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Creating Dashboard Widgets with Tooli

Turn a Tooli KPI card or chart into a dashboard widget, or ask Tooli to build one for you.

A card or chart that answers a recurring question doesn't have to stay in the conversation. Tooli can turn one into a dashboard widget that lives on one of your dashboards and reloads with fresh data — either by building it on request, or by adding a visual it has already shown you.

Nothing is written to a dashboard until you pick one and confirm.

Use Cases

  • Keeping an answer you'll want again — "add net sales for last week and this week to a dashboard"

  • Saving a chart Tooli just drew, instead of asking for it again next week

  • Building a widget without leaving the chat to fill in the widget form

  • Showing one metric across several periods as a single widget rather than several cards

Asking Tooli for a Widget

Describe the widget you want and Tooli builds it as a proposal card in the conversation — a preview of what it will create, before anything is saved.

A widget proposal card in the chat, showing the chart it will create and an Added confirmation, next to the widget on the dashboard

Click Add to dashboard, pick a dashboard from the list, adjust the widget title if you want, then click Save. The card then shows Added, with a See in dashboard link that opens the dashboard in a new tab.

You get one widget rather than several — ask for a metric across three periods and Tooli builds a single widget with three tiles.

Adding a Visual Already in the Conversation

If Tooli has already answered with a KPI card or chart, you don't need to ask again. Hover over the visual, click the pin icon in its top-right corner, then pick a dashboard the same way.

For what Tooli can render in the chat in the first place, see Charts, KPI Cards, and Live Grids in Tooli.

Which Modules Widgets Can Read

Widgets reach further than chat visuals do: Tooli builds number and chart widgets from Merchandise Plan, Item Plan, Allocation Plan, and Assortment Plan reporting. If your organization runs multiple merchandise plans, name the one you want — "use the Finance Plan" — and Tooli resolves it against your own plan list.

Two scope rules to know:

  • Allocation widgets need at least one filter. An unfiltered allocation query scans variant by location by week, so Tooli asks you to narrow the scope rather than build a widget that never loads.

  • Allocation and Assortment charts can only be grouped by a time unit — day, week, month, quarter, half, or year. Grouping those modules by an attribute needs a saved view, which a widget query doesn't carry.

What Can't Become a Widget

  • Grids — a grid widget is built from a saved view, which a chat visual doesn't carry. Create the view first, then add a grid widget from the Dashboard module.

  • Donut charts — there's no dashboard equivalent. Ask for the same data as a bar chart and add that instead.

  • Snapshot figures — a card holding fixed numbers rather than a live query can't refresh on a dashboard. Those cards offer Make this a widget instead, which asks Tooli to rebuild the same figures as a live query.

When Tooli can't build what you asked for, it says why — a metric it can't find, a period Toolio doesn't have, or a plan your organization doesn't run — rather than building a widget against the wrong data.

Seeing a New Widget on an Open Dashboard

A widget created from chat is added to the dashboard straight away, but a dashboard you already have open won't show it until it reloads. Click Refresh on the dashboard toolbar to pull it in.

FAQs

Can I add a chart Tooli showed me to a dashboard?

Yes — line, area, and bar charts can all be added, and grouped or stacked bars are added as bar widgets. Donut charts are the exception; ask for a bar chart instead.

Why is the pin icon on a card greyed out?

Hover over it and the tooltip says why. The usual reasons are a grid (not supported as a widget yet), a donut chart, or a card holding snapshot figures rather than a live query.

Can I edit a widget Tooli created?

Yes — it's an ordinary dashboard widget. Open the dashboard, click the 3 dots icon on the widget and choose Edit, the same as any widget you built yourself.

Does the widget keep up to date?

Yes. Widgets Tooli creates are backed by a query rather than a copy of the numbers, so they load fresh data every time the dashboard opens.

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