How to Arrange and Format Tiles in your Storyboard

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Prerequisites: Understanding Storyboard editing: Modify Mode and the tile configuration panels - read this article first

What you'll learn

By the end of this article, you'll know how to:

• Reposition and resize tiles on the Storyboard canvas.
• Add, edit, and format text tiles for narrative context.
• Show or hide tile headers.
• Copy the Widget ID for use with Dynamic Text or embedding.

Overview

Once you have tiles on your Storyboard, the next step is arranging them into a layout that guides the viewer through the data. This article covers the canvas-level actions that control where tiles sit, how large they are, and how non-data tiles (text and images) complement your charts and tables.

Repositioning tiles

In Modify Mode, click and hold a tile to drag it to a new position on the canvas. Tiles snap to a grid, so they align automatically with neighbouring tiles. The grid prevents overlapping and keeps the layout clean without manual pixel adjustments.

Resizing tiles

Click and drag the small arrow on a tile's corner to make it larger or smaller. The tile resizes in grid increments. Charts and tables reflow to fill the new space automatically.

Tip: Give KPI tiles and value tiles a narrow width so you can line up several headline numbers across the top of a page. Use wider tiles for detailed charts and tables below.

Showing or hiding tile headers

Each tile has a header bar that displays the tile title. You can toggle it on or off through the tile options menu.

1. In Modify Mode, hover over the tile to reveal the options menu.
2. Click Show Header or Hide Header.

Hiding the header gives the tile a cleaner look, which works well for image tiles or text tiles where a title would be redundant. Keep headers visible on chart and table tiles so viewers know what they are looking at.

Duplicating a tile

To create a copy of a tile on the same page, hover over it in Modify Mode and click Duplicate from the options menu. The duplicate appears on the canvas with the same query, design settings, and formatting. This is faster than recreating a tile from scratch when you want a similar layout with different data.

Adding and formatting text tiles

Text tiles add narrative context alongside your charts. Use them to frame a section ("This page covers Q1 recruitment metrics"), explain methodology, or provide instructions for viewers.

3. In Modify Mode, click the Add (+) icon.
4. Select Free Text Tile.
5. Type your text in the editing area.
6. Use the formatting toolbar to adjust font style, size, colour, alignment, and add hyperlinks.
7. Click outside the tile or Save to finish.

Text tiles support basic rich text formatting: bold, italic, font size, font colour, text alignment, and hyperlinks. For text that updates automatically when data refreshes, use Dynamic Text syntax. See: How to use Dynamic Text in Storyboard tiles.

Copying the Widget ID

Every tile has a unique Widget ID. You need this ID when referencing a tile's data in Dynamic Text (using the {[widgetid:nnn]...} syntax) or when working with embedded Storyboard links.

To copy a tile's Widget ID, hover over the tile in Modify Mode to reveal the options menu and click the copy icon. The Widget ID is copied to your clipboard.

Quick reference - layout actions

Next steps

Now that you can arrange your Storyboard, you might want to explore:

• Managing images in Storyboards - adding background images to tiles.
• How to use Dynamic Text in Storyboard tiles - making text update automatically.
• How to customise Storyboard appearance using the Design panel - colours, fonts, and chart-level styling.