Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to the Dashboardx Designer FAQ. This page answers common questions about installation, features, usage, troubleshooting, and more. If you don't find your question here, check the full documentation or contact our support team.
Table of Contents
- Getting Started
- Installation & System Requirements
- Features & Usage
- Data Management
- Troubleshooting
- Comparison with Other Tools
- Privacy & Security
- Performance
- Working Offline
- Agents
- Datasets & Binding
- Visual Design
- Workspaces
Agents arrive with v2.0.0 — before that release the Designer had no AI at all. The Agents, Datasets & Binding, Visual Design and Workspaces sections below describe behaviour that applies from v2.0.0 onward.
Getting Started
What is Dashboardx Designer?
Dashboardx Designer is a desktop application for macOS and Windows that transforms spreadsheet data into interactive, professional dashboards. It features a no-code, drag-and-drop interface that enables anyone with basic spreadsheet experience to create data visualizations without programming knowledge.
Who is Dashboardx Designer for?
Dashboardx Designer is designed for:
- Business professionals: Need to create reports and dashboards
- Analysts and data scientists: Want to quickly prototype visualizations
- Small business owners: Track key metrics
- Educators and students: Teach/learn data visualization
- Consultants and agencies: Deliver client reports
- Anyone who works with spreadsheet data and needs to present it visually
How does Dashboardx Designer differ from Excel or Google Sheets?
While Dashboardx Designer integrates with Excel and other spreadsheet tools, it focuses specifically on dashboard creation and data visualization:
- Professional visualization: 20 chart types, plus input controls, KPI cards, and decorative frames
- Interactive dashboards: Create fully interactive experiences with filters and parameters
- Presentation-ready designs: Professional layouts and styling options
- No-code approach: Drag-and-drop interface specifically for dashboard creation
- Local processing: data processing happens on your device by default — the one exception is what goes to your configured model provider when you ask an agent to work
Installation & System Requirements
What are the system requirements?
Dashboardx Designer requires:
macOS:
- Operating System: macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later
- Processor: Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
- Memory: 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended
- Storage: 500 MB available space
- Display: 1280 × 800 resolution or higher
Windows:
- Operating System: Windows 10 or later (Windows 11 recommended)
- Processor: Intel Core i5+ or equivalent AMD processor
- Memory: 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended
- Storage: 500 MB available space
- Display: 1280 × 800 resolution or higher
How do I install Dashboardx Designer?
macOS Users: Search for "Dashboardx Designer" in the Mac App Store and click "Get"
Windows Users: Search for "Dashboardx Designer" in the Microsoft Store and click "Get" or "Install"
Can I install Dashboardx Designer on Windows or Linux?
Dashboardx Designer is now available for macOS and Windows. A Linux version is not currently planned.
How do I update to the latest version?
macOS Users: If installed from Mac App Store, updates are handled automatically through the App Store.
Windows Users: If installed from Microsoft Store, updates are handled automatically through the Microsoft Store.
Features & Usage
What visualization types are available?
Dashboardx Designer ships 20 chart types plus the widgets that make a dashboard interactive:
- Comparison and trend: bar, line, parallel, theme river, gauge
- Part-to-whole: pie, sunburst, treemap, funnel
- Distribution and statistics: boxplot, heatmap, scatter, effect scatter
- Relationships and flow: graph (network), sankey, tree
- Geographic: map charts — the basemap is suggested from the geography in your column — and lines, which draws flow lines between places
- Financial: candlestick
- Grouping: a group container that treats several widgets as one object
- Input controls: Select, Radio, Checkbox, Slider, Number Input, Date Picker, Range Picker
- Display: KPI card, number with format, flipper number, titles, plus 12 border and 4 edge decorations
Every widget is a real object on the canvas that you can move, resize, restyle, and edit by hand afterwards.
Data Management
Does Dashboardx Designer store my data in the cloud?
No. Dashboardx Designer processes all data on your own device. Only two things send anything off your computer, and you start both: exporting or sharing a file yourself, and asking an agent to do something — the request and the data it needs go from your machine to the model provider you configured, under your own account. There is no cloud storage and no silent upload. See our Privacy Policy and the Agent Perspective Overview.
What data transformations are available?
With extensive formula support, Dashboardx Designer includes comprehensive data transformation tools:
- Cleaning: Handle missing values, deduplication, formatting
- Calculations: Create calculated fields using formulas
- Aggregations: Sum, average, count, minimum, maximum, standard deviation
- Joins: Combine multiple datasets
- Time series: Date-based calculations and aggregations
Troubleshooting
Widgets aren't displaying data correctly. How do I fix this?
Common solutions:
- Check data binding: Verify widgets are connected to the correct dataset
- Review filters: Ensure filters aren't excluding all data
- Test with sample data: Isolate whether the issue is with your data or the widget
- Check calculations: Verify formulas and aggregations
- Update the application: Ensure you're using the latest version
Performance is slow with large datasets. How can I improve it?
Optimization strategies:
- Use aggregations: Work with summarized data instead of detail
- Apply filters: Reduce data volume before visualization
- Simplify designs: Reduce widget count and complexity
- Use sampling: Design with samples, then apply to full dataset
- Close other applications: Free up system resources
Comparison with Other Tools
How does Dashboardx Designer compare to Tableau Public?
| Aspect | Dashboardx Designer | Tableau Public |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | Local by default, with agent requests going to your own model provider | Requires Tableau Server/Public upload |
| Pricing | One-time purchase, no subscription | Free tier requires public data; paid plans start at ~$75/user/month |
| Data volume | Aggregation-first, spreadsheet-scale | Designed for enterprise-scale datasets |
| Offline use | Full functionality offline | Requires internet for initial activation and Public sharing |
| AI assistance | Six agents that build the dashboard for you, with your approval (since v2.0.0) | Ask Data (NLP for visualizations, less granular control) |
| Spreadsheet integration | Native Excel-like dataspace | Requires separate data prep (Tableau Prep) |
| Slicing/Drill-down | Built-in interactive slicing with cell-level control | Dashboard actions require manual configuration |
How does Dashboardx Designer compare to Microsoft Power BI?
| Aspect | Dashboardx Designer | Power BI Desktop |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | macOS + Windows | Windows only (macOS via web only) |
| Sharing | Present straight from the app to any browser on your network | Requires Power BI Service for sharing |
| Learning curve | Excel/WPS familiarity transfers directly | DAX + M language required for advanced scenarios |
| AI features | Six built-in agents that delegate to each other and self-review (v2.0.0) | Copilot (requires premium license) |
| Live updates | Present keeps the browser in sync as you edit (v2.0.0) | Real-time requires Power BI Service + Premium |
| Formula engine | 500+ Excel-compatible formulas | DAX (different from Excel formulas) |
How does Dashboardx Designer compare to Google Data Studio (Looker Studio)?
| Aspect | Dashboardx Designer | Looker Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Data locality | On-device processing | Cloud-based (Google Cloud) |
| Offline capability | Full offline support | Requires internet connection |
| Privacy | Zero data leaves the device | Data processed on Google servers |
| Connectors | XLSX/CSV/TSV + clipboard | 800+ native connectors |
| Charts | 20 chart types, all editable by hand | ~20 core chart types |
Privacy & Security
Where does my data go when I use Dashboardx Designer?
Nowhere. Dashboardx Designer is a desktop application that runs entirely on your machine. The data flow is:
- Import: XLSX/CSV/TSV files are read from your local filesystem or clipboard.
- Processing: All formula evaluation, chart rendering, and layout management happens in-process. No HTTP requests for data are made.
- Storage: Dashboard files (
.dxfformat) are saved to your local file system. You control where they are stored and who has access. - Sharing: When you present, a small web server runs on your own machine and serves the dashboard to viewers on your local network. No external relay or cloud proxy is involved.
What encryption or security measures do you implement?
- At rest: Dashboard files use standard OS file permissions. Your AI provider API keys are encrypted by your operating system's secure store — the macOS Keychain or Windows Credential Manager before being stored, rather than saved as plain text.
- In transit: The only traffic the app generates on its own is the conversation your agents have with the model provider you configured. There is no analytics, no usage tracking, and no crash-report uploader, so nothing about how you work leaves your machine.
- Sharing: Starting a presentation opens a local web address in your browser so others can watch the same dashboard live. While it is running, anything on the same network can open that address — present on networks you trust, and stop the presentation when you are done. Nothing is uploaded to us or to any third party.
- App sandboxing: The Mac App Store version is sandboxed per App Store guidelines, so it can only read files and folders you explicitly grant.
Performance
How much data can Dashboardx Designer handle?
There is no single row count that answers this, because the honest answer depends on how much of the workbook is formulas and how many widgets are watching them. Two concrete limits do exist:
- A dataset — the object you bind to a widget — holds up to 2,000 records of up to 15 fields. If a selection exceeds that, the app says so and suggests aggregating first.
- Your Dataspace and worksheet ranges are bound by the workbook itself, not by Dashboardx.
That 2,000-record ceiling is a design choice, not an accident of the engine: a chart reading 2,000 aggregated points renders instantly and reads clearly, while the same chart fed 500,000 raw rows is unreadable and slow for everyone. Aggregate in the spreadsheet; bind the result.
My workbook got slow. What helps?
- Aggregate before binding. Summarize with formulas, then create a dataset from the summary rather than the detail.
- Look for array formulas spanning huge ranges — these are the usual cause of a workbook that recalculates slowly.
- Reduce the number of widgets watching the same volatile range.
- Split mega-sheets into focused worksheets; the Dataspace is cheaper than one giant sheet.
- Heavy recalculation already runs off the interface thread in v2.0.0, so the app stays responsive while charts recompute — if the interface is smooth but a chart takes a moment, that is working as intended.
Working Offline
Does Dashboardx Designer phone home?
No. The app contains no analytics, no usage tracking, and no crash-report uploader. If the app ever crashes, the diagnostic macOS itself offers to send belongs to Apple's own privacy policy, not to us, and you can decline it.
The only outbound traffic the app generates on its own is to the model provider you configure — and that only happens when you use an agent.
Can I use Dashboardx Designer in an air-gapped environment?
Yes. Everything except the agents works with no connection at all: spreadsheets, formulas, datasets, charts, slicing, themes, and presenting to a browser on your machine.
What needs connectivity:
- Agents, which call the model provider you configured. No connection, no agents.
- Store license checks, which the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store may perform on launch.
- Nothing else. File access is entirely local.
Agents
Where is the agent view?
Two places, and they share one conversation:
- Agent Perspective — the full-screen agent workspace, selected from the View Perspective control in the toolbar.
- Agent Dock — the same conversation as a tab on the right of the Data or Design perspective. It opens automatically until you close it once; then it remembers.
See Agent Perspective Overview and Agent Dock.
How many agents are there, and what do they do?
Six. The Dashboard Master takes your request and delegates where useful: the Data Analyst shapes the data, the Visualization Professor decides what belongs on the canvas, the Dashboard Stylist handles theme and colour, and the Data Reviewer and Visualization Reviewer check the numbers and the layout before the work is called finished. You can talk to any of them directly. See Agent Perspective Overview.
What is Plan mode?
Plan mode makes the agent describe the design before building it. In Plan it may look — read sheets, inspect datasets and widgets — but it cannot change anything. When the plan is ready you get a step list with Approve & Execute and Revise; only after you approve does it switch to Act and start writing. Toggle Plan/Act in the message box. See Plan Mode.
For a narrow request ("rename this widget"), stay in Act and let it just happen.
Why did the agent ask me for permission?
Because the action writes to your files. Each request explains what will happen and offers Allow Once, Always Allow, Deny, and Deny for session. Operations that delete data always ask, even with auto-accept on. Approved rules are listed — and revocable — in Settings → Permissions.
If the app was in the background when the request arrived, you get a macOS notification and a Dock badge with the count, so you can tell "finished" from "waiting on you".
Where did the thinking go?
Above any reply that has reasoning behind it, a Thinking chip appears; clicking it opens the trace for that message, including delegated agents' findings and how long the model spent. Only models with the Reasoning capability produce it. See Thinking & Reasoning.
Which model should I use?
Set a default per agent in Settings → Agent and override per conversation in the message box. Reasoning-capable models make better design decisions and show their working-out; the faster tier is fine for mechanical edits. Background chores — naming conversations, compressing history — go to a lightweight Global Small Model automatically.
Can I use my own model?
The app ships with a curated set of providers, reviewed each release: DeepSeek, 智谱 GLM, and 阿里云百炼. Built-in providers accept a custom base URL, which covers routing through your own gateway. A UI for registering an entirely new provider is not available in this release. See Settings → Providers.
Does the agent work offline?
Everything except the agents themselves. Spreadsheet work, datasets, chart rendering, and presentation run entirely on your machine with no connection. Agents need to reach the model provider you configured, so they are the one feature that requires internet — and the only data that leaves your device is what the agent sends to that provider.
Do I need an internet connection?
No, for everything except agents. The app's own work runs entirely on your machine; only the agents reach out to the model provider you configure.
Datasets & Binding
Why does my dataset show "still loading"?
Datasets load asynchronously: pending, then loading as fields become ready, then complete. Binding is only offered once the dataset is complete — binding half-loaded fields would draw a chart that is silently wrong. The dataset shows a spinner while it works; see Datasets That Load in the Background.
How big can a dataset be?
Up to 2,000 records of up to 15 fields. Exceeding that produces a clear error rather than a truncated dataset, and the message suggests aggregating first. That is the intended workflow: aggregate in the spreadsheet, bind the summary. See Datasets.
Why does my slice show no data?
Usually one of:
- Nothing selected yet — a chart with no data point clicked. Normal; the dashboard is waiting for a user.
- Wrong expectation about input widgets — single/multiple selection for a Select, Radio or Checkbox is set under General Settings → Controls → Mode, not in the slice section.
- Source not aggregated — a slice mirroring a huge raw range is neither fast nor useful.
See Data Slice.
Can I create a dataset from a formula result?
Yes. Before v2.0.0 a selection containing cells spilled by an array formula was refused outright; now those computed values are included in the dataset, and the app checks that the result has usable headers first and tells you what it detected. Useful when you want a formula-driven view (FILTER, UNIQUE, a pivot-style summary) as a bindable dataset. See Datasets.
Why won't the agent write into a particular range?
If that range is a widget's slice output, the write is refused — and rightly so. The widget overwrites that area on every selection change, so anything written there is destroyed on the next click. Write your formula elsewhere and reference the slice area instead. See Data Slice.
Visual Design
What is a KPI widget?
A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) widget is a Display-category component that shows a single headline number. It supports:
- Alignment (left / center / right) for the metric label.
- Color thresholds — value and color pairs you set, so the number changes color as it crosses them. Set them under Properties → General → Title.
- Comparison display -- a secondary value with a trend indicator.
KPIs do not support slicing. They are display-only. See Widgets.
Why does my Map Chart pick the wrong basemap?
It normally shouldn't — the basemap is chosen for you when the geography column is bound. If the auto-detection is wrong, override it in the map chart's style properties.
If your geo column is not being detected, check that the column contains recognizable country / province / state / city names or coordinates. Free-form text fields are not auto-detected.
Where do I see the agent's proposed layout?
In the conversation. A plan arrives as an expandable step list under Plan ready · N steps, and View full plan opens it larger with the agent's written rationale — including a layout sketch when the agent drew one. Nothing lands on the canvas until you approve. See Plan Mode.
Workspaces
Why does the app keep asking to access my folder?
On the Mac App Store version, sandboxing means the app can only read what you explicitly grant it. Grant the folder that holds your work once — choose it with File → Open Directory — and the files inside stop prompting, including after you quit and relaunch.
If macOS revokes a grant (a restored backup, a moved folder, a new user account), the app says the access is no longer valid and asks you to pick the folder again rather than failing on each file. See Manage Workspaces.
Why doesn't my workspace appear in the recent list?
If you opened the workspace once but it doesn't show up, possible causes:
- Different OS user / machine: the recent list is per-user and per-machine; switching machines doesn't carry it over.
- The folder was moved or renamed: a workspace is identified by its folder path, so moving or renaming it breaks the recent entry.
Re-open the workspace with File → Open Directory and point it at the folder; it returns to the recent list.
Why do my sessions not carry between workspaces?
Conversations belong to the workspace they happened in. Switching workspaces leaves the conversation behind and starts fresh in the new one. That is deliberate: your sales-project discussion stays with the sales project rather than drifting into an unrelated dashboard. See Workspaces Overview.
The best way to learn is by doing! Don't hesitate to experiment with different features and designs. Every dashboard you create builds your skills and understanding.
Happy dashboarding! 🚀