# Copy Widget Feature - add to future release **URL:** \ **Category:** Product Ideas\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883 "2019-02-01T17:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terry.Fung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Terry.Fung](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Terry.Fung)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/1 "2019-02-01T17:58:16Z")
I submitted a ticket to Phocas asking how to have a widget appear on multiple dashboards. At this time, widgets have to be manually recreated / you can clone a dashboard… but cloning a dashboard copies over ALL widgets. Alan Oritz (Phocas Customer Support) suggested that I write up a quick post in the user group to request a “copy widget” feature be added in a future release. The Development Team frequently checks these Product Suggestions to gain some customer insight as to how to best prioritize new features. Thanks, Terry ---
**Author:** ![tim.janes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/tim.janes/32/361_2.png) [@tim.janes](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/tim.janes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/2 "2019-02-01T19:26:16Z")
This would be very helpful for a project that we are working on right now, too. We created multiple dashboards for different branches to use with external links, but after thinking we were done and rolling them out, we now want to make additions to each dashboard. However, it is time consuming to add the new widget separately to every dashboard. Would be nice to clone from one dashboard to another! ---
**Author:** ![anon33838874](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@anon33838874](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/anon33838874)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 5:25am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/3 "2019-02-06T05:25:53Z")
Hi @Terry.Fung and @tim.janes thanks for your suggestion. Would this be a simple as cloning the widget from one dashboard to another? Or would you like to be able to update it in one place and it updates on all dashboards? ---
**Author:** ![michael.fenton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@michael.fenton](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/michael.fenton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/4 "2019-02-06T05:42:21Z")
This is exactly what I have been spending the last 3 days doing. To answer @anon33838874, both options would be great. ---
**Author:** ![tim.janes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/tim.janes/32/361_2.png) [@tim.janes](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/tim.janes)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/5 "2019-02-06T14:34:11Z")
@anon33838874 I think for what we have come across in my team, priority would be ability to simply clone a widget from one dashboard to another. It would be great to see that other functionality added, though. ---
**Author:** ![Terry.Fung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Terry.Fung](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Terry.Fung)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/6 "2019-02-06T16:58:43Z")
@anon33838874 It would be good to have both options. Although, we would make most use out of being able to copy a widget to a dashboard. I would use the “update a family of widgets” option less often. It would be helpful to have both options - to choose to update just the one or all of the widgets. - There may be times that I would copy a widget, and then edit it so that it reflects a different location for example. This would require a copy widget feature. - There may also be times where I would want to update a family of widgets; for example, updating from a current fiscal period to a new fiscal period at year end… so in this case having the option to cascade for a family of widgets across multiple dashboards would be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneAngel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/shaneangel/32/68_2.png) [@ShaneAngel](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/ShaneAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/7 "2019-02-06T23:06:55Z")
If you create the widget as a favourite can’t you just use the add to dashboard function to achieve the same thing as copying from another dashboard? ---
**Author:** ![anon33838874](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@anon33838874](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/anon33838874)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/8 "2019-02-07T00:53:00Z")
@ShaneAngel you could also analyse the widget and then switch to chart (if it was a chart) and then use the add to dashboard function. That way you don’t need to create a favourite. ---
**Author:** ![anon33838874](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@anon33838874](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/anon33838874)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/9 "2019-02-07T00:59:27Z")
@Terry.Fung I’ve logged a couple of suggestions. 1. Ability to clone a widget from one dashboard to another. This could be a simple icon or menu on the clone icon to achieve that. 2. Ability to choose a favourite to display on a dashboard, where updating the favourite would be reflected on the dashboard. This would allow the use of one favourite on many dashboards. We are hoping to work on dashboard functionality this year and these may be included. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneAngel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/shaneangel/32/68_2.png) [@ShaneAngel](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/ShaneAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/10 "2019-02-07T01:55:06Z")
Don’t want to hijack the thread, but being able to subscribe to dashboards would be a great thing too, pretty sure that has been suggested elsewhere. Having our employees see the information in their inbox as oppose to forcing them to go to a link or Phocas itself, would be powerful indeed. 🙏 ---
**Author:** ![anon33838874](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@anon33838874](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/anon33838874)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/11 "2019-02-07T03:12:14Z")
@ShaneAngel that indeed has been logged. It’s being talked about but it’s not currently on the roadmap. For your employees, why would a static emailed report be powerful? When they view a Phocas dashboard they get the ability to search, filter, change the period, and investigate further where they need to. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneAngel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/shaneangel/32/68_2.png) [@ShaneAngel](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/ShaneAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:26am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/12 "2019-02-07T03:26:49Z")
Whilst I don’t disagree with you in the slightest, our biggest battle is getting people to look at the reports and dashboards I am creating for them. I can’t imagine my job without Phocas anymore, but most of our staff don’t feel the same way. 😫 ---
**Author:** ![StuartH](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/stuarth/32/394_2.png) [@StuartH](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/StuartH)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/13 "2019-02-07T12:56:28Z")
I agree in someway with Shane but feel that it depends on what you consider a dashboards use. Most dashboards are quite large in my experience and are not easily printed, exported, saved and certainly would be too large to drop to excel and email. However, a carefully constructed dashboard gives you the ability to create what would be a custom report in any ERP system. More structured than a single chart or grid, but not overwhelmingly big. Essentially I think the main use would be from making a simple A4 formatted report containing a handful of graphs, tables or gauges (think of a simple company overview - current stock level, current sales vs budget, 10 biggest orders yesterday etc as a one page view of yesterdays performance). I made such a report in SSRS in my last company and while you could access it on the report server, it worked much better delivered to the users inbox as you naturally would open it and read it. The trouble Phocas will have is how to restrict what dashboard would be email-able and what wouldn’t as too much and it’ll look garbage. ---
**Author:** ![tim.janes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/tim.janes/32/361_2.png) [@tim.janes](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/tim.janes)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/14 "2019-02-07T13:40:22Z")
@ShaneAngel Not sure if you have one digital spot where your employees all go every day, but using the external link in a viewer window of some sort could be helpful. For example, we have a sales goal dashboard viewable within our ERP, so it is available to employees in the same program that they use every day. We accomplish that by using external links (not embedded) in a web widget within the ERP system. I have heard great feedback about it! The basic idea of bringing Phocas to the employees, rather than them having to go to it, like what you hope to accomplish with the emails. ---
**Author:** ![Tim.Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Tim.Leonard](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Tim.Leonard)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/15 "2019-02-07T16:09:56Z")
@tim.janes It is awesome to hear about the use of ‘external link’ dashboards at your company. Really appreciate the feedback - thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Terry.Fung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Terry.Fung](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Terry.Fung)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/16 "2019-02-07T20:04:00Z")
I received a response from Phocas Support today, and they suggested the following… Try these steps. 1. Access the original dashboard 2. ‘Analyze’ the widget you want to “copy” over to the other dashboard: Then, follow the steps outlined here: [https://help.phocassoftware.com/display/userdoc/Add+a+widget+from+the+grid](https://help.phocassoftware.com/display/userdoc/Add+a+widget+from+the+grid) This should hopefully make it a little easier than having to build it completely from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![tim.janes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/tim.janes/32/361_2.png) [@tim.janes](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/tim.janes)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/17 "2019-02-07T22:55:40Z")
@Terry.Fung That is definitely a pretty quick and easy way to accomplish this! It would still be cool to copy one widget to 10+ dashboards at once, since this workaround only allows you to do one copy at a time. But it definitely works. Thanks! Check it out, @joshua.jensen ---
**Author:** ![dan.klob](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/dan.klob/32/1504_2.png) [@dan.klob](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/dan.klob)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/copy-widget-feature-add-to-future-release/883/18 "2022-11-01T18:16:04Z")
Has this died on the vine or is there still life? 🤷🏽‍♂️ The ‘save as a favorite’ then ‘add to dashboard’ workaround is clumsy and, only works for widgets that are querys. What abouts lists, nested tables, text blocks and URLs? Being able to copy lines and widgets from one dashboard to another would be the ideal solution. @anon33838874 @ShaneAngel