Custom Dashboards give you a powerful way to visualize the progress and performance of your plans in real time. By adding widgets that highlight key metrics and the current status of critical projects, you can create a dynamic, at-a-glance view of what matters most—whether you’re tracking KPIs, surfacing overdue items, or showcasing top-level results for stakeholders. This guide walks you through how to add and configure each widget type available, so you can build a dashboard that turns your data into clear, actionable insights.
Table of Contents
- Adding a Metric Widget
- Adding a Progress Widget
- Adding a List Widget
- Adding a Custom Content Widget
- Adding a Heading Widget
- Adding a Divider or Spacer Widget
To get started, make sure you are in Edit Mode by clicking on the Edit button in the header. If you do not have access to the Edit button, you do not have Editor access and cannot add or edit widgets.
The Edit button
Once you are in Edit Mode, you will see a toolbar just below the header. To add a widget, click the widget type you'd like to use from the toolbar.
The Toolbar
Choose a drop-zone on your dashboard where the widget should be placed. Drop-zones will appear as horizontal blue bars and show you the available placement areas. Click the desired drop-zone to add the widget to your dashboard, and the associated 'Add' menu will appear.
A Widget Drop-zone indicator
Adding a Metric Widget
If you select the 'Metric' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add Metric Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in three steps.
Step 1: Select Data Source
To display your metric widget, choose the data source. Select the plan that the plan item you want to display data for lives in from the plans dropdown.
Next, select the plan item from the grid below. Each row displays helpful details, including the item’s order, name, current metric value, and a description of the metric. If you see a yellow row with an icon on the right, it means the plan item doesn't currently have a metric value. You can still select it and complete the widget setup, but the chart won't display data until a metric value is entered for that item.
Once you have selected your plan and plan item, you will see a preview of the widget on the right side of the window.
If you're satisfied with your data source, click the Next button in the bottom right corner to continue.
To cancel and discard your setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
Step 2: Choose Chart Type, Name, and Style
Once you've selected your data source, you can stylize the metric widget. You can customize:
- The Widget Name
- The Widget's Header Styling – Choose the header background and text colors
- The Chart Type – Select from Gauge (default), Line, Column, or Label visualizations
You can see a preview of your style changes in the Chart Preview as you make adjustments.
Step 3: Set the Timeframe
Your chart can display data over a broad or limited time range. By default, All Time is selected, showing the entire history of the plan item’s metric data. For example, if you have 2 years worth of metric updates for a particular plan item, by default the full 2 years of data will show on the chart.
If you prefer to customize the time range of data shown, toggle to Specific Time Period to choose a custom date range. The options shown are different for each chart type:
- Gauge / Label
- Last: Month, Quarter, or Year
- Custom Date Range (You can select both the start and end date for the range)
- Line / Column
- This: Month, Quarter, or Year
- To Date: MTD, QTD, YTD
- Trailing 30 days, 90 days, 6 months, or 12 months
- Last: Month, Quarter, or Year
- Custom Date Range
Once you have completed the configuration options, you can create your widget! Click on the 'Add' button in the bottom right corner of the menu, and your widget will be added to the dashboard in your selected location.
Adding a Progress Widget
The Progress Widget visually displays the status breakdown of plan items as a pie or donut chart, helping you quickly understand how your plans are progressing at a glance.
If you select the 'Progress' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add Progress Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in two steps.
Step 1: Select Data Source
To display your progress widget, choose the data source. For the progress widget, you can show data based on statuses, due dates, updates, or all three.
Next, select where to pull the data from—such as a single plan, all plans, your assigned items, or a saved search. For this example, we’ll pick a specific plan.
Once you have selected your data source, you will see a preview of the widget on the right side of the window.
If you're satisfied with your data source, click the Next button in the bottom right corner to continue.
To cancel and discard your setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
Step 2: Choose Chart Type, Name, and Style
Once you've selected your data source, you can stylize the progress widget. You can customize:
- The Widget Name
- The Widget's Header Styling – Choose the header background and text colors
- The Chart Type – Pie or Donut chart
You can see a preview of your style changes in the Chart Preview as you make adjustments. Once you have completed the configuration options, you can create your widget! Click on the 'Add' button in the bottom right corner of the menu, and your widget will be added to the dashboard in your selected location.
Adding a List Widget
The List Widget displays a set of plan items pulled from a saved search into a list visualization. Just like other list visualizations across the application, you can customize which columns of data display in the List Widget.
If you select the 'List' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add List Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in two steps.
Step 1: Select Data Source
To display your list widget, choose the data source. List widgets are generated based on Saved Searches. Choose your desired Saved Search and click 'Next'.
To cancel and discard your setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
Step 2: Choose Chart Type, Name, and Style
Once you've selected your data source, you can stylize the list widget. You can customize:
- The Widget Name
- The Widget's Header Styling – Choose the header background and text colors
Once you have completed the configuration options, you can create your widget! Click on the 'Add' button in the bottom right corner of the menu, and your widget will be added to the dashboard in your selected location.
Step 3: Customize the Columns of Your List Widget
After you've created a list widget you can further customize it by adjusting the Column Layout. Click the triple-dot (...) button next to any column header. This will open the Column Layout Modal.
- To add columns, click Add Column(s) and open a dropdown of available options. Select the columns you want to add, then click Done.
- To remove a column from display, click the X. Removed columns will return to the list of available options in the Add Column(s) dropdown.
- To reorder columns, drag and drop them into the desired order.
Adding a Custom Content Widget
The Custom Content widget allows you to add personalized text, images, links, and more directly into your dashboard, making it perfect for providing executive summaries of your dashboard, instructions for viewers, or embedding additional visual elements.
If you select the 'Custom Content' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add Custom Content Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in one step.
Step 1: Choose Widget Name and Style
At the top of the menu, you can customize:
- The Widget Name
- The Widget's Header Styling – Choose the header background and text colors
To cancel and discard your setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
Step 2: Add Custom Content
Next, add your custom content (text, lists, images, links, etc) using the text area at the bottom of the window. Click the triple dot (...) to display all of your content and formatting options, including:
- Text
- Formatting options include: Customizable Font, Font Size, Font Styling, Font Color, and Background Color
- Images
- Table
- Hyperlinks
- HTML Code
-
Embeddable iFrames
Once you have added in the desired content and configured your styling options, you can create your widget! Click on the 'Add' button in the bottom right corner of the menu, and your widget will be added to the dashboard in your selected location.
Adding a Heading Widget
The Heading widget lets you insert and style section titles on your dashboard—customizing the text, font size, and style—to visually organize and label different areas or groups of widgets.
If you select the 'Heading' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add Heading Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in one step.
Use the text area to enter your heading text. You can customize the font, size, style (bold, italic, underline), color, and alignment to match your desired look.
To cancel and discard your setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
Adding a Divider or Spacer Widget
The Divider Widget adds a horizontal line across your dashboard to visually separate sections, while the Spacer Widget inserts adjustable blank space between elements, helping you control layout and improve readability.
The Divider Widget
If you select the 'Divider' option from the Toolbar, the 'Add Divider Widget' modal will open once you've selected its location on the canvas via the drop-zone indicator. This modal will guide you through all of your configuration options in one step.
In the menu, you can customize:
- The line’s thickness
- The line's style
- The line's color.
A preview of your style changes will show in the Divider Preview to the right as you make adjustments.
To cancel setup at any time, click the X in the top right corner or the Cancel button at the bottom.
The Spacer Widget
To add a Spacer widget, click the Spacer button in the toolbar, then select a drop-zone on the canvas.
Once you select a drop-zone, the Spacer widget will appear on your dashboard. From there, you can resize and move it as needed to achieve your desired layout.
Want to learn more?
Read this article to learn about Editing and Deleting Widgets
Read this article to learn more about making Impactful Custom Dashboards