How to Create a Dashboard in Salesforce Lightning?

Dashboards in Salesforce Lightning are powerful tools that transform your data into actionable insights at a glance. Whether you want to track sales performance, monitor customer service metrics, or analyze marketing campaigns, a well-designed dashboard can save time and support informed decisions.

With AI enhancements and dynamic layouts, creating a dashboard in Lightning is easier and more impactful than ever. This step-by-step guide walks you through the process from start to finish, so you can build a dashboard tailored to your business needs.

Why to use Dashboards in Salesforce Lightning?

Before moving forward, let’s first understand why the dashboard matters. Dashboards pull data from your Salesforce reports and display it visually using charts, tables, or gauges, making it easy to spot trends or issues. In Lightning, the drag-and-drop builder and responsive design let you customize dashboards quickly, even if you’re not a tech professional. With updates like Agent Force integration in 2025, dashboards can use AI to highlight predictive insights.

Prerequisites for Creating a Salesforce Lightning Dashboard

To create a dashboard, you’ll need:

Access and Permissions: A Salesforce account with the Lightning Experience interface enabled and appropriate permissions assigned to your user profile to create and customize dashboards (Admin or Editor roles), as well as to manage and view dashboards in public folders.

Prepared Reports: Dashboards in Salesforce are built on reports that provide the data visualizations shown in dashboard components. Before creating a dashboard, develop at least one saved report in Salesforce that contains the data you want to visualize, and structure your reports with appropriate grouping and filters.

Step by Step Guide to Creating a Dashboard in Salesforce Lightning

Step 1:

• Go to the Dashboards Tab
• Log into Salesforce Lightning.
• Click the App Launcher (the grid icon in the top left corner).
• Now search for “Dashboards” and select the Dashboards tab.
• Click New Dashboard in the top right corner to start.

Step 2:

• Give Name and Save Your Dashboard
• In the pop-up, enter a Name for your dashboard, like “2025 Sales Tracker” or “Customer Support Aspects.”
• Choose a Folder to store, select a public folder for team access or a private one for personal use.
• Click Create to open the Dashboard Builder.

Step 3:

• Add a Component
• In the Dashboard Builder, click + Component on the toolbar.
• Select a Report from your saved reports list, like “Monthly Sales by Region,” and click Select.
• Choose a Display Type:
• Chart (e.g., bar, pie, or line for trends).
• Table (for detailed lists).
• Metric (for a single number).
• Gauge (for goal progress).
• Customize the component’s title, colors, or labels as needed, then click Add.

Step 4:

• Arrange and Resize Components
• Drag the component onto the dashboard’s grid layout, it’ll snap into place.
• Resize it by pulling the corners, make it larger for emphasis or smaller to fit more components.
• Repeat Step 3 to add up to 20 components, mixing different types for a comprehensive view.

Step 5:

• Add Filters (Optional)
• Click + Filter on the toolbar to let users refine data dynamically.
• Pick a field from your report, like “Close Date” or “Region.”
• Set filter options, such as “This Quarter” or specific regions (e.g., “North America”).
• Click Apply. You can add up to three filters to keep it user-friendly.

Step 6:

• Set Dashboard Settings
• Click on the gear icon to access dashboard properties.
• Theme: Choose light or dark mode for better visibility.
• Running User: Decide whose data to show, select yourself, a role, or “The dashboard viewer” for dynamic, user-specific data.
• Use the Preview button to check how it looks.
• Click Save to apply the settings.

Step 7:

• Save and Share
• Click Save to store your progress.
• Click Done to exit the dashboard editor.​
• To view the most current data, click Refresh on the dashboard.

Share it by adjusting folder permissions through “Share” in the folder settings, or embed it on a Lightning page (such as the Home tab) using the Lightning App Builder.

Best Practices

• Use Agentforce-powered reports to add predictive metrics for smarter insights.
• Limit to 5–7 components to avoid overwhelming users.
• Dashboards don’t update automatically, so click the refresh button (top right) when needed to pull the latest data.
• Lightning dashboards work in the Salesforce mobile app, so check and test how they appear on your phone.
• Set “View Dashboard As” to “The dashboard viewer” to personalize data based on user roles.

Conclusion
Creating a dashboard in Salesforce Lightning is a powerful way to visualize data, track performance, and make informed decisions in real time. With its intuitive interface and customizable components, Lightning Experience makes building and managing dashboards easier and more effective than ever.

As you explore dashboard capabilities, it’s important to understand the key difference between Salesforce Classic and Lightning. Lightning provides a more modern, flexible, and user-friendly experience, especially for reporting and analytics. Embracing Lightning enhances usability and unlocks the full potential of Salesforce’s data visualization tools.

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