QS Metadata Explorer

Explore, export and manage Qlik Sense app metadata: Excel export, script outline, data model, copy/paste, optimization scan.

QS Metadata Explorer is a free Chrome extension for Qlik Sense developers, analysts and administrators. It helps you understand, document, audit and optimize your applications, directly from the Qlik Sense page you are working on. It connects to your current Qlik Sense session with the official Enigma.js library. Everything runs in your browser. ✅ No data leaves your environment ✅ No third-party server or API ✅ Works on Qlik Sense SaaS (cloud), on-premise (Windows) and Qlik Sense Desktop 🔑 Key features 1. Explore and manage metadata Browse every type of metadata of the open app from the side panel: - Sheets and their objects, with search, filters (published, community) and owner change - Master visualizations, with the full definition of each object - Master dimensions, master measures and variables - Fields and their usage across the app - Bookmarks and stories - Data connections, with their type and connection string - Users and automations (cloud) For any master measure, master dimension, variable or field, the "Where is it used" button lists every place it appears: sheet objects (with a link that opens the object in its sheet), sheets, master visualizations, other master items, variables, stories, bookmarks and script lines. Copy and paste objects between apps: sheets, bookmarks, master items, variables and master visualizations, each type with its own clipboard, so you can copy several kinds of objects and paste them in another app one after the other. Deletions ask for a double confirmation. Export all the metadata to Excel (.xlsx), one tab per type, including the definition of every master visualization. Long values are split over several columns so the file always opens. Download the load script as a file, and set the thumbnail of a sheet from a screenshot of the sheet itself. 2. Script editor tools In the Data Load Editor, two buttons are added to the toolbar: - Beautify: formats the current section with a consistent indentation of LOAD, SELECT, field lists, joins, control blocks and SUBs, without ever flattening a block on one line - Outline: a panel docked beside the editor that lists, section by section, the tables created, the SUBs and their calls, the includes, the variables and every reference to a table (resident, join, keep, concatenate, store, drop, rename) From the Outline you can: - click any item to mark its line in the editor with a green arrow, then scroll to it with a floating button - open the steps of a table: every load, join, concatenate, store, drop and rename, in plain words, in script order - open the Model tab: the tables left when the script ends, cross-checked with the loaded data model (rows and fields), tables dropped along the way, and for each table a construction flow that unfolds the resident sources it was built from - see what an unconditional EXIT SCRIPT leaves unreachable: everything after it is struck through - search a table, a SUB or a variable across all sections The outline follows your edits in the active section and handles scripts with duplicate section names. 3. Format painter for sheets When a sheet is in edit mode, a toolbar lets you copy the format of an object (size, position, colors, titles, sorting) and paste it on other objects, align and distribute objects in a layout container, rename the objects of a layout container, and undo each step. Keyboard shortcuts: Alt+C pick a format, Alt+V paste it, Enter confirm, Esc cancel. 4. Optimization scan One click analyzes the open app and scores it against best practices, with the detail of every finding. Data model - Synthetic keys and circular references - Unused fields - LOAD * or SELECT * from a source - Keys stored as high-cardinality text (AutoNumber candidates) - High-cardinality timestamp fields - Keys incomplete on both sides, tables without any key - Unique non-key fields on big tables, constant fields, high-cardinality text fields outside keys Sheets and objects - If() or Aggr() in chart expressions - Heavy objects without a calculation condition - Sheets with more than 15 objects - Charts in error (missing field or deleted master item) - Calculated dimensions in charts - Variables evaluated at every selection Reuse and cleanup - Expressions repeated in-line across objects, with a one-click creation of a master measure - Master items and variables never used anywhere in the app - Master items defined twice, duplicate variables with unused copies - Empty sheets, charts without dimension nor measure - Commented-out load code and EXIT SCRIPT statements leaving code unreachable - Data connections not used by the script A manual checklist completes the scan: granularity, QVD or Parquet layers, optimized QVD loads, incremental loads, consolidated model, complex measures pre-calculated in the script, heavy app split, numeric flags in set analysis. The report exports to Excel. 5. Function catalogue A library of ready-to-use load script functions: master calendar, generic load, recursive folder scan, WildMap expression, variables from a table, file or folder existence check, drop tables by pattern, model statistics, field profile, unique key check, field prefixing, interval expansion, as-of table, store all tables, timer and script log. Each function comes with its documentation and signature, a one-click copy of the script or of the CALL statement, a download as .qvs, and an "insert at the cursor" action in the Data Load Editor. You can also add your own library: point the catalogue to a .qvs file of a data connection (lib://) and its SUBs are listed with their parameters, ready to be inserted or included. 6. Comfort - Dark mode for the panel and for the script editor, with a readable palette for every function color - Counters of sheets, master items, variables and bookmarks on the home page, with the app name and environment 7. Security and privacy - Runs entirely in your browser - Uses your existing authenticated Qlik Sense session, no additional login - No communication with external servers 8. Notes - Personal and community-driven project, not an official Qlik product - Free of charge, and it will stay free - Use at your own risk: care is taken to ensure reliability, but it is not supported by Qlik - Questions and suggestions: idriss.benbassou@ib-data.fr Version 1.3.0 - New: Outline panel in the Data Load Editor - New: Beautify button in the Data Load Editor - New: Format painter toolbar for sheets in edit mode, with layout container alignment and renaming - New: "Where is it used" for master measures, master dimensions, variables and fields - New: Master visualizations list, copy and paste between apps, definitions in the Excel export - New: Data connections list with connection strings - New: Function catalogue with an "insert at the cursor" action and the import of your own .qvs libraries - New: Optimization scan extended to reuse, cleanup, model quality and objects in error, with an Excel report - Improved: one clipboard per object type, double confirmation before deleting - Improved: Excel export of long definitions, dark mode of the script editor - Fixed: bookmark copy between apps, property display in dark mode Version 1.3.1 Fix Outline panel display in cloud Version 1.3.2 Fix painter bar