---
title: "Overview"
url: https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/overview
description: "A dashboard is a page made of widgets, each a self-contained visualisation. Build screens of live charts and figures from built-in widgets, saved reports, and fully custom HTML."
---

# Overview

Last updated 25 May 2026

![A Flexie dashboard composed of KPI tiles, a pipeline funnel, a line chart, and a custom HTML widget](https://flexie.io/image/resources/dashboards-overview.png)

A **dashboard** in Flexie is a page made of **widgets**. Each widget is a small, self-contained visualisation, a count, a chart, a list, a fully custom HTML block, and a dashboard is just a layout of these widgets on a screen.

## The shape of a dashboard

You can build several dashboards (one per team, one per role, one per topic), choose a default one, share dashboards across the company or with selected groups, and publish a dashboard publicly behind a signed link if you need to.

## The two kinds of widget

Every widget on a dashboard is one of these:

| Kind                     | Where its data comes from                                        | Examples                                                                                          |
| ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Built-in widget**      | A specific feature inside Flexie                                 | "Deals created over time", "Pipeline funnel", "Email open rate", "Top closing users"              |
| **Report-driven widget** | A saved [Report](https://flexie.io/resources/reports/overview), data grid or HTML | A bespoke metric you built yourself, a custom layout, a single-value KPI from one of your queries |

Both kinds use the **same widget model**: they are configured the same way, you size and position them the same way, they refresh the same way. The difference is just where the numbers come from.

> Because **HTML reports** can run any HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with [Flexie Scripting](https://flexie.io/resources/flexie-scripting/overview), and any HTML report can be placed on a dashboard as a widget, **you can build any widget you can imagine**, well beyond the catalogue of built-ins. This is documented in detail on [Custom HTML widgets](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/custom-html-widgets).

## Built-in widget catalogue (preview)

Flexie ships widgets for the parts of the product you would expect, including:

* **Deals**: deals created over time, won and lost ratios, top closers, deal forecast, top stages, the **pipeline funnel**.
* **Email**: sent, read, clicked, unsubscribed over time, summary pies.
* **Page tracking**: page hits, A/B test outcomes.
* **Workflows**: processing time, recent activity.
* **Cases**: case volume, statuses.
* **Attachments**: download stats.

The complete catalogue with every widget type is in [Built-in widgets](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/built-in-widgets).

## Chart types

Widgets that show charts use one of these visualisations:

| Chart      | Used for                                                 |
| ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Line**   | A value over time, possibly with multiple series         |
| **Bar**    | Comparing categories, top N rankings, period-over-period |
| **Pie**    | Composition, share of a whole                            |
| **Funnel** | Stage-by-stage progression, most often a pipeline        |

All charts are rendered in the browser and **redraw responsively** when their container resizes. There is nothing to install on your side.

## Layout, sizing, refresh

* **Widget width** is one of `25%`, `50%`, `75%`, or `100%` of the dashboard width.
* **Widget height** is a fixed pixel value (a small set of preset heights) or **Auto**, which lets the widget grow with its content.
* Widgets are **ordered** with a numeric position, lowest first, and flow left-to-right within their row.
* Each widget has its **own cache lifetime** (in minutes). When a viewer opens the dashboard, fresh widgets render from cache; expired ones recompute. Default cache is **two hours**; for live KPIs you can set it lower.
* You can **manually refresh** the whole dashboard.

The detailed sizing, layout, and refresh rules are on [Layout & sharing](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/layout-and-sharing).

## Access and sharing

A dashboard has the same **Who can access this dashboard?** field a report does. You combine **All Users**, specific roles, user groups, or individual users in one list. A user matching at least one entry can see the dashboard.

In addition, a dashboard can be **shared publicly via a signed link** (`/d/{hash}`), useful for sending a snapshot to a partner or an external stakeholder without giving them a Flexie account. The link can be set to expire on a date.

Details on [Layout & sharing](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/layout-and-sharing#sharing-a-dashboard-publicly).

## What is in this section

1. [Built-in widgets](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/built-in-widgets): the complete catalogue, organised by area, with the chart type and configuration of each.
2. [Report widgets](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/report-widgets): using a saved data grid report as a widget; the six visualisation subtypes (single value, single number, line, bar, pie, grid) with their settings.
3. [Custom HTML widgets](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/custom-html-widgets): using an HTML report as a widget; the "any imaginable widget" route, with worked examples.
4. [Layout & sharing](https://flexie.io/resources/dashboards/layout-and-sharing): sizing, ordering, the cache, multiple dashboards, access control, and public sharing.

## Closely related

* [Reports](https://flexie.io/resources/reports/overview): where most non-built-in widgets get their data.
* [Flexie Scripting](https://flexie.io/resources/flexie-scripting/overview): the language HTML widgets use.