---
title: Explore metrics with InfluxDB
description: Explore and visualize your data in InfluxDB’s Data Explorer. The InfluxDB user interface (UI) allows you to move seamlessly between using the Flux builder and manually editing the query.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/explore-metrics/
estimated_tokens: 1543
product: InfluxDB Cloud (TSM)
version: cloud
---

# Explore metrics with InfluxDB

Explore and visualize your data in the **Data Explorer**. The InfluxDB user interface (UI) allows you to move seamlessly between using the Flux builder or templates and manually editing the query. Choose between [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/) for your query.

To open the **Data Explorer**, click the **Explore** (**Data Explorer**) icon in the left navigation menu:

Data Explorer

## Explore data with Flux and the Data Explorer

Flux is InfluxData’s functional data scripting language designed for querying, analyzing, and acting on time series data. See [Get started with Flux](/influxdb/cloud/query-data/get-started) to learn more about Flux.

1. In the navigation menu on the left, click **Data Explorer**.
    
    Data Explorer
    
2. Use the Flux builder in the bottom panel to create a Flux query:
    

-   Select a bucket to define your data source or select `+ Create Bucket` to add a new bucket.
-   Edit your time range with the [time range option](#select-time-range) in the dropdown menu.
-   Add filters to narrow your data by selecting attributes or columns in the dropdown menu.
-   Select **Group** from the **Filter** dropdown menu to group data into tables. For more about how grouping data in Flux works, see [Group data](/influxdb/cloud/query-data/flux/group-data/).

3. Alternatively, click **Script Editor** to manually edit the query. To switch back to the query builder, click **Query Builder**. Note that your updates from the Script Editor will not be saved.
4. Use the **Functions** list to review the available Flux functions. Click a function from the list to add it to your query.
5. Click **Submit** (or press `Control+Enter`) to run your query. You can then preview your graph in the above pane. To cancel your query while it’s running, click **Cancel**.
6. To work on multiple queries at once, click the to add another tab.

-   Click the eye icon on a tab to hide or show a query’s visualization.
-   Click the name of the query in the tab to rename it.

## Visualize your query

-   Select an available [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/) from the dropdown menu in the upper-left:
    
    ![](/img/influxdb/2-0-visualizations-dropdown.png)

## Control your dashboard cell

To open the cell editor overlay, click the gear icon in the upper right of a cell and select **Configure**. The cell editor overlay opens.

### View raw data

Toggle the **View Raw Data** option to see your data in table format instead of a graph. Scroll through raw data using arrows, or click page numbers to find specific tables. [Group keys](/influxdb/cloud/reference/glossary/#group-key) and [data types](/influxdb/cloud/reference/glossary/#data-type) are easily identifiable at the top of each column underneath the headings. Use this option when data can’t be visualized using a visualization type.

![View raw data](/img/influxdb/cloud-controls-view-raw-data.png)

### Save as CSV

Click the CSV icon to save the cells contents as a CSV file.

### Manually refresh dashboard

Click the refresh button () to manually refresh the dashboard’s data.

### Select time range

1. Select from the time range options in the dropdown menu.
    
    ![Select time range](/img/influxdb/2-0-controls-time-range.png)
2. Select **Custom Time Range** to enter a custom time range with precision up to nanoseconds. The default time range is 5m.
    

> The custom time range uses the selected timezone (local time or UTC).

### Query Builder or Script Editor

Click **Query Builder** to use the builder to create a Flux query. Click **Script Editor** to manually edit the query.

#### Keyboard shortcuts

In **Script Editor** mode, the following keyboard shortcuts are available:

| Key | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Control + / (⌘ + / on Mac) | Comment/uncomment current or selected lines |
| Control + Enter | Submit query |

## Save your query as a dashboard cell or task

**To save your query**:

Click **Save as** in the upper right, then:

-   To add your query to a dashboard, click **Dashboard Cell**.
-   To save your query as a task, click **Task**.
-   To save your query as a variable, click **Variable**.