Once you've connected your Google Sheet or Excel file to Geckoboard, in this article you'll create visualizations from your spreadsheet data. First you'll need to select the data you want to visualize.
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Select data from your spreadsheet
To select the data to visualize from your spreadsheet, follow these steps.
- With your spreadsheet connected, click drag to select the spreadsheet cells you want to visualize.
Alternatively, you can select entire rows and columns or enter the data range into the field.
To add additional ranges, click the button to the right of the field.
If your data is found on a different sheet of your file you can select a different sheet by clicking the selector in the bottom left corner of the screen. You can also manually refresh your sheet to reflect any changes you've just made to your spreadsheet.
Tip
You can create dynamic visualizations that automatically update as you add new data to your spreadsheet.
By including cells from columns or rows in your spreadsheet that you'll populate in the future, you won't need to return to extend your data range.
This works particularly well with line charts, column charts and bar charts that use dates or datetimes for their axis labels.
- When you're happy with your selection, click .
- Depending on your selection, you'll see one or more highlighted visualization options.
Hovering over each visualization type will tell you why it was, or wasn’t, suitable for your selection.
To edit the selection again, hover over the spreadsheet and click to edit selection
By default, Geckoboard reads the data in columns. When your data series is arranged in rows, click the check box next to Transpose columns into rows. - Hover over your chosen visualization type and click the button that replaces it to start configuring your visualization.
Specifications for each visualization type
The following table lists the data selection requirements for each of the visualization types:
For help formatting your spreadsheet for a particular visualization type, read our section on formatting your spreadsheet in our preparing your spreadsheet article.
Number
- The selection is a single numeric value.
Gauge
- The selection is a single numeric value.
Line Chart
- The first column is a date/datetime or a string (for X-axis labels).
- The remaining columns are all numeric.
- Each column is a line of data and you can select up to 10 of them.
Column Chart
- The first column is a date, datetime or string (for X-axis labels).
- The remaining columns are all numeric.
- Each column is a line of data and you can select up to 3 of them.
Bar Chart
- There are exactly two columns.
- The first column is a date, datetime or string (for Y-axis labels).
- The second column is numeric.
Leaderboard
- There are exactly two columns.
- The first column is a string.
- The second column is numeric.
Table
- There are ten columns or fewer.
Text
- The selection is one row, one column, or one cell.
Configure visualizations from your spreadsheet
From the following visualization types, click the one you want to configure:
With the number visualization selected, you'll next see the widget configuration screen. Here you'll be able to add status indicators, comparison visualizations, and any additional formatting information about the data being displayed. You'll see a preview of the widget as you create it.
Learn more with our introductory guide to the number visualization.
Status indicators for number widgets
Adding status indicators allows you to call attention to your number widget on your dashboard when it's performing above and below expectations. Status indicators will overwrite any goals you set on this widget.
By setting a Warning value, when the primary metric is above or below the warning value your widget to turn red.
By setting a Success value, when the primary metric is above or below the success value your widget instead turns green.
For more details, see our article on how to add status indicators to number widgets.
Comparison visualizations for number widgets
The number widget allows you to visually compare the primary metric with a choice of four comparison visualizations: goal, number, percentage, and sparkline.
Click the Comparison visualization panel to display the options. Your spreadsheet canvas will automatically appear for you to select your comparison range.
Goal
Displays a goal progress bar below the primary metric.
Tracking goals creates a feeling of progression as you edge closer towards your targets. They are great for keeping a team motivated, particularly when working towards longer term objectives.
Enter your goal target value and, optionally, your starting value to define where your goal progress starts from.
Number
Displays the number change from your initial selected cell. Click the up or down arrows to indicate whether an increased or deceased change is good (displays in green).
Percentage
Displays the percentage change from the your initial selected cell as a percentage. Click the up or down arrows to indicate whether an increased or deceased percentage change is good (displays in green).
Sparkline
Displays a sparkline (a very small line chart, typically drawn without axes or coordinates) of the values in the selected range (top to bottom or left to right). The more cells in your selected range, the more detailed your sparkline will be.
Formatting number widgets
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your number widget.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
Dynamic selections for number widgets
The Dynamic selection menu enables you expand your initial single cell selection to a whole column or row. Your gauge widget will always display the last numeric value added. 
With the gauge visualization selected, you'll next see the widget configuration screen. Here you'll be able to add status indicators and any additional formatting information about the data being displayed. You'll see a preview of the widget as you create it.
Add a Min and a Max value to your gauge. If no Min and/or Max values are added, your gauge will calculate it automatically using the lowest and highest value the selected data range.
Learn more with our introductory guide to the gauge visualization.
Status indicators for gauge widgets
Adding status indicators allows you to call attention to your gauge widget on your dashboard when it's performing above and below expectations.
By setting a Warning value, when the primary metric needle is above or below the red warning line that section of your gauge turns red.
By setting a Success value, when the primary metric needle is above or below the green success line the section of your gauge instead turns green.
For more details, see our article on how to add status indicators to gauge widgets.
Formatting gauge widgets
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your gauge widget.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
Dynamic selection for gauge widgets
The Dynamic selection menu enables you expand your initial single cell selection to a whole column or row. Your number widget will always display the last numeric value added.
The line chart widget plots multiple series of values and visualizes these trends over a period. Line charts also have an optional goal field.
Learn more with our introductory guide to the line chart visualization.
Setting Y-axis Min and Max on line charts
Enter minimum and maximum values for your line chart's Y-axis. Your line chart preview will change to reflect this.
Setting goals on line charts
Enter a goal value, then select whether the goal value is set for less than or more than.
Grey shading will be added to your line chart above the goal line to indicate the target area.
Tip
Remember our tip about dynamic visualizations at the data selection stage? If your column or row selection included pre-populated cells your line chart will now automatically respond as you add data to your connected Google Sheet or Excel workbook.
Formatting line charts
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your line chart.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
Column charts allow you to plot a series of data into vertical columns, with optional labels for each column. Column charts also have an optional goal field which can be set to highlight values above a specific target.
Learn more with our introductory guide to the column visualization.
Setting goals on column charts
Enter a goal value, then select whether the goal value is set for less than or more than.Grey shading will be added to columns that don't meet the goal to reflect this and any columns that meet the goal will turn green in color.
Tip
Remember our tip about dynamic visualizations at the data selection stage? If your column or row selection included pre-populated cells your column chart will now automatically respond as you add data to your connected Google Sheet or Excel workbook.
Formatting column charts
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your column chart.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
Similar to column charts, but landscape. The bar chart widget plots a series of data into horizontal bars, with optional labels for each column. Bar charts also have an optional goal field which can be set to highlight values above a specific target.
Setting goals on bar charts
Enter a goal value, then select whether the goal value is set for less than or more than.Grey shading will be added to bars that don't meet the goal to reflect this and any bars that meet the goal will turn green in color.
Tip
Remember our tip about dynamic visualizations at the data selection stage? If your column or row selection included pre-populated cells your bar chart will now automatically respond as you add data to your connected Google Sheet or Excel workbook.
Formatting bar charts
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your bar chart.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
Leaderboards consist of a ranked list of items, each with a label and a value.
Learn more with our introductory guide to the leaderboard visualization.
Reverse sort order on leaderboards
Toggle the switch to rank the leaderboard by lowest value first.
Tip: Use CONCATENATE for multiple columns
If the information you want to include about the ranked items in your leaderboard span multiple cells in your spreadsheet, you can use the CONCATENATE function. Available in Google Sheets and Excel, CONCATENATE enables you combine the contents of two or more cells into a third separate cell.
In our example, we want to add information about the sales team each rep belongs to. Column A lists the name of each rep, B includes a dash – separator (to avoid a result like NathanRed), and C lists the team they belong to.
For each cell in column D starting from A2, we'll use the formula =concatenate(A2,
B2, C2) to return Nathan – Red. Now when you select Column D as part of your leaderboard's data selection you'll see your merged cells.
Formatting leaderboards
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your leaderboard.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
The Table widget is used to display data from up to 10 columns from a spreadsheet. You can also change the column order on your widget without having to edit your spreadsheet.
Selection contains headers
Toggle this switch to treat the first row in your selection as the header.
Column order on table widgets
In the config panel you'll see a list of your columns. Click drag each column to change the order that they'll appear on your widget.
Formatting table widgets
The formatting menu allows you to change the number of decimal places used or add additional information about the value(s) being displayed on your table widget.
For more details, see our article on how to using the number formatting menu.
The Text widget is used to display non-numerical data from a cell, or multiple cells, from a spreadsheet.
If you're visualizing text from a spreadsheet for the sole purpose of displaying it in Geckoboard, you may want to try out our dedicated Text widget instead.
Message loop on text widgets
If you select a column or multiple cells, you can either select Only show last message to display the last cell in your selection (if you have A1:A10 selected, only the message in cell A10 will be displayed).
Or select Loop through messages to display the text content of up to 5 cells in a 10 second loop (if you have A1:A10 selected, the messages in cells A6:A10 will be displayed).
If you have a column title included in your cell selection, you can toggle the switch to Ignore the first selected cell.
Spreadsheet widgets refresh rate
Spreadsheet widgets powered by a Google Sheets spreadsheet automatically refresh within 3 minutes from the connected spreadsheet's last update (if it updates at 2:02 pm, the widget will update by 2:05 pm).
For .xlsx files uploaded to Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive the refresh rate is around every 15 minutes.
Widgets powered by import functions such as ImportRange and ImportData also refresh around every 15 minutes.
For more information, see How often does my spreadsheet data refresh?
