# Dashboard Narrative

> Dashboard Narrative adds an AI-generated, plain-language summary of an entire dashboard, including its main trends and up to three key metrics.

*Source: https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/dashboard-narrative.htm*

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Last updated: October 19, 2026

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| [Tier](https://www.sisense.com/pricing/#pricing) | [Deployment](https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/introduction-to-sisense-cloud-managed-services.md#ComparisonofManagedCloudandSelfHosted) |
| Launch     Grow    Enterprise | Cloud |

Dashboard Narrative adds an AI-generated summary of an entire dashboard directly above its widgets. It analyzes the dashboard's widgets, structure, and trends and turns them into a short, evidence-based, natural-language summary, so viewers can grasp the key insights without analyzing each chart.

## Overview

The narrative appears in a Dashboard Narrative widget at the top of the dashboard. Each narrative includes:

- **Overview** - A short, factual summary of what the dashboard shows and its main trends. Longer dashboards produce a longer overview.
- **Key metrics** - Up to three of the most important metrics, each marked with a positive, negative, or neutral status badge.
- **Footer** - An AI disclaimer, the date and time the narrative was generated, and a Regenerate button.

The narrative describes what the data shows and avoids attributing causes.

When it generates a narrative, Sisense Intelligence considers:

- The dashboard title, widget titles, and widget data. Widgets near the top of the dashboard carry more weight than widgets lower down.
- The AI context of the Dashboard Narrative widget and any AI context set on the dashboard. See [AI Context (Beta)](https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/ai-context.md).

Sisense generates narratives in the user's language, or in the system language if the user has no language set.

You can also include the narrative in dashboard PDF and PNG exports and add it to embedded analytics with Compose SDK.

## Prerequisites

- Sisense Intelligence with a configured LLM. See [Generative AI (Cloud-Linked Features) - Empowering Your Analytics Experience](https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/genai.md).
- An active narrative license.
- Narrative enabled by an Admin. See Enabling Narrative in [Narrative](https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/sisense-narratives.md).
- To add, configure, or remove the Dashboard Narrative widget, you must be the dashboard's Designer.

## Adding a Dashboard Narrative to a Dashboard

**To add a Dashboard Narrative:**

1. Open the dashboard.
2. In the dashboard menu bar, click the **Dashboard Narrative** icon (its tooltip reads "Add Dashboard Narrative Widget").

   The Dashboard Narrative widget appears at the top of the dashboard and starts generating the narrative. Dashboard filters are locked until generation finishes.

   ![Dashboard menu bar showing the Dashboard Narrative icon](https://docs.sisense.com/main/Resources/Images/dashboard-narrative-menu-bar-icon.png)
3. Publish the dashboard to share the narrative with viewers.

**Note:**

Republishing the dashboard deletes the cached narrative. Sisense generates the next narrative from the published version.

## Guiding the Narrative with AI Context

Add AI context to the Dashboard Narrative widget to tailor the narrative to your audience. For example, name the KPIs to focus on, describe the audience, or set thresholds for what counts as positive or negative. Viewers can't see the AI context.

**To add AI context to the narrative:**

1. On the Dashboard Narrative widget, click **⋮** > **AI context**.

   ![Dashboard Narrative widget more options menu with the AI context option](https://docs.sisense.com/main/Resources/Images/dashboard-narrative-widget-menu.png)
2. Enter your guidance. For example: "Tailor for an executive overview, highlight Q3 revenue trends, and flag week-over-week sales gains above 10% as positive."
3. Save the AI context, and then click **Regenerate** to apply it.

**Tip:**

The narrative infers whether a change is good or bad, and it can get this wrong. For example, it might mark rising order volume as negative. To avoid this, state the direction you want in the AI context, such as "An increase in orders is positive."

## Using a Dashboard Narrative

When you open a dashboard, the Dashboard Narrative widget shows the cached narrative if one exists; otherwise, it shows a Generate Narrative button.

To work with the narrative:

- To generate a narrative, click **Generate Narrative**.
- To create a fresh narrative (for example, after the data changes), click **Regenerate** in the widget footer.
- To copy the narrative, click the **Copy** icon in the widget header. The text is copied to the clipboard with its formatting.

Generating or regenerating a narrative uses AI credits.

### Widget Menu

Designers can manage the Dashboard Narrative widget from its more options menu (⋮):

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Rename | Changes the widget title. |
| Download image | Downloads the widget as an image. |
| Delete | Removes the widget from the dashboard. |
| Distribute equally in this row | Resizes the widgets in the row to equal widths. |
| AI context | Opens the narrative's AI context. See Guiding the Narrative with AI Context earlier in this topic. |

To change the widget's appearance, click the **Edit** (pencil) icon in the widget header. The widget editor shows only the Widget style panel.

**Note:**

The Edit icon does not appear when widget design styling is turned off in the Admin settings.

## Removing a Dashboard Narrative

**To remove the Dashboard Narrative widget:**

In the dashboard menu bar, click the **Dashboard Narrative** icon (its tooltip reads "Remove Dashboard Narrative Widget"). The widget is removed from the dashboard.

Alternatively, select **Delete** from the widget's 3-dots menu (⋮).

## Including the Narrative in Dashboard Exports

When you download a dashboard as a PDF or PNG file, you can choose whether to include the Dashboard Narrative widget. The Regenerate button doesn't appear in exported files.

**To include the narrative in an export:**

1. Download the dashboard as a PDF or image.
2. In the export settings, under Narrative, select **Dashboard Narrative**.

   ![PDF Report Settings panel with the Dashboard Narrative option selected under Narrative](https://docs.sisense.com/main/Resources/Images/dashboard-narrative-pdf-export-settings.png)
3. Download the file.

**Note:**

Each export generates a new narrative, which uses AI credits. See [Limitations](#Limitati) later in this topic.

## Using Dashboard Narratives in Compose SDK

Developers building embedded analytics with Compose SDK can add the `NarrativeWidget` component and specify which widgets the narrative summarizes. Each `NarrativeWidget` supports up to 50 widgets.

## Error Messages

The Dashboard Narrative widget shows these messages when it can't generate a narrative:

| Message | Cause | What to Do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| No dashboard data available  Once dashboard data is available, you can generate a narrative. | The dashboard did not load or has no widgets. The Generate Narrative button is disabled. | Check that the dashboard loads and has data widgets. |
| Unable to generate the narrative  Please try again. If the problem persists, contact your administrator. | Generation timed out, or another error occurred. | Click **Generate Narrative** to try again. |

When your AI credits run low or run out, the widget shows the standard Sisense Intelligence credit messages.

## Limitations

- Dashboard narratives are not available in the assistant.
- Each export generates a new narrative, which uses AI credits. The export waits up to 60 seconds for the narrative; if generation takes longer, the export is sent with the narrative still loading.
- In both Sisense and embedded dashboards, copying works only over HTTPS and when the browser has clipboard permission.
- Text, image, filter, and Tabber widgets are never narrated and do not affect the narrative.
- A dashboard can have up to 50 data widgets (text and filter widgets do not count toward this limit). Above 50 widgets, the request fails and no narrative is generated.
- BloX and custom plugin widgets may be left out if they cannot be translated, but they still count toward the 50-widget limit.
- Widgets that return no data are left out, so the narrative never says "no data for this period."
- The narrative includes up to three key metrics. Designers can ask for fewer in the Dashboard Narrative widget's AI context.
- You cannot control the narrative length, the number of key metrics, or the model.
- Widgets that fail are left out without notice. The narrative fails only when none of the widgets can be narrated, and the error message doesn't give a reason.
- When a widget has multiple Break By fields, only the first date and the first category are summarized.
- When a widget has multiple measures, only the first measure includes category and outlier details.
- The narrative can mention only the top five categories and three outliers.
- A trend needs at least five data points. Shorter series are described as "went from X to Y," never as a rise or a fall.
- The narrative ignores an incomplete last period, such as the current month.
- The narrative rebuilds each widget's query and applies the dashboard filters itself. In the following cases, it may describe different numbers than the widget shows, without warning:

  - AND/OR filter relations are not supported.
  - A cascading filter level that is turned off is still applied.
  - When the dashboard and the widget filter the same field, the narrative uses a simplified rule to decide which filter takes precedence. A different date level (such as month versus year) or different letter casing in the field name can cause the wrong filter to be applied.
  - Filters are not applied across data sources.
  - Locked (background) filters are not handled explicitly.
- The narrative language follows the user's language setting or, if none is set, the system language. Group-level language settings are ignored.
- The narrative infers whether a change is positive or negative and can get it wrong (for example, showing rising orders as negative). Designers can set the direction in the Dashboard Narrative widget's AI context.
- Dashboard Narrative doesn't support the Unlimited Narratives license.