This document will help you navigate easily through the Countly platform by knowing each section you see on the screen. 

Feature Dependencies

All the options in the Sidebar, refer to a particular feature of Countly. Many of them must be individually enabled first in the Management > Feature Management. Once you enable them, they will appear in the Sidebar here, and you can use them. Note that, once enabled, many features can be edited further in Management > Settings. 

Understanding the Countly User Interface

Upon accessing Countly, you will see a screen similar to the following:

This view is composed of individual sections, namely:

1. Sidebar: shows all the configurable options in Countly.
2. Main Menu: has all the enabled features listed and the Application selector.
3. Home: showcases the results related to the feature selected in the Main Menu. By default, it will show the Home page.

Sidebar

In the Countly platform, the Sidebar has all the configurable options related to your applications, which are explained below.

1.  Countly logo: refreshes the page.
2.  Home button: redirects to the Home page.
3.  Dashboard icon: feature allows you to visualize the list of dashboards and create new ones.
4. Management icon: allows you to enable, disable, and manage aspects related to the usability of Countly, including features and users.
5. Report Manager icon: generates reports on your usage based on the date range selected by you.
6. Help Center button: redirects you to the documentation.
7. My Profile button: lets you visualize and modify your individual information as a Countly user.
8. Language button: lets you select your preferred language.

My Profile Details

You can access your Countly account using this option.

1. My Account: shows all the settings related to your account.
2. Token Manager: helps you create tokens for the APIs.
3. Help Centre: redirects you to the Countly Support page.
4. Documentation: redirects you to access our Knowledge Base.
5. Request a Feature: leads to Feature Requests page to add new requests or visualize others from our entire user base.

My Account

When you click on My Account, the following window will appear.

Here, you can edit your personal information, email address, profile picture, and password. You may additionally set up Two-factor Authentication to your account (explained in the section below). Note that you must click Apply to make any changes effective.

Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor Authentication (also known as 2FA) allows you to set up a second layer of authentication for your account. Hence, it stays safe, even if your password is compromised, by requiring you to enter a six-digit code generated at certain intervals on your smartphone.

Use the toggle button to enable/disable it on your account.

To set up and use two-factor authentication, you must have an authenticator app on your smartphone. After installing it, you need to scan the QR code with the authenticator, which will store your secret token on your phone.

Now that your authenticator generates authentication codes, enter the current one into the field before it expires and click Confirm. This should finish the process, notifying you that you have successfully set up two-factor authentication for your account.

Enforcing 2FA Globally

As a global administrator, you can require all users to use 2FA. To do so, go to Management > Settings and switch Enforce globally for Two-Factor Authentication. Users who still need to set up 2FA will be asked to set it up before they proceed to their next login.

Troubleshooting

If everything seems set up right, yet the server rejected authentication codes without any errors, we recommend checking the system time to see if it is correct. Remember that time zones do not affect this, but being a few seconds ahead or behind UTC can break 2FA validation. If a user loses access, they can ask their instance’s administration to disable 2FA so they can log in and set it up again.

Token Manager

You can use tokens to protect the API key. You can create Tokens in theToken Manager in your account. Tokens can be restricted to work only on specific API endpoints or have limited usage or time. Tokens can also be deleted to stop access.

Inside the Token Manager, you will find the history of all API tokens for your individual account, visualized as a table including the following:

1. Description: Token description (if there is one set) and token value.
2. Status: Shows the status of the token - either Expired or Active.
3. Valid until: Date and time when the token will expire. If the token never expires, the text will say, "No expiry".
4. Multiple times: States if the token may be used multiple times. If not - the token will expire after its first use.
5. App: List of Apps that may be accessed with this token. The "All apps" value is not limited to any app. It is useful to create a token to access some apps’ endpoints.
6. Endpoint: If a token is created to allow some requests, the endpoint may also be set. For example, when creating a token for Data migration, the endpoint is set to the migration endpoint.

To create a new token, click +Create New Token, and the following screen will appear. Note you need to fill in all the details.

1. Token Description: It is optional and does not affect token usage in any way. It should be set to remember why it was created.
2. Endpoint: Endpoints define the API’s communication point. If nothing is set, the token will work on any endpoint.
3. Token usage: The token may be limited to only being used in some apps.
4. Token expiration: Selected to limit the token. It may be set to a number of hours, days, or months.
5. Check this box if you want to use this token for every application.

Main Menu

The Main Menu showcases all the enabled features and has the option to toggle between applications created in Countly.

1. Application selector: lets you switch between your applications and compare them.
2. List all the enabled features: To know more, you can refer to the user guide for each feature.

Managing Applications in Countly

1. Application Selector: displays the current application being used. 
2. Apps dropdown list: appears as a pop-up, containing and letting you switch between all your applications integrated with Countly.
3.  Compare Apps: allows you to compare apps based on selected criteria.

Comparing Applications

When you click on Compare Apps, the following view will appear.

1. Application selection box: lets you select up to 20 applications to compare their Analytics.
2. Date selector: filters the parameters up to comparison by a date range of your choice.
3. Result filter: selects the criteria for comparing analytics parameters.
4. Compare button: runs the query based on the applications and parameters chosen.