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.