Every panel on a dashboard is a widget — a chart, a headline number, a table of entries, or a freeform arrangement of smaller pieces. You build and change widgets in the widget editor, which opens beside the dashboard while you edit it.
The widget drawer
The widget editor opens in a drawer along the side of the dashboard, so the dashboard stays in view while you work. Each widget type has its own editor, but they share the same shape: controls for the data and the look on one side, and a live preview on the other.
To add a widget:
- Open a dashboard you can edit and start editing it. Creating a dashboard covers how a dashboard is built and saved.
- Add a widget. A picker opens, showing the widget types grouped by kind — a range of charts, plus a single-number metric, a table of entries, and a freeform canvas.
- Choose a type. Its editor opens in the drawer, ready to configure.
To change a widget already on the dashboard, open its editor the same way and edit it in place.
Each type is covered in depth on its own page: chart widgets, KPI widgets, table widgets, and canvas widgets. For the wider idea of pages, tabs and the widgets that sit on them, see Pages, tabs and widgets.
The drawer also holds an assistant. Rather than set every control by hand, you can describe the widget you want in plain language and let the assistant draft it, then apply that draft into the editor to fine-tune it. The assistant is available once the dashboard has been saved at least once. See The AI assistant.
Choosing the data
Most widgets read live from your entries, so a widget shows the current picture and keeps pace as your team logs more. The one thing every data-backed widget needs is a source.
Set a data source in the editor. Depending on the widget type, you can draw from:
- A flow graph — the widget reads the graph's outputs. This suits grouped totals and figures worked out across many entries, because a flow graph can gather and summarise the data before the widget draws it. See Automations.
- A set of entries — the widget reads entries directly, one mark per entry.
A table widget works a little differently: it lists the entries filed under one part of the directory, with columns and filters you can adjust.
Once a source is set, the editor shows the fields it offers, and you map those fields to the widget. A chart maps fields to its axes and series, a metric picks the single field to total or show, and a table chooses which columns to display.
A widget only counts the entries you are allowed to see, so the same dashboard can read differently for two people. See Access and sharing.
If a field a widget relied on is removed from the underlying data, the editor flags the broken link so you can point the widget at something else.
Preview and save
As you change the source, the fields, and the look, the preview beside the controls redraws to match — so you see the finished widget before you commit to it.
A few shared controls set the look:
- A title, shown as a strip across the top of the widget.
- A description, an optional plain-language note under the title that says what the widget shows.
- A border, a toggle that draws a thin outline around the widget.
- For a chart, the chart type — bar, line, and so on — which you can switch at any time.
When the widget looks right, apply it. Applying drops the widget onto the dashboard you are editing, but it holds the change in your working copy — nothing is visible to other people until you save the whole dashboard. If you cancel a newly added widget before applying it, it is discarded.
Saving, arranging, and publishing the dashboard are covered in Creating a dashboard. To read a finished dashboard, see Reading a dashboard and Per-site dashboard tabs.