Smartsheet Advanced: Dashboards and Charts

Name: Smartsheet Advanced: Dashboards and Charts
Author: Nick Allgauer

Build skills in creating dashboards and charts

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Nick Algauer and in these lessons you will learn about Dashboards and Charts. To create a new Dashboard, click the Create icon in the top right corner, select Dashboard Portal. You can rename your Dashboard whatever you'd like. Next click the Pencil icon in the top right to edit your Dashboard. To change your Dashboard colors, click Dashboard Settings or the Gear icon. Here you can change your background color or widget background color. Let's leave it as white for now. Next, hit the Plus icon to add widgets. This will bring up a panel where you can see all of the widget types. A metric displays key cell values from your sheet. Let's click this widget to get started. Now you can click Add Data, locate your sheet, and then click the cell that you would like to add as your metric. You can add multiple metrics by clicking and dragging, and then click OK. The layout for metrics will show by default as side by side. You may also stack your metrics if you would like as well. By stacking, you receive two additional options. You can position it in a certain way, or you can align your content. The next option is Title. You can enter a custom title if you would like, or you can toggle to hide the title completely. You can also format it however you would like. And finally, we have widget behavior. This is what happens when someone clicks on your widget. Your options are to take no action. You can open the data source, open another site, or open a smart sheet item. If you click inside the cell value of your metric, a pop-up will show where you can format it additionally. You can double-click in the reference to rename it if you would like. To delete a metric, click the X on the right side. To reorder them, click the handle on the left. To add additional metrics, click Data and Layout, and then Change under Data Source. Smart Sheet will not remember which metrics you have already chosen, so you're free to add more. To resize the widget, simply click the blue corner squares, and then drag it to the size that you would like. Let's click the Add Widgets button and select Shortcut. This links commonly accessed files, URLs, and smart sheet items. When you click Add Shortcut, you have the option to add a website, an attachment, which includes something from cloud storage, or a smart sheet item, or now let's add a website. Click Apply. Similar to metrics, you have the option to Stack, your shortcuts, or display them side by side. Additionally, you can format your title however you would like. Now let's add a title widget. Click the plus icon and select Title. To add your title, click inside the widget box. You can begin typing and format it however you would like through the pop-up menu. In terms of widget settings, the only option you have here is a widget behavior, where you can take no action if someone clicks on your widget, you can open another site, or open a smart sheet item. Now let's add a rich text widget. Click the plus icon and select Rich Text. This is a good tool for adding descriptions, updates, or instructions to your dashboard. You have the option to hide your title if you would like, and you can simply click inside the widget box in order to start typing. You also receive options for bullets, numbering, and hyperlinks in the rich text widget. Lastly, let's use the Image widget. Click the plus icon and select Image. Click Select Image, and you'll see you can upload from your computer or from cloud storage. Once you have uploaded your image, you can choose an image fit and a margin. You also have the same options for a title and widget behavior if you would like. To cut, copy, or delete a widget, click the ellipse button in the top right corner. To paste, simply right click wherever you would like it on your dashboard, and select paste here. In this menu you will also see Dashboard Settings, add another widget, or consolidate my space. To manually move a widget, simply click on it, hover over the edge, and your cursor will turn into a hand. You can click and drag it wherever you would like. To move multiple widgets, simply click and drag, and select multiple at the same time. Here you can copy and paste multiple widgets, or just move them. This has been an overview of Dashboards. Stay tuned for the next lesson where you will learn about charts. Thanks for watching!

Advanced Provider : Nick Allgauer 5 Lessons · 16m in English

Course Description

In these lessons, you will learn how to use dashboards within Smartsheet. We will also explore how to display charts, reports, and web content. You will discover how these advanced skills are essential to harnessing the full potential of Smartsheet.

Organizations often struggle to create a cohesive space where all project or portfolio level documents are organized in a single space. Dashboards in Smartsheet are the most efficient way to display a collection of charts, metrics, reports, forms, maps, Word documents, slide presentations, and much more. Learning how to create visualizations of data is an essential skill for project reporting purposes, which is why these lessons demonstrate best practices for widget creation within dashboards. Not only will organizations create better context around documents and data, but they will also save time reporting to stakeholders. Dashboards always display live content, so there is no need to manually recreate reports at different iterations.

What You'll Learn

Create dashboards within Smartsheet to organize project and portfolio documents in a single space
Build charts and visualizations to display data for project reporting
Display reports, web content, and other widgets within a dashboard
Apply the web content widget and understand its benefits
Follow best practices for widget creation and sharing dashboards

Key Takeaways

Dashboards in Smartsheet display a collection of charts, metrics, reports, forms, maps, Word documents, slide presentations, and more in a single space.
Creating visualizations of data is an essential skill for project reporting purposes.
Dashboards always display live content, so reports do not need to be manually recreated at different iterations.
Using dashboards helps organizations create better context around documents and data while saving time reporting to stakeholders.
The course demonstrates best practices for widget creation within dashboards and for sharing dashboards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to use dashboards within Smartsheet, including how to display charts, reports, and web content, and best practices for widget creation and sharing dashboards.

What topics do the lessons cover?

The lessons cover creating a dashboard, creating a chart, displaying a report, using the web content widget, and sharing.

Why are dashboards useful in Smartsheet?

Dashboards are the most efficient way to display a collection of charts, metrics, reports, forms, maps, and documents in a single space, and they always display live content so reports do not need to be manually recreated.

What skills does this course focus on?

This course focuses on dashboard and web content management skills, which are described as essential to harnessing the full potential of Smartsheet.