Customizing Your Dashboard and Header Navigation 🧭

Whether you prefer to learn by watching the full video or following along with our super-detailed, time-stamped instructions, you've got this! Pick your learning adventure below!

Click below to be directed to the portion of the video of your choosing:

• Customizing Your Dashboard
• Best Practices and Strategy
• Adding New Cards
• Configuring and Hiding Cards
• Reordering and Resizing Cards
• Horizontal Banner Cards
• Customizing Your Header Navigation
• Accessing Navigation Settings
• Setting Your Default Landing Page
• Managing Navigation Components
• Adding a Link
• Managing Folders
• Finalizing

Customizing Your Dashboard (01:05)

The dashboard is the first thing employees see, and while the card structure is the same for everyone, the content is personalized based on group membership. As the workspace editor, you should strike a balance between refreshing content and evergreen information.

Prerequisites & Setup Order

• Build Content First: Always ensure pages, articles, groups, and external resources exist in the system before trying to add them to the dashboard or header navigation.
• Editorial Review: Conduct an editorial review at the end of content setup to decide what deserves prime real estate on the dashboard versus what belongs in the navigation menu.

Best Practices and Strategy (02:00)

• Balance is Key: Mix low-lift content (like the News Carousel, Recent Posts, and Anniversaries, which update automatically) with evergreen content (like Featured Links and static cards) to keep the dashboard feeling fresh and functional.

• Be Flexible: You can update the dashboard for holidays, major initiatives, or splashy news, and then easily change it back. You are the front-page editor!

Adding New Cards (03:39)

• • Access the Library: Scroll to the bottom of the dashboard (or use the Add to Dashboard area in the admin console) and click the empty space (the plus icon) to open the Dashboard Card Library. You can add cards to both the main workspace dashboard and group dashboards.
  • Card Types & Quantity Rules:
    • Single-Use Cards: Displayed in gray text (e.g., Post Carousel, Recent Posts). Once added, they cannot be added a second time.
    • Multi-Use Cards: Displayed in black text (e.g., Static Cards, Banners, Map Locations, Featured Person, Static Image Cards). These can be added multiple times.
  • Examples: Event Calendar, Upcoming Birthdays, Static Card (for custom text/images), Video, Poll, Countdown Clock.

Configuring and Hiding Cards (04:22)

• For any card with custom settings, click the three-dot button in the top right corner and select Set Up.

  • Featured Content Cards: Open setup to select the specific groups, pages, or knowledge articles to feature.
  • Integration Cards (Looker, Tableau, Google Calendar, Power BI): Add the card first, open setup, and paste the required embed code or URL.

• Real-Time Publishing: Dashboard updates—including hiding cards—happen live immediately.
• 🛑 CRITICAL WARNING: Hiding a card with custom settings removes it permanently and will wipe its configuration/settings. Always copy your text or take a screenshot of your card configuration before hiding it so you can recreate it later!

Reordering and Resizing Cards (05:35)

• Drag and Drop: Click and hold any card, then drag and drop it horizontally or vertically to rearrange your dashboard.

• Resizing: For cards that support multiple sizes (like the News Carousel), you can drag them to a space that gives them a larger or smaller area. They will move to the next available row if there's not enough space.

Horizontal Banner Cards (06:26)

These full-width cards function differently from standard vertical cards:

Customizing Your Header Navigation (09:00)

Your header navigation gives employees quick access to high-priority, frequently needed resources (like employee handbooks or external benefits portals).

• Plan Ahead: Always plan navigation after dashboard cards so you don't duplicate identical links in both places.
• Keep it Clean: Avoid overcomplicating the header. Navigation is intentionally designed without subfolders to keep it simple and scannable.

Accessing Navigation Settings (10:23)

Go to your Admin Console and select Customize Navigation (the fourth option down).

Setting Your Default Landing Page & Mobile Behavior (11:00)

• • Default Landing Page: This is where users go when signing in or clicking the company logo. Leave this set to Dashboard (99.9% of teams do).
  • Mobile Navigation: The top-left logo directs mobile users to the dashboard by default. If your team enables a custom mobile home icon or opens to a posts feed on mobile, ensure the main dashboard remains easily accessible through the mobile menu.

Setting Your Default Landing Page (11:00)

• Default Landing Page: This is where users go when signing in or clicking the company logo. Leave this set to Dashboard (99.9% of teams do).

• Mobile Navigation: The top-left logo directs mobile users to the dashboard by default. If your team enables a custom mobile home icon or opens to a posts feed on mobile, ensure the main dashboard remains easily accessible through the mobile menu.

Managing Navigation Components (11:46)

The navigation builder uses a block structure: Folders are the top-line menu items, and Components are the dropdown links beneath them.

Adding Components to Existing Folders (12:21)

To add dropdown items, locate the target folder and click Add Component:

• Workspace Feature: Select this to link directly to built-in platform pages (e.g., Org Chart, Global Map) without changing their default platform names.
• Link Component: Select this when you want to customize the display label (e.g., renaming "All Posts" to "News" or linking to "Policies & Procedures").

Adding a Link (13:00)

The Link component is the most flexible, allowing you to link to Haystack pages (like your Employee Handbook) or external websites (like your press page).

1. Select Link.

2. Copy the URL directly from your browser's address bar (for both Haystack pages and external sites).

3. Paste the URL into the field.

4. Give it a clear Name (e.g., "Policies and Procedures").

5. Click Save (in the component window).

Managing Folders (15:15)

• Hiding/Deleting: You can hide any of the default folders (like the Groups or Recommended Recognition dropdowns) by clicking the Hide option next to them.

• Adding New Folders: You can add a new horizontal folder (which can be a standalone link or a new dropdown container) to the main header navigation.

Finalizing and Best Practices (13:50)

• Keep Header Simple: Limit navigation to roughly 5–6 folders wide and 6–10 items deep per dropdown. Use short, clear labels so users can scan quickly.
• Audit Regularly: Review analytics and search query data every 6 months to remove unused links and introduce missing, high-demand resources.
• Future Roadmap Note: Group-based custom navigation and dynamic group dashboard targeting are currently on the product roadmap for large organizations with distinct user populations.

And there you have it! You've officially graduated from reader to Haystack master. Go forth, customize, and make your intranet the most brilliant, functional, and well-organized digital space it can be!

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