Boardly Makes Google Sheets Powered Dashboards Easy

What is Boardly?

In our line of work, especially intranet development, it is imperative that we make data accessible and helpful. We’re on the hunt for native updates or new products which transform the experience of a typical spreadsheet. Even with the addition of Tables in Google Sheets, many are still reluctant to throw users into a spreadsheet experience. Moreover, the tables aren’t interactive in the least. Boardly “transforms Google Sheets into interactive dashboards.” That is exactly what sparked our interest.

An Overview of Exploring Boardly

Boardly is in early access mode, so we immediately applied, joined the waitlist, and within 1 day were greenlit to play with the tool. The whole approach and onboarding process was quite polished, which boosted our confidence that this is a well thought out development.

The most important data visualization features seem to all be covered even at this early stage. Configuration is easy, customization is intuitive and I was embedding Boardly directly into Google Sites. What goes above and beyond is the potential for an AI assisted experience. AI can streamline and generate dashboards straight from standard sheets.

Features

It’s all about the rich features inside Boardly that excites us: search, filter, categorize and deliver.

There are 2 display settings: Table and Cards.
You can dictate the number of results per page and therefore pagination break points.
When using Cards view, you can customize the card layout, order and styles. There is a ton here and it’s all drag and drop, no CSS, no code. Add buttons, images and text.
Essential filters: text category, number slider, data slider, boolean (All, True, False)
Once your data is imported and the connection is established, you can handle all customizations within Boardly.

Embedding your Boardly Dashboard

The basic nature of Google Sites has us on the lookout for extensions, plugins and widgets. It’s wonderful that the Boardly team identified this shortcoming of Google Sites (and Sheets really) and therefore provide support.

There are two options for inserting boards, by link and by iframe. You can also pre-filter your results for more applicable dashboards to teams. There was this warning: Some websites (like Google Sites) may limit navigation within the iframe. In this case, authentication may not work, and you will need to make your dashboard public to display it. This is just part of the problem with Google Sites and not an oversight of Boardly. Even AppSheet embedding isn't full proof.

Once you have your preferred embed method, pop it into Google Sites, resize it and publish. Both cards and tables really enhance the look of Google Sites. So let’s discuss some the possibilities for Boardly on our Google Sites projects.

Use Cases

1. Websites

For web admins or content creators, Boardly is an easy way to create engaging, data-driven content. You can embed:

Events
Product or service directories
Job boards or application listings
FAQs or help desks

Because it’s embeddable with just an iframe or JavaScript snippet, it integrates easily with WordPress, Wix, Webflow, or static HTML sites.

2. Intranets

Boardly shines in internal portals and company intranets:

Employee directories
Project dashboards
Internal knowledge bases
IT or HR service request boards
Library

It works especially well with Google Sites, allowing teams to build visually appealing, interactive internal tools without coding.

3. Project Management

Project managers can build custom dashboards to track:

Projects
Team assignments
Announcements, Article Database, Resources Dashboard

Integration with Google Workspace

This is where Boardly really excels. It's deeply integrated with Google Sheets, making it incredibly easy to use for existing Google Workspace users.

Live syncing: Changes in your spreadsheet are reflected in real time.
Google Forms + Sheets combo: Collect data via Forms and display it beautifully in Boardly.
Google Drive permissions: You can control access with the same permissions set on your spreadsheet.

Pros

No coding required
Beautiful, professional-looking views
Real-time updates from Google Sheets
Easy to embed anywhere
Great for both internal and external sharing
Easy Card Design

Room for Improvement

Load times

You’ll need a bit of time to load in data from Sheets. There’s a several second delay between selecting your dashboard and seeing it load up. That also impacts loading it in a Google Sites page and seeing the dashboard. Although the load screen does help alleviate concerns it might be lagging.

I reached out to the developers about this issue and they provided some important insight: “As for the loading times, Google Sheets is pretty slow to fetch, and unfortunately, that's not on our end.” So we can’t blame them for hitting an internal limitation like that.

Spacing customization and responsiveness

Margins, padding and spacing could allow for adjustment. Responsiveness currently increases the gutter size and card width remains unaffected. It might be hard to find a compromise for this considering the implications of sweeping changes to layout. Sometimes the gutters between cards can be wide before adequate real estate is available for another card to be slotted in.

Here too, the team behind Boardly were equipped to address this problem: “We really want to make Boardly an easier way to embed Google Sheets data beautifully anywhere, and also to do it differently from others, with a fully in-app configuration with an intuitive UI/UX…and also benefit from AI which can do wonders.” They’ve put their unique stamp on spreadsheet powered visualization.

Final Verdict

A viable alternative to Awesome Table and Jotform Boards. Boardly, like each of these, has its particular strengths. As a new entry to the market of Google Sheets advanced extensions, it has a lot of potential for expansion. I’m eager to see how Numericoach, the developers behind Boardly, improve upon the great framework they’ve established here. That said, even this beta access is impressive. Continued development could mean maps, charts, and more AI powered analysis at your fingertips.

If you’re looking for a fast, intuitive way to turn spreadsheet data into interactive web elements or dashboards, Boardly is a powerful solution. Google Workspace users in HR, IT, Operations and Project Management will want to take note of how Boardly can improve their knowledge base. It’s perfect for teams who are already living in Google Workspace and want to make their data not only accessible but also beautiful and actionable.

Stay tuned for more information at the product goes public and publishes pricing information.