Dashboards consume Summary, Matrix, and Joined reports directly. Tabular reports are only allowed if you set a Row Limit — converting them into a “Top N tabular”.
The rule per format
| Format | Dashboard-ready? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Yes | Most common — groupings give charts their categories |
| Matrix | Yes | Row + column groupings — great for stacked charts and heat maps |
| Joined | Yes | One block at a time per component; pick the block when adding |
| Tabular | Only with Row Limit | Set a limit (top 10, top 25) plus sort order |
Why Tabular needs a Row Limit
Dashboards need a clear “what to chart” — categories on one axis, metric on another. Tabular reports have no groupings, so the platform can’t infer chart categories. Setting a Row Limit with a sort order (e.g. “Top 10 by Annual Revenue”) makes the result deterministic and chart-able.
Tabular with Row Limit = 10, Sort = Annual Revenue DESC:
1. Umbrella Corp $5.5M
2. Initrode Inc $4.2M
3. Acme Corp $1.2M
...
10. Smaller Corp $400KDashboards accept this because the order is fixed and the metric is clear.
Component-format compatibility
Different component types work best with different formats:
| Component | Summary | Matrix | Joined | Tabular w/ Row Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bar / Column | Yes | Yes (stacked) | Yes | Yes |
| Line | Yes (time grouping) | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Donut / Pie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Metric | Yes (Grand Total) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gauge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Funnel | Yes (ordered groupings) | No | No | No |
| Lightning Table | Yes | Yes | Yes (one block) | Yes |
| Scatter | Yes (2 groupings) | Yes | Limited | No |
Practical recommendation
Build Summary reports first for anything you intend to dashboard. Convert to Matrix only when you need a true two-dimensional pivot. Use Tabular for exports and lists; promote to Summary when you need it on a dashboard.
Why Joined is “yes but”
Joined reports can feed dashboards, but each component points at one block of the joined report. So if you have a 3-block joined report, you’d add 3 components (or fewer) on a dashboard each pointing to a different block. The Lightning Dashboard component picker shows the block options.
Common follow-ups
- Can I dashboard a Tabular report? — Only with a Row Limit set on the report itself.
- Which is most common for dashboards? — Summary by a wide margin.
- Can a single dashboard mix sources? — Yes — every component picks its own source report.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Choose a Dashboard Source Report. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.