

         The worksheet appears. If the workbook has more than one worksheet, a series of tabs across the bottom of the window name the various worksheets.

         NOTE: The first worksheet in the workbook is not necessarily the first active worksheet.

      4. If the time estimate exceeds the value you set in the General Options, a dialog opens to alert you. If the query time lasts more than a few minutes you can do other work while Discoverer gets the data for the worksheet, or you can run the query at another time.
         
         Do one of the following:

         Click Yes. The query finds the most recent data and fills in the worksheet.

         Click No. The worksheet opens but does not contain any data. Click No if you want to see another worksheet with data first. Click that other worksheet's tab at the bottom of the window.

         NOTE: If you click No, you can always run the query for the worksheet at a later time by choosing Sheet | Refresh Sheet.

         If you click Yes, and if the workbook has Parameters for the data, you'll see a dialog for selecting those Parameters.

         
         To open another workbook:
         1. From the menu, choose File | Close to close the current workbook.

         2. Choose File | Open. The Open Workbook dialog appears.

            
            

            Note: Only one workbook at a time can be open. If you choose File | Open while a workbook is already open, the current workbook closes automatically.

         3. Select one of the options and click Open.

         You can connect to only one database account at a time. For example, if you are connected to Account1 but want to open a workbook saved in Account2, you must disconnect from Account1 then connect to Account2. However, if you have access to a shared workbook, you can open that workbook in your current account.

         Opening Workbooks in a Non-Oracle Database

         If your business uses non-Oracle databases, your Discoverer Administrator can set up Discoverer to open workbooks in those databases. You can then use Discoverer to get the data you want. However, depending on the type of database, you might not be able to use all the data access and analysis features available with Oracle databases.

         The process to open workbooks in non-Oracle databases is essentially the same as opening a workbook in an Oracle database. Please see your Discoverer Administrator for the correct steps to open the workbooks in non-Oracle databases.