Configure Dashboard Widgets
Change widget period, grouping, and sort options.
Some widgets can be configured after they are added to a dashboard. Widget configuration changes how the widget reads and displays workspace data.
Open Widget Configuration
- Select Edit Layout.
- Open the widget actions menu.
- Select Configure.
The configuration dialog opens for the selected widget.
If Configure is not available, the widget uses the dashboard defaults or has no settings to change. Remove and add a more specific widget when you need a different record type, chart, or metric.
Period
Use Period to choose the date range used by the widget. Dashboard widgets support:
- Last 7 days
- Last 30 days
- Last 3 months
Use shorter periods for daily operations and longer periods for business review.
Choose the period based on the question the widget should answer:
- Use Last 7 days for daily follow-up, new leads, recent tickets, recent payments, or urgent work.
- Use Last 30 days for monthly operations, collections, delivery workload, and sales activity.
- Use Last 3 months for trend review, pipeline movement, employee workload, and leadership reporting.
Group By
Use Group by for widgets that chart or summarize data over time. Available options are:
- Auto
- Day
- Week
- Month
Use Auto unless you need a specific reporting grain.
Use Day when the team needs to spot missed daily activity. Use Week when you care about operational cadence. Use Month for leadership dashboards where day-level movement creates too much noise.
Sort Order
Use Sort order for widgets that list records. Newest first is useful for recent activity. Oldest first is useful when you need to work through aging items.
For follow-up queues, oldest first is usually safer because it brings neglected records to the top. For audit or monitoring widgets, newest first is better because it shows what changed most recently.
Global Period
The dashboard header also includes a global period selector. This controls the default period for widgets on the selected dashboard. A widget-specific period can override the global setting when that widget has its own configuration.
Avoid Conflicting Filters
When a dashboard mixes global period settings and widget-specific periods, make the exceptions intentional. A collections widget may need a longer aging period while a recent-payment widget uses the global period. If users cannot explain why two widgets show different time ranges, simplify the configuration.
Document important widget exceptions in the dashboard name, description, or team operating notes so reviewers do not compare numbers that were never meant to match.
Verify The Result
After saving widget settings:
- Leave edit mode.
- Refresh the dashboard.
- Confirm the widget still uses the intended period, grouping, and sort order.
- Open the source module, such as CRM, Finance, HRM, or Productivity, and check that the records behind the number match the same filters.
If the widget looks empty, confirm the source module has records in the selected date range and status. A finance widget filtered to the last 7 days will not show older invoices, and a CRM widget may hide archived or closed records depending on the metric.
Configuration Examples
- A collections dashboard can use invoice aging and payment widgets with longer periods, sorted oldest first.
- A support dashboard can use ticket widgets with short periods and newest-first activity widgets.
- A manager dashboard can group task or attendance widgets by week to show workload movement without daily noise.