Dashboard templates
A template is a finished dashboard, doc or deck that opens on sample data, so you can see it working before you bring your own. The gallery holds the curated set Mammoth ships plus anything people in your workspace have saved. Everyone who can use dashboards can browse templates, and anyone who can edit a dashboard can fit it to their own data and save it as a new template.
Open the template gallery
You can reach the gallery three ways:
- Dashboards → Templates tab.
- Dashboards → Create → With a shape → Browse all templates.
- From an empty library → See all templates (see Creating dashboards).
The header shows how many templates there are, with "Every template opens with sample data, so you can see it working before you bring your own." Templates you or your colleagues saved carry a Yours badge.
If something goes wrong:
- No templates at all: "No templates yet." Templates come from the curated set and from anything you save from a dashboard, document or presentation of your own.
- Your filters match nothing: "No templates match these filters. Try removing one, or search instead."
- The gallery can't load: "Couldn't load templates", with Try again.
Search, filter and sort templates
Search matches problem, industry or metric, for example "attrition", "retail" or "margin". Click Clear to empty the box.
The filter rail (Filter templates) has these groups, in order:
| Group | What it filters by |
|---|---|
| Problem | The business question the template answers. |
| Function | The team it's built for. |
| Industry | The industry it's built for. |
| Format | Dashboard, Document or Presentation. |
| Source | Curated (shipped by Mammoth) or Yours (saved in your workspace). |
| Your data | Checks how well each template fits one of your datasets (see the next section). |
Long groups end in a link such as +3 more, and Show less folds them again. The count beside each option tells you how many templates you'll see if you click it. Options that would return nothing are left out of the rail. On a narrow screen the rail collapses into a Filters button that shows how many are on, for example Filters (2). Clear filters removes them all.
Sort offers:
| Sort | When it's offered |
|---|---|
| Most used | Once templates in your workspace have been used. |
| Recommended | The default when no template has been used yet. |
| Name (A–Z) | Always. |
| Best fit for your data | Only after you pick a dataset under Your data. |
Check fit against my data
To see which templates suit a dataset you already have:
- In the rail, under Your data, click Check fit.
- Pick a dataset. Each shows its row and column counts. Pick No dataset ("Browse without checking fit") to go back.
Mammoth grades every template against that dataset, and each card shows a fit chip:
| Chip | What it means |
|---|---|
| Great fit, for example Great fit · 8/8 | Every field the template needs maps to your data with high confidence, and nothing is dropped. |
| Good fit, for example Good fit · 7/8 | Every required field maps, and at most one optional field is lost. |
| Partial, followed by the reason | Some fields map, with the reason shown. |
| Limited fit | A required field has no match, or the required fields matched only by type. |
Hover a chip to see, for example, "7 of 8 fields map to Sales". Fits my data, with a count, narrows the gallery to Great and Good fits (it appears only when at least one template qualifies), and Show all brings the rest back. The sort switches to Best fit for your data.
Note: Checking fit only ranks and filters the gallery. Use this template still opens the template on its sample data. Connect your dataset afterwards with Use my data (see below).
Preview a template and customize it
Click a template card to open its preview.
- Previous template and Next template step through the gallery (for example "3 of 40").
- Preview at this size switches between Desktop, Tablet and Mobile.
- Full screen / Exit full screen and Close preview sit in the header.
- The Sample data chip reminds you the figures are illustrative and are not real business results.
- The facts list shows About, Running on (the sample dataset), Needs and Optional (the fields the template uses), and how often it has been used (for example "Used 12 times").
The Customize panel lets you try a look before you take the template:
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Theme | Any of the System styles. The default is marked Default. |
| Light or dark | Light or Dark. Some themes are Light only or Dark only. |
| Header (dashboards only) | Plain, Gradient, Pattern, or Photo when the template has a photo. |
| KPIs (dashboards only) | Cards, Accent bar, Side strip or Tinted. |
| Key insights (dashboards only) | On or off. While on, pick Cards, Banner, Plain list, Numbered or Tinted rows. |
| Filters (dashboards only) | On or off. |
These are a few of the options. Once you take the template you can change anything: layout, charts, colours and copy. See Dashboard themes.
If a template isn't published yet you see "This template isn't published yet, so there's nothing to preview. You can still use it — it opens on its sample data."
Use a template
Click Use this template in the preview. Mammoth copies the sample data into your workspace and builds a working dashboard with the choices you made in Customize. This can take up to 30 seconds, and the stages show as "Preparing the sample data…", "Building your dashboard…", "Calculating the numbers…" and "Opening your dashboard…". The dashboard opens by itself when it's ready.
If your connection drops part way, you see "We lost contact before this template finished opening, so it may still have been created. Check Publish before taking it again." Look in your library before you try again, so you don't end up with two copies.
On a phone, a template opens as a draft you can share from the phone. Editing needs a computer.
Fit a template to your own data with Use my data
A dashboard made from a template runs on sample data. A ribbon across the top says "These numbers come from sample data, not yours. Explore and edit freely — publishing and sharing stay locked until you connect your own data." To publish or share it, connect your own data.
Start Use my data
Click Use my data in any of these places:
- The sample-data ribbon on the dashboard.
- The Publish button's caret menu (it's the top item while the dashboard is on sample data).
- The share panel.
- The editor's Data tab, on the source card.
Pick your data
The Use your own data window offers:
- Upload a file: "CSV or Excel. We'll fit the template while you keep working."
- Other ways to add data, such as connecting a database or app.
- A dataset already in your library.
Pick one and click Fit to my data. The window closes and the fit runs in the background.
Watch the fit run
A strip under the ribbon shows the stages Uploading, Reading the file, Checking columns and Fitting the template.
- While a file uploads: "Keep this tab open until the upload finishes."
- After that: "You can keep working or leave — we'll let you know."
- If your workbook has more than one sheet, it asks, for example: "Sales.xlsx has 3 sheets. Pick the one to use."
When it finishes you get a toast and a notice in the bell: for example "Your data is ready for “Sales overview”." or "Your data doesn't fit “Sales overview” well. See the options." Click Review (or See options) on the strip.
Review your version
The review is titled with the template's name and "· your version". It shows the fit grade and the file it was built from (for example "Fit: good · built from Sales.xlsx") and "Keeps this template's look", so only the data changes.
- What changed counts what was kept, adapted, added and removed. You can Remove an addition, and Add back one you removed.
- Calculated fields show "Calculated when you accept".
- Adjust… opens the field-mapping table, where you can change which of your columns each field uses.
- If the AI step wasn't available, you see "Matched by rules only — the AI adaptation wasn't available."
Click Use this version to switch the dashboard to your data, or Back to sample to keep the sample. The change is undoable: the sample version stays in history. When it's done you see "Your data is in. Publishing is unlocked."
When your data doesn't fit
If the data is a poor match, you see, for example, "Sales.xlsx doesn't fit this template well" and "3 of 8 parts of the template work with this data", with these options:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reshape & retry | Offered when your months sit in columns. Turns them into rows so the template gets the date it needs. This adds a step to your dataset, and may remove total columns that would otherwise repeat on every month row. |
| Keep what fits | Keeps only the parts of the template your data can fill (for example 3 of 8). Nothing is added. |
| Build it | Builds a new board for your data in this template's design. Click Describe it… to say what you want to see, or leave it blank and Mammoth picks from your columns. Takes about a minute. |
| Templates that fit this data | Lists other templates scored against your data. |
To move a dashboard that already runs on your data onto different data, use Change data instead. See Managing dashboards.
Save a dashboard as a template
You can save any dashboard's look, format and layout as a template for your workspace. Your data stays private: only the design travels.
- In the editor, click the caret next to Publish → Save as template.
- In Save as a template, enter a Template name (up to 80 characters) and a Description (up to 240 characters).
- Click Save template.
You see, for example, ""Monthly revenue review" saved to your templates." with View in gallery. The template appears in the gallery for everyone in the workspace, under Source → Yours.
Save as template is unavailable:
- Until the dashboard has finished rendering and has a dataset.
- For a dashboard that reads more than one table: "This dashboard reads more than one table, so it can't be saved as a template yet…" (see Multi-page navigation).
If the save fails you see "Couldn't save the template. Please try again.", or a specific reason if Mammoth can't make a template from that dashboard.
Update a template's thumbnail or delete it
Templates you saved show two extra actions on their card in the gallery.
Update thumbnail
- Click Update thumbnail on your template's card.
- Drop an image or choose a file: PNG, JPEG or WebP, up to 1 MB. A wide image works best, because cards crop to the top.
You see, for example, "The thumbnail for Monthly revenue review was updated." If the image can't be used: "That image could not be saved."
Delete a template
- Click Delete on your template's card.
- Confirm with Delete template. The template goes from the library for everyone in your workspace. Dashboards already built from it are untouched. This can't be undone.
You see, for example, ""Monthly revenue review" deleted from your template library".