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Building custom dashboards

Build one view from widgets, each with its own ad accounts, attribution window, filters and metrics.

Written by Ron Dahan

Dashboards put several widgets on one view. Each widget has its own settings, so a single dashboard can mix ad accounts, attribution windows, filters and metrics.

Dashboards vs Reports

A report answers one question with a fixed structure (see Report Types). A dashboard is free-form: you choose the widgets and how each one is set up. In the left sidebar, the DASHBOARDS section sits right above REPORTS.

Open or create a dashboard

The DASHBOARDS section in the sidebar lists your dashboards, for example Overview and Video Highlights. Click one to open it. Each dashboard has a three-dot menu next to its name.

To create one, click the + next to DASHBOARDS. The New dashboard dialog lets you start from a template or from scratch:

  • Overview

  • Video Highlights

  • Creative Performance

  • Executive Summary

  • Audience & Placement

  • Spend & Efficiency

  • + Start blank, for an empty dashboard

Set the scope

The scope bar at the top of the dashboard has:

  • Date range

  • vs: a comparison range

  • Preset

  • Source

  • Add filter

Add widgets

Click the dashed + Add widget area at the bottom of the dashboard. The Add a widget dialog has three tabs:

  • Account: account-level trend widgets, such as the Performance trend line

  • Ad: Compare, Scatter, Bar, Pie, Filmstrip, Video Highlights, Metric table, Audience matrix, By audience, Segment matrix and By audience segment

  • Layout: Headings & notes, to organize and annotate the dashboard

Configure a widget

Hover a widget to see three icons: the gear (Widget settings), duplicate and trash. Widget settings include:

  • Ad accounts: click + Add account to add more

  • Attribution window: keep Use space default on, or turn it off and choose a window such as 7 Day Click / 1 Day View

  • Widget filters: click Add filter

  • Metrics

  • Bucket size (Daily, Weekly or Monthly), on line widgets

This is what makes a dashboard a multi-report view. For example, show the same metric for two ad accounts side by side, or under two attribution windows.

Video Highlights

Video Highlights is no longer a separate page. It is a dashboard, listed under DASHBOARDS next to Overview, and also available as a template when you create a new dashboard.

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