# Put a board summary on a dashboard

The steering meeting looks at a dashboard, not at a board. A tile that shows
how many change requests sit in each column, and opens the board itself in one
click when someone asks why In Progress is over its limit, puts the board
where the conversation already happens.

## Before you start

A named board in your list, and permission to edit the dashboard. The widget
is a team dashboard widget: it lives on a project or team dashboard, and it
reads boards of the project that dashboard belongs to.

## Steps

1. Open the dashboard, select **Edit**, then **Add widget**.
2. Find **AnyKanban board** in the widget catalog and add it.
3. In the configuration pane, open the **Board** dropdown. It reads *Loading…*
   until your boards arrive, then *Select a board*. It offers the boards in
   your list, the same ones the board list in the hub shows you, and keeps
   offering the board the widget already shows.
4. Pick your board. The tile preview updates immediately.
5. Save the configuration and leave edit mode.

## What you should see

The tile shows the board name as a link, the total item count as *Items: {n}*,
and one row per column: a state-colored dot, the column name and the count. A
column with a WIP limit shows `count/limit` and turns red once the count is
above it, as with the change-request board's In Progress limit of 4.
Selecting the board name opens that board for everyone it is listed for. Two
tile sizes are offered, one row by two columns and two by two.

## Notes

Rows exist only for the board's own columns, meaning the type's states or the
list the board defines over them, so items in a
removed state (Rejected, on the request boards) and items of a foreign type are
counted in the total but have no row of their own, and a board with no work
item type configured shows no rows at all. Before a board is chosen the tile
reads *Configure this widget to pick an AnyKanban board.*, and so does a tile
whose board has since been deleted, because there is again nothing to show.

If Azure DevOps does not answer while the tile reads the board, its query, its
work items or its states, the tile keeps showing *Loading…* and tries again on
its own, a few seconds apart at first and then every 30 seconds. Only after four
failed attempts in a row does it show *The board could not be loaded.* It keeps
trying after that, and shows the board again as soon as a read succeeds.

Everyone who can see the dashboard sees the tile, and its counts include only
the work items each of them may read. Someone the board is not listed for, a
contractor who may read only another team's area path for example, who
selects the name gets *This board does not exist, or you don't have
permission to read the work it shows.* in place of the board (see
[who sees which boards](https://anykanban.com/docs/share-and-navigate/who-sees-which-boards/)). Put a board on a dashboard
whose audience the board is listed for.

## Related

- [Give a board a link you can put in a wiki page](https://anykanban.com/docs/share-and-navigate/link-to-a-board/)
- [Move between boards without going back to the list](https://anykanban.com/docs/share-and-navigate/switch-between-boards/)
- [Copy a set of boards into another project](https://anykanban.com/docs/share-and-navigate/copy-boards-to-another-project/)