Follow the step-by-step instructions to create a dashboard.
Dashboards are a communication tool that provide real-time visibility into critical data and centralize all the information that your team needs in a single place.
Dashboards are made up of easy-to-configure widgets, the building blocks for dashboards, that display the live data from your sheets and reports. Dashboards can be shared with anyone, including teammates, executives, and even external customers, and are easily viewed on the desktop or the Smartsheet mobile app.
Sharing a live dashboard with your different stakeholders ensures you’re able to get the right information to the right people, at the right time, to make informed decisions. They can also serve as a team portal to centralize all of the information and resources about your program, process, or team in one place.
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Create and make changes to a Smartsheet dashboard
Get started on creating and making changes to your dashboard.
Create a new dashboard
- On the leftNavigation Bar, selectSolution Center
. - In the left pane, selectCreate>Dashboard/Portal.
- Type a name for your dashboard, and then selectOK.
- To edit and add information to your new dashboard, in the upper-right area of the screen, selectEdit Dashboard
. - Add the appropriatedashboard widgets.
- In the upper-right area of the dashboard, selectSave.
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.Make changes to a dashboard
If you're the Owner or Admin of a dashboard, you can edit it whenever necessary. You can change the dashboard's background color and add or edit a widget. You can also access additional editing features from the shortcut menu.
To edit your dashboard
- In the upper-right area of the screen, selectEdit Dashboard.
- On the rightNavigation Bar, select any of these panes:
- Dashboard Settings:Select a background color or font for the entire dashboard.
- Add Widget:Add the widgets you wish to appear on your dashboard.
- Widget Settings:Edit a widget on your dashboard.
- Once you're done with your edits, select Save in the upper-right area of the screen.
Need more information about adding and editing dashboard widgets? Read theAdd and Edit Widgets on Your Dashboardarticle.
To edit your dashboard via the shortcut menu
Right-click anywhere on the grid, and then select any of these actions:
- Paste Here:Paste a widget you copied.
- Dashboard Settings:Change the background color or font.
- Add Widget:Add widgets to your dashboard.
- Consolidate Empty Space:Delete unused rows between top and bottom widgets to consolidate a dashboard's vertical space. This presents the most compact version of the current dashboard without affecting how the widgets are arranged.
Adjust the layout and margins on an image widget
You can select style options for your widgets.
Layout
- Fill: Default. The image keeps its aspect ratio and fills the widget container. The image will be clipped to fit.
- Fit: The image keeps its aspect ratio but is resized to fit within the widget container.
- Actual: The image displays at actual size
Margins
- No margin: Default.
- With margin: 20px
Apply custom colors
When selecting colors for fonts, charts, titles, and more, you can choose from standard presets or add a custom color using a HEX code, an RGB code, or a color gradient.
To create a custom color
- In the top right corner of the dashboard, selectEditand then selectSettings.
- UnderDashboard colororWidget color,selectChangeand then select the plus icon.
- Pick a color or enter the hexadecimal color value, and then selectAdd. You can also set your widget toTransparent,and it will inherit the color from the underlying dashboard.
What you should know about custom colors
- Up to 20 custom colors can be saved on a dashboard.
- Custom colors are unique to the dashboard; the setting will not apply to other dashboards. If you add a custom color to widget A, you'll be able to quickly select the same custom color on widget B if these widgets are on the same dashboard.
Start a new dashboard from your current one to keep the custom colors and the other items in it. To create a copy of the dashboard you're editing, selectFile>Save as New. - When viewing a dashboard in the mobile app, custom colors will be replaced by the closest available default colors.
Configure how often a dashboard automatically refreshes
Before you begin
A published dashboard automatically refreshes every 10 minutes. You can’t customize or turn off this behavior.
You can only change the Auto-Refresh feature for your view of the dashboard. For example, if you turn off Auto-Refresh, it'll remain enabled for other collaborators who are viewing the dashboard.
Read on to learn the steps on changing how often the dashboard refreshes when you’re viewing it.
To change the frequency of or to turn off the Auto-Refresh feature
- In the menu bar, selectView.
- In theViewmenu, selectAuto-Refresh.
- Select the change you'd like to apply:
- Select your frequency.
- To turn off theAuto-Refreshfeature, selectOff.
Web Content Widgets won't automatically refresh on dashboards.
Review the widget types that make up a dashboard.