You can share a Salesforce report by moving it to a shared folder, sending a direct link, or setting up an automated email subscription that delivers the report on a schedule. The method you choose depends on whether you want ongoing access for a team or a one-time share with a colleague.
Share via Report Folders
Report folders are the primary way to control who can see, run, and edit reports in Salesforce. Every report lives inside a folder, and that folder’s sharing settings determine access. To share a report with other users, you either move it into a folder they already have access to or adjust the sharing settings on the folder where it currently lives.
To change folder sharing, navigate to the Reports tab, find the folder containing your report, and click the dropdown arrow next to the folder name. Select “Share” to open the sharing dialog. From there, you can grant access to individual users, roles, role-and-subordinates groups, or public groups. You’ll also choose the access level for each: Viewer (can run the report), Editor (can modify the report), or Manager (can control sharing and delete). Once saved, anyone with at least Viewer access can find and run the report from their own Reports tab.
If your report currently sits in a private folder (labeled “My Personal Custom Reports” or similar), other users cannot see it regardless of any other settings. You’ll need to either move the report to a shared folder or create a new shared folder and move it there. To move a report, open it, click the dropdown menu, and select “Move.” Then choose the destination folder.
Send a Direct Link
The fastest way to share a report is to copy the URL from your browser while viewing the report and send it via email, Slack, or Chatter. Any user who clicks the link will see the report as long as two conditions are met: they have access to the report’s folder, and their profile permissions allow them to run reports.
This method works well for quick, informal sharing. Just keep in mind that the link itself doesn’t grant access. If the recipient doesn’t have folder access, they’ll get a permissions error when they click it. Pair the link with a folder share if needed.
Subscribe Users to Scheduled Reports
If you want a report delivered to inboxes on a recurring basis, use the Subscribe feature. Open the report, click “Subscribe,” and set the frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly) along with the day and time. You can add other users as recipients so they receive the report results by email without needing to log in and run it themselves.
Subscription limits depend on your Salesforce edition. In Lightning Experience, users on Unlimited Edition can subscribe to up to 15 reports and 15 dashboards each. Users on other editions (Enterprise, Professional) can subscribe to up to 7 reports and 7 dashboards. In Salesforce Classic, the limit drops to 5 report subscriptions per user. These limits are hardcoded and cannot be increased by an admin.
Subscriptions also let you add conditions. For example, you can set the report to send only when a certain field exceeds a threshold, so recipients aren’t flooded with emails when nothing has changed.
Export and Share Outside Salesforce
When you need to share report data with someone who doesn’t have a Salesforce license, exporting is the simplest option. Open the report, click the “Export” button, and choose either formatted (.xlsx) or details-only (.csv) format. You can then email the file, upload it to a shared drive, or attach it wherever you need it.
For ongoing external sharing, you can also print the report to PDF directly from the browser or take a formatted export and distribute it through your regular channels. Keep in mind that exported data is a snapshot. It won’t update automatically, so recipients are working with data as of the moment you ran the export.
Share With External Portal Users
If your organization uses Experience Cloud (formerly Communities) and you want external partners or customers to access reports, the setup requires a few extra pieces. Standard Customer Community licenses do not include report access. You’ll need users on Customer Community Plus or Partner Community licenses, both of which support reports and dashboards.
Beyond licensing, the admin needs to enable the Reports tab in the Experience Cloud site, configure report folder sharing to include the appropriate external user roles or groups, and ensure object-level permissions let those users see the underlying data. This is typically an admin-level configuration rather than something an individual report owner handles.
Why Recipients May See an Empty Report
A common frustration: you share a report, the recipient opens it, and it shows zero rows. The report itself is accessible, but the data is missing. This almost always comes down to data visibility rather than report permissions.
Salesforce controls data access through a layered security model. Even if someone can run a report, they only see records they have access to based on their role in the hierarchy, sharing rules, and record ownership. A sales manager might see all opportunities across their team, while an individual rep sees only their own. The same report produces different results for each user.
Field-level security adds another layer. If certain fields on the report are hidden from a user’s profile, those columns appear blank or the report may filter out records entirely depending on how it’s built. If a user reports seeing no data, check whether their profile has “Read” access on the objects and fields the report uses. Setting the profile to “View All” on the relevant object is one way to confirm whether visibility is the issue, though that level of access may be broader than intended for everyday use.
Sharing via Chatter and Collaboration Tools
Salesforce’s built-in Chatter feed lets you post a report link directly to a group, a record’s feed, or a specific person’s profile. This is useful for team discussions where you want to reference data alongside a conversation. When you post a report link in Chatter, Salesforce renders a clickable card that takes the viewer straight to the report.
If your organization uses Slack integrated with Salesforce, you can also share report links in Slack channels. The same access rules apply: the recipient needs folder access and the right profile permissions to view the report data.
Permissions Needed to Share
To share a report folder, you need Manager-level access to that folder. If you created the folder, you’re the manager by default. If someone else created it and gave you only Viewer or Editor access, you won’t see the sharing option. Ask the folder owner or a Salesforce admin to either grant you Manager access or adjust sharing on your behalf.
At the profile level, users need the “Run Reports” permission to view any report. Users who need to create or modify reports also need “Create and Customize Reports.” And to share report folders with others, the “Manage Public Reports” permission allows a user to manage folders visible across the organization. Your admin controls these through profiles or permission sets.