Welcome to DashboardFox
Your starting point. Watch the 7-minute tour to see what DashboardFox does end-to-end, then pick the card below that matches what you're here to do.
By the end of this lesson
- You'll know which of the three paths fits what you're here to do — and where to start
Background
DashboardFox is a self-service reporting and dashboard tool for teams. You connect a data source — a database, an Excel file, an API — build a friendly model on top of it, and your team starts answering their own questions. No SQL needed for most use cases, no waiting on the analytics team for every chart.
The video above is your map — a tour from a blank-slate environment to branded dashboards your team uses every day. Once you've seen it, three paths fork from here. Pick the card that matches what you're going to do next.
Setting things up
You just installed DashboardFox or you're the admin getting it ready for your team. Start with connecting data.
Building reports
Your admin has the data connected and you're going to build the reports and dashboards your team uses.
Just using reports
Someone shared a DashboardFox link with you and you want to find, run, and share reports — not build them.
Not sure which one fits?
Three quick questions:
• Did you just install DashboardFox, or are you the person who'll get it ready for the team? → Setting things up.
• Will you be the one building reports, dashboards, or the data model the team uses? → Building reports.
• Did a teammate send you a link and you mostly just need to find and run reports? → Just using reports.
Still unsure? Email team@dashboardfox.com with one sentence about your situation — we'll point you at the right path.
Along the way you'll meet three per-app roles — App Builder, Composer, Agent — plus the Admin who runs the whole instance. The next lesson, Roles & permissions, covers them in depth and is worth reading no matter which path you picked above.
If you picked Setting things up, the three first moves below are for you. The other two cards link straight to their track openers — you can skip the steps below if you're not the person doing setup.
Stuck anywhere on this page or anywhere in DashboardFox? Email team@dashboardfox.com. Real human, same business day.
Do it
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Open the Help Hub and click around
The Help Hub sits at the top of every screen in DashboardFox. Open it and look at what's inside: an AI assistant (ask it anything — it's usually the fastest answer when you're mid-task), a support ticket form (when you need a human), a tutorial library, this Academy, and the public roadmap where you can vote on what we build next.
Why this is your first move: three lessons from now, when you forget a step, the AI assistant will unblock you in seconds. Knowing it's there is half the battle.
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Try the Onboarding tab — optional, but worth knowing about
Go to Settings → Onboarding. It's a condensed video walkthrough of the basics — much shorter than this Academy. If you want to set things up fast and learn the depth later, that's your faster path. If you'd rather go in order and learn each piece thoroughly, stay here. Either works, and you can use both.
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Add your first data source
This is what unblocks everything else — without a data source, nothing in DashboardFox can show you anything useful.
There are four ways to bring data in:
- Direct database — Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, Azure SQL, Oracle.
- Data warehouse over ODBC — BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Dremio, MongoDB.
- File upload — Excel or CSV.
- API endpoint — Google Sheets, SaaS APIs, or any REST endpoint.
The right one depends on where your data lives. The next lesson — How DashboardFox connects to data → — is a short visual map that points you at the specific lesson for your situation. Read that, then follow it to the connection lesson that fits.
Not sure which path is yours? Email team@dashboardfox.com with a sentence about where your data lives — we'll point you at the right lesson.
If you're stuck
Three things commonly trip up brand-new users. If you hit one of these in your first week, here's what's going on.
I just connected a data source and I can't see it anywhere
This is the most common first-day surprise. DashboardFox doesn't grant access to a new app automatically — not even to the Admin who created it. Go to Settings → Security → Apps, find your new app, click Edit, and assign yourself the App Builder role. Refresh, and the app appears in App Builder. The Roles & permissions lesson explains why this is on purpose.
My report data isn't refreshing — did something break?
Check what kind of data source the report is built on. Live database connections (Postgres, SQL Server, BigQuery, etc.) query the database every time the report runs — the data is always current. File-based apps (Excel, CSV) are different — when you uploaded the file, DashboardFox copied the data into its own storage. To "refresh" means re-uploading the file. The Import Excel & CSV lesson covers this.
Something else is wrong — none of these match
Email team@dashboardfox.com with what you were trying to do and what happened. We're a small team and we read every message. Same business day reply.
