Running User
A running user is the Salesforce user whose data access determines which records a dashboard or reporting snapshot pulls in.
Definition
A running user is the Salesforce user whose data access determines which records a dashboard or reporting snapshot pulls in. The dashboard runs queries with that person's permissions, sharing, and role hierarchy position, so everyone who opens it sees the same numbers regardless of their own access.
This setting lives on the dashboard itself, under "View Dashboard As" in the dashboard properties. You can fix the running user to a specific person, set it to the dashboard creator, or make it dynamic so each viewer sees their own data. The choice controls both what is shown and how much sensitive data leaks across teams.
How the running user shapes what a dashboard shows
What "View Dashboard As" actually controls
Every Salesforce dashboard is built on top of source reports, and those reports return rows filtered by whoever runs them. The running user is the identity Salesforce uses to run those source reports when a dashboard refreshes. It is not about who can open the dashboard. It is about whose record visibility decides which opportunities, cases, or accounts get counted. You set it in the dashboard properties under the heading "View Dashboard As". Two people with very different access can open the same standard (non-dynamic) dashboard and see identical totals, because both views were generated using the running user's permissions. This is why a sales rep and a VP can look at the same pipeline tile and read the same number. The running user normalizes the perspective. The trade-off is that the dashboard no longer reflects the viewer's own slice of data unless you deliberately choose the dynamic option. Picking the running user is therefore a data-governance decision, not just a display tweak, because it decides how much each viewer is allowed to infer about records they cannot otherwise see.
The three options: creator, a specified user, or the viewer
Salesforce gives you three running-user modes. The first is "Me", where you the creator are the running user, so viewers see data according to your access. The second is a specified person, where viewers see data at that named user's access level. Pick someone high in the role hierarchy and the dashboard shows broad, company-wide numbers to everyone. The third is "The dashboard viewer", which makes it a dynamic dashboard. Here each person sees only the records they personally have access to, so a rep sees their deals and a manager sees the team. Choose the mode based on the dashboard's job. A leadership scorecard that should read the same for everyone wants a fixed high-level running user. A "My Performance" dashboard handed to the whole sales floor wants the dynamic option so the same layout serves hundreds of people. Mixing these up is a common mistake. A fixed executive running user on a personal dashboard accidentally exposes the entire org's pipeline to every rep who opens it.
Permissions that gate who can be the running user
You cannot freely assign any running user without the right permissions. To set a dashboard to run as another specific person, you need either "View My Team's Dashboards" or "View All Data". The first lets you pick yourself or anyone below you in the role hierarchy. The second, a powerful admin-level permission, lets you pick literally any user in the org. This guardrail exists so a mid-level manager cannot quietly build a dashboard that runs as the CEO and surface restricted numbers. On the viewing side, if you turn on "Let dashboard viewers choose whom they view the dashboard as", the viewer's own permissions decide their choices. A viewer with "View My Team's Dashboards" can switch the running user to themselves or a subordinate. A viewer with "View All Data" can switch to anyone. Creating and editing dashboards at all requires "Run Reports" plus "Create and Customize Dashboards". Treat these permissions as part of your data model, because they decide who can widen a dashboard's reach.
Dynamic dashboards: one layout, many perspectives
A dynamic dashboard is simply a dashboard whose running user is set to "The dashboard viewer", shown in the properties as run as the logged-in user. It is the way to give a large audience a personalized view without building one dashboard per person. The same tiles render different numbers for each viewer based on their sharing and role. This power comes with limits worth knowing before you design around it. Dynamic dashboards cannot be saved in private folders, they cannot be scheduled for automatic refresh, and users cannot subscribe to them, so they have to be refreshed manually. There is also a per-org cap that varies by edition. Salesforce documents up to 5 dynamic dashboards for Enterprise Edition, 10 for Performance and Unlimited Editions, and 3 for Developer Edition, and you can request an increase if you hit the ceiling. Deleted dynamic dashboards sitting in the Recycle Bin still count against the limit until they are permanently removed. Plan which dashboards truly need to be dynamic so you do not waste a scarce allocation on layouts that a fixed running user would serve just as well.
Reporting snapshots use a running user too
The running-user concept is not unique to dashboards. A reporting snapshot, which saves report results to a custom object on a schedule so you can trend data over time, also runs as a designated user. When the snapshot job fires, Salesforce executes the source report with that running user's access, then writes the resulting rows to the target object. So the snapshot captures exactly the data the running user could see at run time, no more and no less. If you point a snapshot at a running user with narrow access, your historical trend will silently undercount, and nobody looking at the target records weeks later will know data was filtered out. Pick a running user whose visibility matches the full scope you intend to track. This matters for compliance and forecasting, because a snapshot is a frozen record. Once written, those rows do not re-expand if the running user's access changes later. The principle is the same as dashboards: the running user is the lens, and everything downstream inherits whatever that lens could and could not see.
Choosing a running user without leaking data
Think of the running user as answering one question: from whose chair should this dashboard be read. For an executive scorecard meant to show one company-wide truth, a senior running user with broad access is correct, and you usually leave viewer-switching off so the numbers stay consistent. For dashboards distributed to many individual contributors, the dynamic option is almost always right, because it respects each person's sharing rules automatically. The risk to watch is over-scoping. A running user with "View All Data" turns every component into a window onto the entire org, which is fine for a CFO tile and dangerous on a dashboard a rep can open. A practical habit is to document the running user choice in the dashboard description, so a future admin understands why the totals look the way they do. Review running users when people change roles or leave the company, because a dashboard still running as a departed manager can break or expose stale access. The running user is a small dropdown with outsized consequences for both accuracy and security.
How to set the running user on a dashboard
Set or change the running user on an existing dashboard in Lightning Experience. This decides whose data access the dashboard uses when it refreshes, so plan the choice before you publish it to an audience.
- Open the dashboard and edit it
From the Dashboards tab, open the dashboard you want to configure and click Edit to enter the dashboard builder.
- Open the properties panel
Click the gear or Properties control to open the dashboard properties, then find the "View Dashboard As" section.
- Pick the running-user mode
Choose Me to run as yourself, choose another person to run as a specified user, or choose The dashboard viewer to make it a dynamic dashboard.
- Decide on viewer switching
Optionally enable "Let dashboard viewers choose whom they view the dashboard as" so authorized viewers can re-run the dashboard from a different perspective.
- Save and confirm the data
Save the dashboard, refresh it, and verify the totals match the access level you intended before sharing the folder with viewers.
Viewers see data according to your own access; simplest option for a personal or small-team dashboard.
Everyone sees data at the named user's access level; requires View My Team's Dashboards or View All Data.
Each viewer sees only their own records; counts against the per-edition dynamic dashboard limit.
Authorized viewers switch the running user themselves, scoped by their View My Team's Dashboards or View All Data permission.
- A high-access running user (View All Data) can expose the whole org's numbers to any viewer who opens the dashboard.
- Dynamic dashboards cannot live in private folders, cannot be scheduled, and cannot be subscribed to.
- Dynamic dashboards count against a per-edition cap, and ones sitting in the Recycle Bin still count until permanently deleted.
- If the running user is deactivated or leaves, the dashboard can break or keep showing that person's stale access.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Running User in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Configure Dashboard Data Visibility in Lightning ExperienceSalesforce
- Dynamic DashboardsSalesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Running User.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Running User.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does the Running User control on a Salesforce dashboard or reporting snapshot?
Q2. Why does the Running User's identity matter for what a dashboard shows?
Q3. What is a personalized alternative to a fixed Running User on a dashboard?
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