Creating Custom Home Page Widgets

Overview

Depending on the configuration of your CRM, some Home Page widgets do not behave as expected. As a general rule, it is recommended that you hide all widgets that are included with the CRM from your Home Page and create your own. In this tutorial, I will explain:

1. How to create a custom Filter
2. How to create a Home Page widget based on that custom Filter
3. How to remove widgets from your Home Page
4. How to edit custom Filters to change which data is shown in the associated widget.

Creating a Custom Filter and Home Page Widget 

As an example, I will explain how to create a Home Page widget that shows only your upcoming activities for the next 30 days. Know that the same concepts can be applied to create variations of Filters and Home Page widgets for other modules, such as Contacts, Accounts, or Opportunities.

There are two basic steps: 
1) Create and save a custom Filter that shows only your activities and 2) Add a widget to your homepage that displays this custom Filter.

To create the custom Filter: 

1. In the CRM, choose [Calendar] from the Sales menu. 
2. Click [All Events & ToDos] near the top left corner of the screen. 
3. On the right side of the 'All Events & Todos' screen, you will see the Filters menu. Click [New]. 
4. Name the view something like "My Upcoming Activities". 
5. You can choose your columns you would like to see as needed. The default settings are probably fine. 
6. In the 'Standard Filters' tab, you will see the 'Simple Time Filter' options. This is optional, but you can set the Filter to only show activities that are due in the next 30 days. See the screenshot (Standard Filter Settings.jpg). These can be adjusted to your liking -- you can set the Filter to show only activities due in the next 7 days for instance. 
7. Switch to the [Advanced Filters] tab. 
8. Set the two rules as shown in the screenshot (Advanced Filter Settings.jpg) for "Assigned To" and "Status". The "Status" rule will prevent the CRM from showing activities you have already marked completed. **Be sure to change the "Assigned To" field to match your user name.**  
9. Click [Save].

After saving the Filter, a list of CRM data based on your Filter will be displayed on the screen. This is a good time to look over the data and confirm that your Filter is displaying the correct data.

Now that you have created the custom Filter, return to your CRM Home Page from the [My Home Page] link in the top menu. 

1. Click the [Green Plus] button and choose [Module]. 
2. Choose a title and how many upcoming activities you'd like the widget to show. 
3. Be sure to choose [Calendar] as 'Module' type and the custom Filter you just created as the 'Filter By' field. See the attached screenshot (Widget.jpg) for more info. 
4. Choose which 2 fields you would like to show in the widget. I'd recommend [Subject] and [Due Date]. Hold the CTRL key and click your mouse to select more than one. 
5. Click [Save] and you're done!

Phew! Using Filters, you can create almost any view you need -- it just takes some time to figure out the rules you need to create in the Filter. Creating complex Filters can be tricky so be aware of the rules you are specifying. You can experiment with Filters and test them to make sure they are correct.

Removing Widgets From Your Home Page

To remove widgets that you have created using Filters, simply click the [x] in the top right corner of the widget.

To remove widgets included with the CRM from your Home Page, following the steps below:

1. Click the [My Preferences] link in the top right corner of your CRM screen.
2. Click the green [Edit] button on the right side of the screen.
3. Scroll down to '7. Home Page Components'. Choose which widgets you would like to hide or show.
4. When finished, click the green [Save] button.
5. After the page has saved, click [My Home Page] in the top menu to return to your Home Page.

Edit Custom Filters

You can edit any Filter to change the data shown in the Home Page widget that uses the given Filter. To edit the Filter, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the module where you originally created the Filter (Calendar, Contacts, Accounts, Opportunities, or Documents). 
2. From the Filter menu on the right side of the screen, choose the Filter you wish to edit from the drop down menu. 
3. Wait a few seconds for the page to load, then click the [Edit] link.
4. Edit the Filter as needed, such as the basic or advanced filter settings. 
5. Click [Save]. 

Feedback

Feel free to leave comments or questions below regarding Home Page widgets and Filters!