> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.custral.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Dashboard preview

> When you ask the assistant to build a dashboard or view, it shows you a wireframe preview to approve (Build, Refine, or Cancel) before anything is created.

## Overview

When you ask the assistant to **build a dashboard, report, table, or board**, it doesn't create it blind. It designs the surface and shows you a **wireframe preview** right in the chat (the blocks, the layout, and the filters it plans to use), so you can see what you'll get *before* anything is saved.

From the preview you can **rearrange** the blocks, **Refine** the design in plain language, **Build** it, or **Cancel**. Nothing is written to your workspace until you press Build.

<Tip>
  Try it in a [sandbox](/start/sandboxes/overview) first. Build a dashboard from your sample data, refine it a couple of times, and see how the preview responds before you do it in your real workspace.
</Tip>

## How it works

1. **You describe what you want**, e.g. *"build me a dashboard of my companies by status and industry."* If your request is vague (*"make me a dashboard"*), the assistant asks a quick question first so it knows what to put on it.
2. **The assistant designs a plan** and pauses on a **preview card** in the chat. The card shows a schematic wireframe of the dashboard (or, for a table/board, the columns and grouping), not live data yet, but the real layout.
3. **You review and adjust:**
   * **Drag** blocks around the dashboard grid to rearrange them.
   * **Refine**: type what you'd like changed (*"drop the owner pie, add revenue by month"*) and the assistant re-designs the preview in place. You can refine as many times as you like.
   * **Build**: the assistant creates the dashboard on a new page and takes you straight to it.
   * **Cancel**: nothing is built; the assistant asks what you'd like to change.
4. **After you build**, the dashboard is a normal view you can edit, filter, and share like any other.

The same preview flow covers **single views** too. Ask for a table or board of an object and you'll get a preview of its columns and grouping before it's created.

## Using it

1. Open the assistant (**⌘I**) and ask it to build a dashboard or view. The more specific you are about the metrics, breakdowns, and object, the closer the first preview will be.
2. When the **preview card** appears, drag blocks to arrange them the way you want.
3. Not quite right? Click **Refine** and describe the change in a sentence, then **Update**.
4. Happy with it? Click **Build**. The assistant creates the dashboard and opens it.

## Troubleshooting

* **The assistant built a dashboard without showing a preview.** Building from scratch always goes through the preview. If a dashboard appeared with no preview, you were most likely **editing an existing dashboard** (adding a block to one you already have open), which doesn't need a preview. Only from-scratch builds do.
* **The preview looks empty or is missing blocks.** The assistant couldn't find enough in your request (or your workspace) to design those blocks. Click **Refine** and name the specific metrics or breakdowns you want (*"add a count of open deals by stage"*), or **Cancel** and describe the dashboard in more detail.
* **Refine isn't changing anything.** Refine re-designs from your **whole** description plus the new feedback, so be specific about what to add or remove. If a block you dragged reappears in a new spot after refining, that's expected, refining re-plans the layout; rearrange again, then Build.
* **I built it but can't find the dashboard.** Each built dashboard gets its **own page** in the sidebar, named after the dashboard, and the assistant navigates you to it on Build. Look for the new page in your sidebar; if you don't see it, refresh.
* **I wanted a blank dashboard, not a designed one.** The assistant will still show a preview of a starter layout. Cancel it, or build it and clear the blocks you don't want from the dashboard's edit mode.
* **The preview never appears when I ask.** Make sure your request reads as *building* a dashboard/table (*"create…", "build…", "set up…"*). A question *about* dashboards (*"how do dashboards work?"*) won't trigger a build.

## Related

* [Dashboard views](/surfaces/views/types/dashboard): what a built dashboard can do once it exists.
* [The tool library](/ai/tools/library): everything the assistant can do, including designing views.
* [Permissions](/ai/permissions): how the assistant asks before it changes your data.
* [Sandboxes](/start/sandboxes/overview): the safe place to try building dashboards from sample data.


## Related topics

- [Schema preview](/ai/schema-preview.md)
- [Change Log](/product/updates.md)
- [Dashboard View](/surfaces/views/types/dashboard.md)
- [Install the widget](/comms/chat/widget-install.md)
- [Presentation Themes](/blocks/presentations/themes.md)