A Dashboard in Salesforce is a visual collection of components — charts, tables, gauges, metrics — each driven by an underlying Report. Dashboards turn the report layer into a single-page view, typically for executives and team leads tracking KPIs in real time.
What a Dashboard component is
Every component on a Dashboard points at one source Report. The component type controls how that report’s data renders:
| Type | Best for |
|---|---|
| Bar / Column / Line / Area / Donut / Funnel / Scatter | Trend, comparison, distribution |
| Gauge | Single metric vs target threshold |
| Metric | One big number with optional comparison |
| Table | Top-N rows with conditional formatting |
| Lightning Table | Modern multi-column table with rich formatting |
What sits on a Dashboard
- A grid of components (12-column responsive layout in Lightning)
- A header with title, description, and the running user
- Optional Filters that apply to all components
- A Source report per component
- Optional chat / collaborate integration
Reports vs Dashboards
| Report | Dashboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Output | Tabular data + optional chart | Multiple charts/metrics on one page |
| Source | A Report Type’s records | Reports |
| Purpose | Detail and analysis | At-a-glance KPI view |
| Drill-down | Direct | Click component → see source report |
| Interactivity | Drill into report rows | Filter the whole dashboard, click into reports |
Running User
Every Dashboard has a single Running User — Salesforce runs the source reports as if that user were viewing them, using their sharing/role. This is how a sales manager can see “everyone’s opportunities” on a dashboard while reps see only their own when running the same source report.
Dynamic Dashboards let each viewer see the dashboard as themselves (limited by edition).
Filters
Dashboards support up to 3 filters (filter panes on the top). Examples:
- Region — All / APAC / EMEA / AMER
- Time period — This Quarter / Last Quarter
- Product Line — All / Software / Services
Each filter applies to all components that include the filter field in their source report.
Subscribing
Users can subscribe to a Dashboard for emailed snapshots on a schedule (daily/weekly). Limits apply (typically 5 dashboard subscriptions per user).
Refresh
Dashboards show cached data — they don’t recalculate on every page load. Refresh options:
- Manual — click Refresh
- Scheduled — automatic refresh on a cadence (admin-configured)
- Per-user scheduled — admins can grant the right to schedule personally
Where they’re used
- Home page (Lightning Home tab can host one)
- Lightning App pages as a section
- Console workspaces
- Mobile app via Salesforce Mobile Dashboard component
- Embedded into Experience Cloud sites
- Slack via Slack-First Dashboards
Common follow-ups
- How many components per dashboard? — Up to 20 in Lightning Experience.
- Refresh frequency? — Manual or scheduled (hourly/daily/weekly).
- Dynamic dashboard? — Each viewer runs as themselves — explained separately.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Dashboards. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.