Submissions gives you four fixed counts that you can show on a dashboard or check when needed. This article explains what each count includes, why a number may lag behind a recent change, and which details can make a correct count look unexpected.
The Four Counts
Submissions provides exactly four counts:
- How many spaces are in each status.
- How many spaces of each type are in each status.
- How many submissions are in a space, grouped by status.
- How many total submissions are in a space.
This list is fixed. If you need Rhythm to count anything more specific, use a query instead.
Counts Ignore Letter Case
When you count by status or type, Rhythm ignores letter case. For example, "Open" and "open" return the same count.
The exception is the identifier for a specific space. When a count is limited to one space, enter that space identifier exactly as it appears because Rhythm does not ignore letter case for that value.
A Count Can Be Up to a Day Behind
To keep counts fast, Rhythm keeps a count’s answer for up to one day, or 1,440 minutes, after it is first calculated. If you ask for the same count again during that time, Rhythm returns the kept answer instead of recalculating it.
Rhythm does not refresh kept counts in the background. A count recalculates only when you ask for it again after the day has passed, or when you explicitly ask Rhythm to recalculate it.
Warning
Adding, changing, or removing a space or submission does not expire a count that already includes it. A count tile can keep showing yesterday’s number for up to a day after something changes, and the tile does not show whether the number is fresh or nearly a day old.
Counts Read from a Reporting Copy, Not Your Live Records
Counts are not calculated directly from your live spaces and submissions. They run against Rhythm’s separate reporting copies, which are kept for questions like this.
Because counts use the reporting copy, a change you made moments ago may not appear in a count yet, even if you explicitly ask Rhythm to recalculate it. The reporting copy must catch up first. This connection is read-only in both directions, so reading a count cannot change any of your records.
When a Count Cannot Run
Each count needs certain values before it can run, such as a space or status. If a required value is missing from the request, the count does not run.
If you include a value that the count does not use, Rhythm accepts it and ignores it instead of returning a problem.
Related
For anything more specific than these four counts, build a query instead; see Queries and Saved Queries Explained. For how a space's review setup affects what shows up as submitted, see How Review Setup Works.