---
title: Get started visualizing data
description: Get started visualizing data in InfluxDB Cloud by using the InfluxDB user interface (UI) to create a simple dashboard.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/get-started/visualize/
estimated_tokens: 1840
product: InfluxDB Cloud (TSM)
version: cloud
publisher: InfluxData
canonical: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/get-started/visualize/
date: '2025-04-02T15:54:32-06:00'
lastmod: '2025-04-02T15:54:32-06:00'
---

* 5 / 5

There are many tools you can use to visualize your time series data including the
InfluxDB user interface (UI), [Chronograf](/influxdb/cloud/tools/chronograf/), and[Grafana](/influxdb/cloud/tools/grafana/).
This tutorial walks you through using the **InfluxDB UI** to create a simple dashboard.

Dashboards are a powerful way of displaying time series data and can help to
identify trends and anomalies. A dashboard is comprised of one or more
dashboard cells. A **dashboard cell** visualizes the results of a query using
one of the available [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/).

* [Create a dashboard](#create-a-dashboard)
* [Create dashboard cells](#create-dashboard-cells)
* [Create and use dashboard variables](#create-and-use-dashboard-variables)
  * [Create a custom dashboard variable](#create-a-custom-dashboard-variable)
  * [Use a custom dashboard variable](#use-a-custom-dashboard-variable)

## Create a dashboard

1. With InfluxDB running, visit [localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086) in your
   browser to access the InfluxDB UI.

2. Log in and select **Dashboards** in the left navigation bar.

   Dashboards

3. Click **+ Create Dashboard** and select **New Dashboard**.

4. Click ***Name this Dashboard*** and provide a name for the dashboard.
   For this tutorial, we’ll use **“Getting Started Dashboard”**.

## Create dashboard cells

With your new dashboard created and named, add a new dashboard cell:

1. Click **Add Cell**.

2. Click ***Name this Cell*** and provide a name for the cell.
   For this tutorial, we’ll use **“Room temperature”**.

3. *(Optional)* Select the visualization type from the visualization drop-down menu.
   There are many different [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/)available.
   For this tutorial, use the default **Graph** visualization.

4. Use the query time range selector to select an absolute time range that
   covers includes the time range of the[data written in “Get started writing to InfluxDB”](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/write/#view-the-written-data):**2022-01-01T08:00:00Z** to **2022-01-01T20:00:01Z**.

   1. The query time range selector defaults to querying data from the last hour
      ( **Past 1h**).
      Click the time range selector drop-down menu and select **Custom Time Range**.

      [](#view-time-range-selector)

      View time range selector

      <img alt="InfluxDB time range selector" src="/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-time-range.png" width="180">

   2. Use the date picker to select the stop and stop date and time or manually
      enter the following start and stop times:

      * **Start**: 2022-01-01 08:00:00
      * **Stop**: 2022-01-01 20:00:01

   3. Click **Apply Time Range**.

5. Use the **Query Builder** to select the measurement, fields, and tags to query:

   1. In the **From** column, select the **get-started** bucket.
   2. In the **Filter** column, select the **home** measurement.
   3. In the next **Filter** column, select the **temp** field.
   4. In the next **Filter** column, select the **room** tag and the **Kitchen** tag value.

6. Click **Submit** to run the query and visualize the
   results.

   <img alt="InfluxDB Query Builder" width="1164" src="/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-query-builder.png">
7. Click **✓** to save the cell and return to the dashboard.

## Create and use dashboard variables

InfluxDB dashboard cells use **dashboard variables** to dynamically change
specific parts of cell queries.
The query builder automatically builds queries using the following[predefined dashboard variables](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/#predefined-dashboard-variables),
each controlled by selections in your dashboard:

* `v.timeRangeStart`: Start time of the queried time range specified by the time range selector.
* `v.timeRangeStop`: Stop time of the queried time range specified by the time range selector.
* `v.windowPeriod`: Window period used downsample data to one point per pixel in
  a cell visualization. The value of this variable is determined by the pixel-width of the cell.

### Create a custom dashboard variable

Let’s create a custom dashboard variable that we can use to change the field
displayed by your dashboard cell.

1. Select **Settings \> Variables** in the left navigation bar.

   Settings

2. Click **+ Create Variable** and select **New Variable**.

3. Name your variable. For this tutorial, name the variable, **“room”**.

4. Select the default **Query** dashboard variable type.
   This variable type uses the results of a query to populate the list of potential
   variable values. *For information about the other dashboard variable types,
   see [Variable types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/variable-types/).*

5. Enter the following Flux query to return all the different `room` tag values
   in your `get-started` bucket from the [Unix epoch](/influxdb/cloud/reference/glossary/#unix-timestamp).

   ```
   import "influxdata/influxdb/schema"

   schema.tagValues(bucket: "get-started", tag: "room", start: time(v: 0))
   ```

6. Click **Create Variable**.

### Use a custom dashboard variable

1. Navigate to your **Getting Started Dashboard** by clicking **Dashboards** in
   the left navigation bar and the clicking on the name of your dashboard.

   Dashboards

2. Click the  on the **Room temperature** cell and select **Configure**.

3. Click **Script Editor** to edit the Flux query
   directly.

4. On line 5 of the Flux query, replace `"Kitchen"` with `v.room` to use the
   selected value of the `room` dashboard variable.

   ```
   from(bucket: "get-started")
     |> range(start: v.timeRangeStart, stop: v.timeRangeStop)
     |> filter(fn: (r) => r["_measurement"] == "home")
     |> filter(fn: (r) => r["_field"] == "temp")
     |> filter(fn: (r) => r["room"] == v.room)
     |> aggregateWindow(every: v.windowPeriod, fn: mean, createEmpty: false)
     |> yield(name: "mean")
   ```

5. Click **✓** to save the cell and return to the dashboard.

6. Refresh the browser to reload the dashboard.

7. Use the **room variable** drop-down menu to select the room to display
   recorded temperatures from.

   <img src="/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-variable-select.png" width="467" alt="InfluxDB dashboard variable selection">

*For more information about creating custom dashboard variables, see[Use and manage dashboard variables](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/).*

[Process data](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/process/)

## Congratulations!

You have walked through the[basics of setting up, writing, querying, processing, and visualizing](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/)data with InfluxDB Cloud.
Feel free to dive in deeper to each of these topics:

* [Write data to InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/write-data/)
* [Query data in InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/query-data/)
* [Process data with InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/process-data/)
* [Visualize data with the InfluxDB UI](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/)

#### Related

* [Visualize data with the InfluxDB UI](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/)
* [Visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/)
* [Use Chronograf with InfluxDB Cloud](/influxdb/cloud/tools/chronograf/)
* [Use Grafana with InfluxDB Cloud](/influxdb/cloud/tools/grafana/)