> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.detrics.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Data Freshness & Platform Delays

> Why recent numbers shift, and when your data becomes final

Detrics fetches data live from each platform's API, so a query reflects what the platform reports at that moment. The platforms themselves, however, keep adjusting recent numbers. Understanding when data is still settling saves a lot of "why don't these numbers match" confusion.

## Why Recent Numbers Change

* **Attribution windows.** Ad platforms credit conversions to clicks and views that happened days earlier. A purchase today can be attributed to a click from last week, so last week's conversion numbers grow after the fact.
* **Processing delays.** Analytics platforms ingest and process events for hours before totals stabilize. The most recent day is almost always incomplete.
* **Restatements.** Platforms remove invalid traffic and correct errors retroactively, which can also revise numbers downward.

The practical consequence: the same query over a recent date range can return different numbers today and tomorrow, and both are correct snapshots of what the platform reported.

## When Data Becomes Final

Each platform has a window after which historical data stops changing, ranging from a couple of days for analytics sources to roughly a month for ad platforms with long attribution windows. Once a date range falls entirely outside that window, the numbers are stable and queries over it are fully reproducible.

If you need exact period totals for reporting, query the period a few days after it closes, or schedule a refresh so the final numbers overwrite the early snapshot.

## Comparing Detrics with the Platform's UI

When a Detrics number differs from what you see in the platform's own dashboard, check these in order:

1. **Date range**: does the platform UI include today the same way your query does?
2. **Timezone**: Detrics interprets dates in UTC; the platform UI uses the account's timezone
3. **Attribution settings**: the UI may display a different attribution window than the API default
4. **Metric definition**: similarly named metrics can measure different things (for example, "views" vs. "plays" on video metrics)

The per-platform troubleshooting pages in the [Fields Catalog](/fields-catalog/index) cover known discrepancies for each source.

## Keeping Reports Fresh

For dashboards and recurring reports, schedule automatic refreshes instead of pulling data manually. The scheduler re-runs your query, so settling numbers update on their own.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Automate Queries in Sheets" icon="clock" href="/data-destination/google-sheets/how-to-automate-a-query">
    Schedule refreshes for spreadsheet reports
  </Card>

  <Card title="BigQuery Sync Scheduling" icon="database" href="/bigquery/scheduling-and-refresh-windows">
    Refresh windows for warehouse syncs
  </Card>
</CardGroup>