Building fundamentals
Course overview
Pulling data
Transforming data
Exporting data & dashboards
Exporting data &
dashboards
Bonus lessons
Pulling data
Transforming data
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Course overview
Pulling data
Transforming data
Exporting data & dashboards
Bonus lessons
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Parabola Tables

In this lesson, we dive into dashboards and the core concepts of Tables — databases that live in Parabola and power dashboards and visualizations. 

Building challenge

In this challenge, we’ll create a Table that is grouped by status and warehouse to make it easy for the team to review SKUs with low inventory levels. 

  • In the Inventory report Table, group rows first based on status, then by warehouse.
  • Change the color of the Table to green, and freeze the first column of data. 
  • Add a calculation to the Available column and sum up units available by status. Format the column to include a comma. 

To check your work, take a look at this quick video.

About Parabola Tables 

With Parabola Tables, you can 

  • Store up to 5 million rows and 5,000 columns of data 
  • Share data across Flows using the Pull from Parabola Table step 
  • Build interactive data Tables with groupings, custom views, and heat maps 
  • Use Table data to power additional visualizations

Customizing your Parabola Table

There are a few essential pieces of functionality you should know about when working with Parabola Tables:  

  • Grouping: The grouping function allows you to create pivot Table-like views with dropdowns. 
  • Calculations: Click on either a grouped row or the bottom bar of your Parabola Table to add calculated fields to your Parabola Table.
    • Ex) After grouping your Inventory data by Status, you can Sum all of the values in the Available column to see an overview of quantities by status. 
  • Colors: Beyond customizing the color of your Table, you can also add color to specific columns — including color scales and color rules.  
  • Hiding: Select columns to hide from certain views. 
Next lesson

Using Tables & Visualizations in Parabola

Parabola makes it easy to store, reuse, and visualize data across flows using Parabola Tables and Visualizations. These features allow you to create live dashboards and share datasets across workflows.

Using Parabola Tables (Like a Database)

Parabola Tables function as internal databases that can store up to 5 million rows and allow data to be shared across flows.

Creating a Parabola Table

  1. Drag the "Send to Parabola Table" step onto the canvas.
  2. Name the table (e.g., "Parabola University Sample").
  3. Choose how to update data:
    • Overwrite → Replace the table with new data every time the flow runs.
    • Append → Add new data while keeping existing records.
    • Update Existing Rows → Modify specific rows in the table.
  4. Click Show Updated Results to create the table.

Accessing Your Stored Data

To use this data in another flow:

  1. Open a new Parabola flow.
  2. Drag in a "Pull from Parabola Table" step.
  3. Search for "Parabola University Sample".
  4. Click Show Updated Results → The data is now available for transformation.

Creating Visualizations & Dashboards

Visualizations help you turn raw data into actionable insights by creating charts, tables, and KPI dashboards.

Adding a Visualization Step

  1. Drag the "Visualize" step onto the canvas.
  2. Choose how the data is displayed:
    • Table View → Expand raw data for quick reference.
    • Charts → Convert data into column charts, line graphs, and more.

Example: Sales Over Time Chart

  1. Change the display type → Select Column Chart.
  2. Set:
    • X-axis → "Order Date" (formatted as Month-Year).
    • Y-axis → "Revenue" (set to Sum of Revenue).
  3. Format:
    • X-axis → Displayed as Month.
    • Y-axis → Formatted as Currency.
  4. Final Result → A Sales Over Time chart appears on both the canvas and dashboard.

Customizing Views

  • Create multiple views (e.g., group by Product Title instead of Date).
  • Apply color coding, heat maps, and KPI widgets for deeper insights.

Try It Yourself!

Test the Parabola Tables & Visualizations steps in the building challenge below and let us know if you have any questions! 🚀