Dashboards: components, running user and refresh
How a Lightning dashboard turns source reports into charts, gauges, metrics and tables, whose access decides the data viewers see, and how folders, filters and Refresh keep it useful.
Describe dashboards on Salesforce.
~7 min read · 9 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Explain how a dashboard gets its data: each widget reads one source report, and different widgets can read different reports.
- Choose a chart, gauge, metric or table widget from what the viewer needs to see, and know that list views and page layouts are not widgets.
- Make a tabular report usable as a widget source by adding a row limit.
- Predict what viewers see when View Dashboard As is a specific user or the dashboard viewer (a dynamic dashboard).
- Use folders, dashboard filters and the Refresh button correctly.
Key terms: source report (the report that feeds a widget), widget (one visual block of a dashboard, also called a component), running user (the person whose access decides the data shown), dynamic dashboard (the running user is whoever is viewing), dashboard filter (lets readers narrow the data they see).
Key facts
- Detail
- One; different widgets can use different reports
- Detail
- Chart, gauge, metric, table, text or image
- Detail
- Needs a row limit (rows, sort field, sort order)
- Detail
- Its chart can be a widget, not the full report; no filtering
- Detail
- Private Dashboards
- Detail
- All viewers see data per that user's security settings
- Detail
- Edition-dependent; no private folder, no scheduled refresh, no subscription
- Detail
- Readers refine the view; not applied in subscription emails
- Detail
- Updates results for every user with access
Sources for this section (6)
- Build a Dashboardhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Filter Your Reporttrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Reports Overviewtrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Dynamic Dashboardshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Filter a Dashboardhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Refresh Dashboard Datahelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Why does a tabular report need a row limit before it can feed a dashboard widget?
- When should you set View Dashboard As to the dashboard viewer?
- Why should source reports be stored in folders the dashboard's viewers can access?
- What happens when you click Refresh on a dashboard?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading free with a CertifyForce account
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The free Platform Foundations pack includes:
- All 12 lessons of the Platform Foundations guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (9 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
- An AI tutor that answers from the guide (uses credits)
- Unlimited timed practice exams
Next step
After Platform Foundations: Platform Administrator
The standard first Salesforce certification, and the prerequisite for both Agentforce consultant exams.