Discover is Ardoq's simplified, business user-focused experience designed to help business users easily consume architecture data and contribute insights.
With this new version of Discover, our focus has been to create consistency between Ardoq's core platform and the Discover features. It aims to improve the experience of building and sharing architecture data with the rest of your organisation.
What the new experience provides
One intuitive way of creating and sharing viewpoints. Admins can now visually build and share powerful viewpoints using the intuitive Core Visual Builder, eliminating the need for complicated triple-rules.
A single permission model. Access is managed through the same robust, granular permissions scheme used in Core, ensuring contributors see exactly what they are authorized for, without friction or confusion.
Same view styles and visualizations. All users benefit from the latest, most consistent views and visualizations available in the Core platform (e.g., Block Diagrams, Dependency Maps, plus new features like Bubble Charts).
One Platform. Zero Friction. Discover now lives entirely inside the core Ardoq application, and is no longer a stand-alone platform — it is now a seamless part of the Core platform.
Get started
This article explains how to configure and enable the new Discover features for your organization. To see what this new experience looks like for contributors, follow the link provided below.
How to enable the new Discover for your organization?
Configuring the new Discover experience
Watch this video guide to get started:
1. Enable New Discover for your Organisation
To start using the new version of Discover, an Ardoq administrator must opt-in the organization into the new funtionality.
Note: Please be aware that this change applies instantly to the entire organization; however, you can always return to switch the feature off again.
1. Navigate to My Organization > Admin > Organization settings > Features.
2. Locate the New Ardoq Experience section.
3. Toggle the switch for New Discover Experience to On.
Once enabled, the "old" Discover is still accessible via a banner on the new landing page ("Open old Discover"), ensuring a smooth transition.
2. Configuring Permissions for contributors
The new experience replaces the legacy Discover permissions with Ardoq’s robust, granular permission model. You must explicitly grant access to assets for contributors to see them.
A. Giving access to Components using Workspaces
To allow contributors to see data (e.g., Applications, Business Capabilities) in the Inventory and the Viewpoints shared with them, you first need to ensure they have the right access to the underlying components: The "Inventory" feature becomes visible in the interface once the New Discover experience is enabled, providing contributors with a streamlined way to manage and explore workspace data.
Locate the relevant Workspace (e.g., Applications) in the Asset Library.
Right-click and select Manage Permissions.
Share with the Entire Organization, a User Group, or Individual users.
Set the access level to "Can view" to make the data available for contributors.
Save the changes
B. Sharing Viewpoints with contributors
This will allow users to find and open data as pre-configured diagrams/visualisations (Viewpoints) in Discover for its given context component types.
Navigate to Viewpoints in the sidebar.
In the asset browser, right-click the desired Viewpoint and select Manage Permissions.
If you don't yet have any Viewpoints created, click Create new in the top right.
Grant "Can view" access to your target audience.
The Viewpoint will now show on the Overview Page for the given component type.
Note on Visibility: A viewpoint will only appear on the overview page for its starting component type. For example, a viewpoint starting with an Application will only be visible when a user is looking at Applications, even if it connects to other component types.
C. Additional asset permissions - Dashboards, Reports, and Surveys
Ensure the right permissions are configured correctly for other asset contributors who need to access, such as Dashboards, Reports, and Surveys:
Right-click the Dashboard, Report, or Survey you need to configure.
Select Manage Permissions.
Grant "Can view" access to the Entire Organization, a User Group, or Individual users.
💡 Tip: Double-check the permissions for any content you feature on the Discover landing page or in Quick Links. If you have pinned a Report or Dashboard, or added a shortcut to a specific asset, make sure those items are shared with Entire Organization > Can view, so all contributors can actually see them without error.
3. Customize the Discover Interface
There are four settings areas to configure the Discover experience for your organization. You'll find them all under Organization settings in the sidebar, each on its own tab:
Discover - Set up quick links and assets on the home page
Search settings - Set up search filters and ID-based search
Component overview - Choose which fields to show first per component type
Branding - Add your company logo, banner image, and colors
How to access Discover Settings:
From the sidebar menu, navigate to My Organization > Admin > Organization settings.
In the top menu bar, select Discover, Search, Component overview, and Component overview settings.
1. Home Page Content (Quick Links and Assets)
Add links and Ardoq assets to the Discover home page so users can quickly get to the tools, wikis, and reports they use most.
To access: Organization settings → Discover tab.
Adding an Ardoq asset
Click Add Ardoq asset.
Search for and select a Report, Dashboard, or Presentation from the dropdown.
The title and description are pulled from the asset automatically. You can edit them.
Adding an external link
Click Add link.
Enter a Title, Link (full URL), and optionally a Description.
Check the preview on the right.
Reordering: Drag and drop cards to change the order.
Removing: Click the × on a card to delete it.
Note: Make sure any linked Reports or Dashboards have permissions that include your Discover users, otherwise they won't be able to open them.
2. Search Settings
Set up how search works for your organization - which filters appear, and whether users can search by custom IDs.
To access: Organization settings → Search settings tab.
Remember to click Save after making changes.
Quick Filters
You can add component type filter chips that show up below the search bar. Users click these to quickly narrow results.
In the Filters section, open the Select quick filters dropdown.
Pick the component types you want as filter chips.
Drag to reorder them.
Check the Preview panel to see how it looks.
Click Save.
You can click Open Search in the preview to test the filters live.
Keep the list focused - a handful of the most-searched component types works better than a long list.
Custom ID Search
If your components have a custom ID field (e.g., "Enterprise ID"), you can make it searchable.
In the Search ID section, open the Custom ID dropdown.
Select the field. Only text fields with "ID" in the name show up here.
Click Save.
Users will get exact character matches (case-insensitive).
Ardoq ID Search
You can also let users search by the internal Ardoq ID.
In the Search ID section, check the Ardoq ID option.
Click Save.
Component Overview - Priority Fields
When someone opens a component in Discover, the "About" section shows its fields. By default, all fields are shown. You can pick which ones appear first - so users see what matters most without scrolling.
To access: Organization settings → Component overview tab.
Step 1: Pick a component type
You'll see a table of all component types in your organization, with their workspaces listed.
Search or sort to find the one you want.
Click it to open the field configuration.
Step 2: Select priority fields
You'll see the component type name, its workspaces, and how many components exist of this type.
Under Priority fields, check the boxes next to the fields you want to highlight. The counter (e.g., "3 out of 12 fields selected") updates as you go.
Field order on the component page follows the order set in the Workspace Manager.
Click Back: component types to go back and configure another type.
How it works for users: If you've set priority fields, the About section shows those fields first. If you haven't configured any, all fields show and admins see a prompt to set them up.
Note: A component type can exist in multiple workspaces, and not all workspaces may have the same fields.
4. Branding
Add your company logo and customize the Discover home page banner and email branding.
To access: Organization settings → Branding tab.
Company Logo
Upload your logo - it gets used on the homepage banner, in Surveys, and in Broadcast emails.
Under Company logo, click the upload button.
Pick a method:
Upload - drag and drop or browse for a file.
Document Archive - pick an image already in your org's document archive.
URL - paste a direct link to the image.
Confirm to save.
Homepage Banner
The banner sits at the top of the Discover home page. You can configure several things:
Show logo on banner: Toggle this on or off.
Banner theme: Choose between:
Ardoq theme (default colors)
Custom - pick your own color with the color picker
Background image: Click Upload Background to add one.
Recommended size: 360×1920 px.
Custom message: Write a welcome message or share info with your users (up to 250 characters).
The live preview updates as you make changes.
Survey and Broadcast Logo
Add a logo to Surveys and Broadcasts for consistent branding in external communications.
Under Survey and broadcast, paste the public URL of your logo image.
A preview shows next to the input.
Since Broadcasts are sent outside of Ardoq, the image must be at a publicly accessible URL. Recommended size: 80×250 px with a transparent background.
This should cover everything you need to get your organization configured properly with the new Discover functionality. If you need any further help, we're happy to answer any questions you have through our in-app chat function.
🚀 What's Coming Next: Continuous Improvement
We are committed to making this new experience a powerful and intuitive way to work. We are already building exciting new functionality to enhance your productivity. Here’s a sneak peek at what you can look forward to next:
Configure default priority viewpoints
Scoped discover experience for non-contributor roles
Got feedback to share? You can submit your feedback directly on our Product Portal initiative here: Discover: Unify Core and Discover capabilities
How to Communicate the New Discover Experience to Your Team
To make it easier to prepare your wider team for the new Discover experience, we’ve included an email you can share with them below. Feel free to copy, paste, and adapt it as needed.
[BEGIN COPY/PASTE EMAIL FOR YOUR TEAM]
Subject: Upcoming Update: Introducing a new Discover experience
Hi everyone,
I’m writing to let you know that we will soon enable an updated experience for Discover - the portal you use to look up information, view dashboards and reports, and complete tasks assigned by the Architecture team.
What’s changing?
You’ll notice a refreshed, more intuitive homepage that makes it easier to:
Explore or search for information (such as applications, capabilities, teams, or people)
Access reports, dashboards, and presentations shared with you
See and complete your assigned tasks in one place
The goal is to make things simpler and more consistent, especially when you’re looking for information or responding to requests from our Architecture team.
What stays the same?
You will continue to log in the same way as today
Your access, responsibilities, and assigned tasks do not change
Any dashboards, reports, or data you previously worked with will still be available
Do you need to do anything?
No action is required from your side. The update will be applied automatically, and the next time you log in you’ll see the new homepage.
If you’d like a quick overview of how to navigate the new setup, here’s a short guide with screenshots and examples.
Questions or issues?
If something doesn’t look right or you need help, feel free to reach out to [Your Name / Designated Internal Contact].
Thanks for your support, and we hope the updated experience makes your work faster and easier!
[END COPY/PASTE EMAIL FOR YOUR TEAM]
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the key changes in the new, integrated Discover experience?
A: The new Discover is now fully integrated into your core Ardoq application, bringing four main improvements:
Platform: Discover is no longer a separate portal; it functions as a landing page inside your core application.
Viewpoints: You now use the intuitive Visual Builder to create and modify viewpoints, replacing the older rule-based methods.
Permissions: Access management now uses the robust, granular permission model of the main application.
Visualizations: All views and styles are now identical across the entire application, eliminating the distinction between Discover and Core visualizations.
Q: What happens to the previous version of Discover?
A: During the transition (opt-in) period, users who already have Discover can still access the legacy interface. You will see a banner at the top of the new Discover landing page UI with the option to "Legacy Discover."
Q: What happens to the existing Discover viewpoints I created?
A: The new Discover works exclusively with the viewpoints built for the core Ardoq application.
Core Viewpoints: Every viewpoint you created for the main app will work out-of-the-box.
Legacy Discover Viewpoints: The old style of "Discover viewpoints" will not be available in the new UI. You will need to create these using the Visual Builder if you haven't already created a corresponding Core version.
Q: Has the web address for Discover changed?
A: Yes, the URL structure has been updated. The new Discover is accessed at yourorg.ardoq.com/app/discover. The previous version remains accessible at yourorg.ardoq.com/discover.
Q: How do I share a link to a report or dashboard with a contributor role now?
A: The previous "Copy Discover report URL" button has been removed. You now share links by simply copying the standard URL from the Dashboard or Report Reader page. This new link works the same way for all users. Just make sure you first grant access to view for contributors to the assets you are sharing.
Q: What will happen to the old links I previously shared or embedded?
A: Old links will remain accessible while the transition period is ongoing. However, we encourage you to start using the new standard links moving forward, as the previous links will be scheduled to be retired at a future date. More information will follow when this becomes relevant.