This is an interesting observation, and might be good to save so that we can come back to it later. IBM Watson Analytics lets you set aside or collect interesting or important visualizations from your data explorations. These collected assets can then be added to dashboards and stories that you can create later in Assemble (we will go over this later in the chapter).

First, some notes on collections:

• The visualizations you collect during an exploration remain interactive. This means that when you add them to a dashboard or story, you can still work with the live data.
• You can still make modifications to the data that's displayed in the visualization in Assemble (in the same way that you can edit it in Explore).
• You can enhance the visualization in Assemble by tweaking the settings that are applied to the exploration (but only when it is in Assemble), such as the grid lines, marker shapes, line styles, colors, and palettes.
• If you collect multiple visualizations, then when you come to use them in Assemble, you can save time by selecting them all at once and editing the properties that are common to all of the selected visualizations.

You can add a filter to a collected visualization in Assemble. Filters that are added in Assemble do not apply to the visualization in Explore. To add this visualization to your collection (as you might do from time to time as you work on Watson Analytics), take the following steps:

1. Click the Collect icon at the bottom left of the page, as shown in the following screenshot:

2. After you start collecting, you can use the Collection to view, track, and manage your collected assets. You access the collection view by clicking on the Collection icon located in the upper right of the Watson Analytics page, as shown in the following screenshot:

The Collection displays a list of thumbnail images that represent the items that you have collected over time.