How to configure data types in your Boardly dashboard

Steps to configure data types

On your dashboard, click the "Configure data" button.
A window will open, showing all columns from your Google Sheets. You can use the search bar at the top to easily find a specific column.
For each column, you will see the following options:
- The column name
- The column data type
- Additional parameters depending on the chosen type

Available data types

Text - For any free text
Image - For image URLs
Dropdown - For predefined values
Text - For formatted text or long descriptions

Additional parameters

Multiple values

For certain data types like dropdowns, you can enable the "multiple values" option and choose your preferred separator:

This option allows treating each value as a distinct entity using your chosen separator (comma being the most common)
Particularly useful for:

Multiple assignments (several people assigned to a task)
Multiple categories
Tags

Each value can be filtered and processed individually by the application

Practical tip

Use the search bar to quickly find a specific column, particularly useful if you have many columns in your table.

Data type implications

The choice of data type for each column has important implications:

Appropriate filters will be automatically set based on the column type.
Data validation and display formatting will be adapted to the chosen type.
For dropdowns, you can define if cells can contain multiple values and choose your preferred separator.

Important tip

Take time to carefully define column types. A wise choice will significantly improve your user experience and data quality.

Special configuration for dropdowns

Multi-value option

For "Dropdown" type columns, you have additional options:

Define if cells can contain multiple values and choose your preferred separator
This option allows better separation and management of multiple data in a single cell
Useful for categories, tags, or any data that can have multiple values

Examples of data type usage

Email : For columns containing email addresses, facilitating validation and email-related actions.
URL : For columns containing links, allowing better interaction and display.
Date : For date columns, allowing temporal filters and consistent formatting.
Dropdown : For columns with a finite set of possible values, like categories or statuses.
Image : For columns containing image URLs, allowing visual display in the dashboard.

Warning

Modifying data types can affect existing filters and visualizations. Make sure to check and adjust your configurations after modifying column types.

Next step

Rename your dashboard

Learn how to customize your dashboard name for better identification and organization.