# Build a dashboard

_A step-by-step walkthrough from empty grid to a live overview._

Canonical: https://snoze.dev/help/build-a-dashboard/

A good dashboard answers the questions you'd otherwise open five items to
answer. Here's the path from empty grid to a live overview.

1. **Create the dashboard**

   Click **New** in the sidebar and choose **Dashboard**. You get an empty
   grid; everything on it will be a widget.

2. **Add your first widget**

   Click **Customize**, then **Add widget**. The **Suggested** tab offers
   ready widgets built from your databases, or pick a building block and
   choose what to measure — a database, a Snoze app like time tracking, or a
   [connected external source](https://snoze.dev/help/connect-external-data/). A new dashboard
   can also **Start from your data**, which lays out a full first draft.

3. **Shape the data**

   Each metric has its own filter and each widget its own grouping — a KPI
   counting `Status is Done`, a bar chart of tasks per assignee, a formula
   like `[Revenue] - [Expenses]` across two databases. Define a metric once in
   the **Data** panel and every widget reuses it; the filter bar sets the
   period and comparison for the whole dashboard. Changes stay in a draft
   until you **Apply** them. If a teammate changed the same widget, metric
   or setting meanwhile, Apply names it and saves nothing; apply again to
   keep your version.

4. **Arrange the grid**

   Drag widgets to reposition, pull corners to resize. Put the number you
   check daily at the top left; detail lists can live lower down.

5. **Share it**

   A dashboard is an item like any other: share it with the team, or publish
   a [public link](https://snoze.dev/help/share-with-a-public-link/) for stakeholders who
   just need to see the numbers.

> [!TIP]
> Start with three widgets: one number that tells you if things are OK, one
> chart that shows the trend, one list of what needs action. Add more only
> when a real question goes unanswered.