Building dashboard layouts with containers and items

Dashboards are built from two components:

• Items — The charts, text, filters, and controls you place on the dashboard
• Containers — The regions that hold and arrange items

Containers can be nested inside other containers, letting you group related items, control spacing, and build structured layouts that go beyond the flat grid of a classic dashboard.

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Requirements

Modifying dashboard layouts requires Editor, Manager, or Owner permissions on the document.

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Working with containers

When you create a new dashboard or upgrade from a classic dashboard, your existing items are placed into an initial container. From there, you can add more containers, configure how each arranges its items, and nest containers inside one another to shape your dashboard.

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Selecting a layout type

When you add a container to your dashboard, you choose between two layout types: To add a container, click Add > Layout and select a layout type.

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Naming containers

Each container can have a name to help you identify it while editing. To rename a container, select it and edit the Name field in the properties panel on the right side of the screen.

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Nesting containers

Containers can be placed inside other containers to build nested layouts. For example, place a stack container (set to row direction) inside a grid container to create a horizontal row of filters within a larger free-form layout.

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Resizing items in stack containers

Items within column stack containers can be resized by dragging resize handles, similar to resizing items in grid containers. This allows you to set specific dimensions for individual items while maintaining the automatic flow of the stack layout. Resized items are sized in pixel values with a minimum size of 12px. Changes are previewed live as you drag and committed when you release the mouse. To remove custom sizing, right-click the item and select Reset sizing. This removes all explicit sizing properties (width, height, and min/max constraints) and returns the item to its default automatic size.

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Adding and organizing items

Items can be added automatically — new queries from the workbook are placed on the first page, and page navigation appears when you create multiple pages — or manually from the dashboard’s Add menu. From there, you can move items between containers, browse them in the Catalog, and edit their configuration without leaving the layout editor. Dashboards currently support the following item types:

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Adding items to a dashboard

Click Add in the toolbar to insert any item, a layout container, or a new page. Page navigation is automatically added when you create a second dashboard page, but you can also add it manually from the Layout submenu to place additional navigation or customize its position.

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Browsing items in the catalog

The catalog is a browsable library of all available items on your dashboard. Click the Catalog button in the toolbar to open it. The catalog displays items in two groups:

• Controls & filters - All dashboard filters and controls, sorted alphabetically
• Queries - Charts and query visualizations

Use the search field at the top of the catalog to filter items by name. To place an item, click it in the catalog and then select the target container from the menu that appears. The catalog is useful for finding items that haven’t been placed yet or for quickly moving items into a specific container without selecting them on the canvas first.

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Placing items in containers

There are several ways to place items into a container:

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From the catalog

1. Click the Catalog button in the toolbar.
2. Find the item you want to place. Use search to filter by name.
3. Click the item.
4. Select the target container from the placement menu.

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Using the properties panel

1. Select the item you want to place on the canvas.
2. In the properties panel on the right, click Place (for unplaced items) or Move (for items already in a container).
3. A menu will appear showing all available containers.
4. Click the target container to move the item into it.

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Repositioning items

You can drag items to reposition them within a container or move them between containers. This works for all container layout types. While dragging, Omni provides visual cues to help you place items:

• Containers that can accept the item show a colored outline when you hover over them
• Stack containers show a drop indicator line at the insertion point where the item will be placed
• The container you’re dragging from shows an outline to indicate the active drag operation

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Unplaced items

To re-add items to the dashboard, use the Catalog.

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Aligning filters and controls with tiles

When you place filters or controls directly on the page root alongside tile containers, Omni automatically applies a Tile align preset to ensure visual alignment. This preset adds padding to the filter or control that matches the outer spacing of tile containers, so they align cleanly as siblings on the grid.

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Automatic preset behavior

The tile-align preset is managed automatically based on where you place the item:

• Auto-applied — When you drag a filter or control into the page root grid (outside of any container), the preset is automatically applied
• Auto-cleared — When you move a filter or control into a tile container, the preset is automatically removed to prevent double spacing

When the preset is applied, Omni automatically adjusts the item’s grid height (+1 unit) to account for the additional padding.

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Manually changing the preset

To manually control the preset:

1. Select the filter or control on the canvas.
2. In the properties panel on the right, locate the Preset dropdown.
3. Select Tile align to apply the preset, or None to remove it.

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Duplicating containers and items

Duplicate existing containers and items to quickly create copies with the same configuration and styling. You can duplicate a container or item in three ways:

• Context menu - Right-click the container or item and select Duplicate
• Properties panel - Select the container or item, then click the menu icon in the properties panel header and select Duplicate
• Keyboard shortcut - Select the container or item and press ⌘ + D (Mac) or Ctrl + D (Windows)

Where the duplicate appears depends on the parent container type:

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Accessing the properties panel

When the properties panel is closed, right-click on a dashboard item and select Edit from the context menu to open it. You can also use keyboard shortcuts (⌘ + \ on Mac, Ctrl + \ on Windows) to open the properties panel.

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Undoing and redoing layout changes

When editing a dashboard, you can undo and redo layout changes using the Edit menu, toolbar buttons, or keyboard shortcuts:

• Edit menu - Click Edit > Undo or Edit > Redo
• Toolbar - Click the (undo) or (redo) icons in the editing toolbar
• Keyboard shortcuts - Press ⌘Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows) to undo, ⇧⌘Z (Mac) or ⇧Ctrl+Z (Windows) to redo

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History clearing

Your undo/redo history is automatically cleared when you make non-layout changes to the dashboard, such as:

• Renaming the dashboard or items
• Editing filter configurations
• Updating query definitions
• Changing dashboard settings

After a non-layout change, you won’t be able to undo past that point. This ensures that layout changes and content changes remain independent and prevents conflicts between different types of edits.

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Next steps

• Use pages to create multi-page dashboards, where each page has its own layout, items, and filters.
• Customize page navigation to control how viewers move between pages, including custom tabs and dynamic labels.
• Configure filters to display filters as button toggles, multi-select dropdowns, single-day pickers, and timeframe controls.