QuickSight dashboards aren't updating correctly when republishing

This behavior is not a bug, but rather a feature of how Amazon QuickSight handles dashboard updates. When you make changes to an analysis, including adding or removing filters and controls, these changes are not automatically reflected in the published dashboard. This is by design to allow for version control and to prevent unintended changes from immediately affecting shared dashboards.

To update an existing dashboard with your new changes, you need to follow a specific process:

1. Make your desired changes in the analysis tied to the dashboard.
2. When you're ready to update the dashboard, choose "Publish" from within the analysis.
3. In the pop-up that appears, select "Replace an existing dashboard" and choose the dashboard you want to update.
4. Confirm your choice by entering "confirm" and then select "Publish dashboard".

This process will update the existing dashboard with your new changes, including any new filters or controls you've added. It will maintain the same dashboard URL, which should help prevent confusion in your organization about which dashboard link is the correct one.

If you're finding that this process isn't working as expected, you may need to use the UpdateDashboardPublishedVersion API operation. This operation explicitly updates the published version of a dashboard with the latest changes from the analysis.

Remember, updating a dashboard creates a new dashboard version, but it doesn't automatically publish this new version. The UpdateDashboardPublishedVersion operation is what actually makes the new version live.

If you're still experiencing issues after following these steps, it may be worth contacting AWS support for further assistance, as there could be specific settings or permissions affecting your ability to update the dashboards.
Sources
Updating a publicly shared dashboard - Amazon QuickSight
UpdateDashboard - Amazon QuickSight
UpdateDashboardPublishedVersion - Amazon QuickSight

The behavior you observed in QuickSight is not a bug, but a known limitation. When you publish a dashboard, it becomes a fixed version of the analysis at that moment - which is why changes like new filters and controls are not automatically reflected. To apply these updates, you need to publish it as a new dashboard. To avoid confusion with multiple links, it's recommended to centralize access in a single page (such as an intranet), use version numbers or dates in dashboard titles, and delete old versions whenever possible.