QuickBase link icon. Within the Select link type menu
that displays, select one of the following three types:A Dashboard page can feature different kinds of information. Start with a description and basic information about your application. You could also display a report of your application data, including a chart or timeline. Add a fully formatted text section, complete with hyperlinks and pretty fonts. Each type of information lives in its own section. You can include as many as six sections on the Dashboard page (and up to three of them can be reports). To see an example of a custom Dashboard page, click here.
Tip: Creating and embedding a report that shows the current user's open tasks or upcoming appointments is a terrific customization that delivers exactly those records that users want to see when they first open your application. To do so, create a new report. In the Filters section, select a User field (like "Assigned to") and in the next dropdown, select Is current user. Save this report and embed it on your application's Dashboard page. Each person who opens your application will see a highly personalized and relevant Dashboard.
Tip: If users will be accessing the application on mobile devices, read tips for creating mobile-friendly application Dashboards.
To access the controls discussed here, first create or edit a Dashboard page. The Edit Dashboard screen is designed to mimic the layout of your Dashboard page. A control for a particular element occupies the same real estate that the actual display element does on the Dashboard page. When customizing a Dashboard page, you can:
Let people know where they are and what they're looking at. In the Heading box, type a descriptive title for the page like "May Projects Dashboard" or "Widget Sales Application Dashboard". The heading will appear in blue at the top left of the Dashboard page, underneath the menu bar.
The top right of your Dashboard page can include up to three customized buttons. You can add a button and customize its text and destination.
Within the Buttons section on the upper right, click
+ New Button. A button appears. Inside the button, click
the
QuickBase link icon. Within the Select link type menu
that displays, select one of the following three types:
Add. Allow your users to add records right from the Dashboard. Select Add > Add record (for example, Add Contact), and the button will be added to your Dashboard. When a user clicks on it, QuickBase will open the Add form for the type of record you selected.
Go to page. If you've created other pages within your application, you can link to any of them with a button. To do so, select Go to page, then choose the page you want to link to. This option allows you to link to guides or instructions, and even other Dashboards.
Show report. Click this option and QuickBase displays a list of all the reports in your application. Select any one of them as the destination for your button.
All buttons are untitled by default. To name the button, click the text that says untitled and the program displays it in a text box. Replace this text with a description of the button's function and/or destination.
Information sections display your application's description. (To enter a description, select Customize > Application from menu, click the Properties tab, and type a paragraph or two in the Description box.)
To add an information section to the Dashboard page, click the + New Section button and select Info/Description from the menu that appears.
If you want, you can include an application's statistics (who the manager is, what account owns it, etc...) in this section too. To do so, turn on the Include Application Statistics checkbox.
Note: Information sections do not display in application Dashboards on mobile devices.
Use a text section to share more extensive information. For example, make an announcement to your team or provide important news (view an example). QuickBase lets you use HTML in these sections to enhance your text. Use HTML if you want to add hyperlinks or pictures. The beauty is that you don't need to be a coding maven to do so. Just use the HTML editor QuickBase provides.
To add a text section, click the + New Section button and select Text from the menu that appears. The section transforms into an area that lets you add, edit and format text. This is actually an HTML editor. If you know HTML, click the HTML button on the toolbar and compose or paste in whatever HTML code you want to use. Otherwise, just start typing and formatting as you would in any word-processing program. QuickBase takes your creation and (behind the scenes) turns it into HTML.
Tip: If you want to enlarge
your work area, just click the 
Maximize
button on the HTML editor's toolbar. The editor fills your screen. Click
Minimize to return the editor to the Edit Dashboard screen.
The HTML editor lets you add two kinds of hyperlinks:
Link to a Web site.
Type some text (like "click here"), then highlight it and
click the 
button. An Insert/Modify Link dialog
box opens. Type in the URL of the destination Web site. This needs
to be the full Web address, including http and so on. In
the Title box, type in the text that you want QuickBase
to display when a viewer passes their mouse over the link. If you
want the link to open the destination page in a new instance of the
browser, click the Target dropdown and select New
Window (blank).
Link to a page in your application.
Type some text (like "add a task"), then select the text
and click the button. The choices that appear
are the same ones you read about in the add buttons
section.
Note: Text sections do not display in application Dashboards on mobile devices.
Provide your users with quick access to important information by embedding data reports on the Dashboard page. To do so, click the + New Section button and select Report from the menu that appears. A new report section appears. In the enter a subheading text box, type in the heading you want to display above the report. If you don't type anything, QuickBase automatically uses the name of the report you're about to select. Click the Report dropdown and select the application report that you want to display. Then set the following display options:
How much information do you want to share? How much Dashboard real estate do you want to give to this report? Type in the number of records that you want this report to display on your Dashboard page by typing the number in the Rows to display box. The larger the number, the more room your report takes up on the Dashboard page. To display the entire report (all rows), enter 0. If the report contains more than the number of rows you specify, QuickBase displays a more... link that users can click to see all the data in the report.
If you want to display an Edit button (
or 
) next to each entry in the embedded report,
turn on the Include "Edit" button checkbox.
If you want to display a View button (
or 
) next to each entry in the embedded report,
turn on the Include "Display" button checkbox
By default, the left column
of a new Dashboard contains a list of reports available in the application
(like this one). For trial users this
area defaults to the QuickBase Get Started content instead. This content
displays two panes: Your Progress shows steps to successfully create an
application, and Trial Resources shows helpful resource links to learn
more about QuickBase. (Note that the Your Progress pane displays only
if the user viewing that Dashboard has permissions to create applications.)
If you'd like to override the default or change the left-column display,
click the Left Column drop-down list, and select one
of Hide, Show All Reports, or Show
Get Started.
Note: The left column pane does not display in application Dashboards on mobile devices.
Note that the reports that appear on the Reports pane vary according to user role. That is, if a user in a Viewer role (for example) is not allowed to see a particular report, the Reports pane will not contain that report when the Dashboard appears. Learn about controlling access to reports.
If you don't like where you've placed a section, just move it. To do
so, pass your mouse over the blue section heading. When your mouse cursor
turns into a four-way arrow 
, click and
drag the section. To reposition the section, move your mouse cursor over
the blue section heading that you want the section you're dragging to
appear above, and drop the section
(see an illustration).
If a section's not working out, click the X in its upper right corner to delete it.
