The Information Designer is a tool for setting up data sources and creating and opening information links. An information link is a database query specifying the columns to be loaded and any filters needed to narrow down the data table prior to creating visualizations in Spotfire. In Information Designer, information links are created from building blocks such as columns and filters using joins, calculations and aggregations.

To open Information Designer, on the authoring bar, click Files and data, and then click Other and select Information designer.

The Elements tree in Information Designer is a representation of the folder structure in the library. The permissions for each folder specify which databases and elements should be available for different users or groups when creating information links. Folder permissions can be specified in the Information Designer, but the main permission handling is done in the Spotfire Library, either in the Spotfire Server administration pages, or with Tools > Library Administration.

After you use the Information Designer to create information links, any user who has the appropriate licenses can open the information link, which allows users who might not have knowledge of SQL or the underlying database structures to be able to execute advanced database queries.

Information links are opened by opening the Files and data flyout, or by browsing the Spotfire library to find and open the information link.