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Add navigation links

You can use links to navigate between commonly-used dashboards or to connect others to your visualizations. Links let you create shortcuts to other dashboards, panels, and even external websites.

Grafana supports three types of links: Dashboard Links, Panel Links, and Data Links. They are all available from your dashboard.

Links Supported in Grafana
Links Supported in Grafana

Start by figuring out how you’re currently navigating between dashboards. If you’re often jumping between a set of dashboards and struggling to find the same context in each, links can help optimize your workflow.

The next step is to figure out which link type is right for your workflow. Even though all the link types in Grafana are used to create shortcuts to other dashboards or external websites, they work in different contexts.

  • If the link relates to most if not all of the panels in the dashboard, use a dashboard link.
  • If you want to drill down into specific panels, use a panel link.
  • If you want to drill down into a specific series, or even a single measurement, use a data link.

When you create a dashboard link, you can include the time range and current template variables to directly jump to the same context in another dashboard. This way, you don’t have to worry whether the person you send the link to is looking at the right data.

Dashboard links can also be used as shortcuts to external systems, such as submitting a GitHub issue with the current dashboard name.

To see an example of dashboard links in action, check out this demo.

Once you’ve added a dashboard link, it appears in the upper right corner of your dashboard.

Add links to other dashboards at the top of your current dashboard.

  1. While viewing the dashboard you want to link, click the gear at the top of the screen to open Dashboard settings.
  2. Click Links and then click Add Dashboard Link or New.
  3. In Type, select dashboards.
  4. Select link options:
    • With tags – Enter tags to limit the linked dashboards to only the ones with the tags you enter. Otherwise, Grafana includes links to all other dashboards.
    • As dropdown – If you are linking to lots of dashboards, then you probably want to select this option and add an optional title to the dropdown. Otherwise, Grafana displays the dashboard links side by side across the top of your dashboard.
    • Time range – Select this option to include the dashboard time range in the link. When the user clicks the link, the linked dashboard opens with the indicated time range already set. Example: https://play.grafana.org/d/000000010/annotations?orgId=1&from=now-3h&to=now
    • Variable values – Select this option to include template variables currently used as query parameters in the link. When the user clicks the link, any matching templates in the linked dashboard are set to the values from the link. Example: https://play.grafana.org/d/000000074/alerting?var-app=backend&var-server=backend_01&var-server=backend_03&var-interval=1h
    • Open in new tab – Select this option if you want the dashboard link to open in a new tab or window.
  5. Click Add.

Add a link to a URL at the top of your current dashboard. You can link to any available URL, including dashboards, panels, or external sites. You can even control the time range to ensure the user is zoomed in on the right data in Grafana.

  1. While viewing the dashboard you want to link, click the gear at the top of the screen to open Dashboard settings.
  2. Click Links and then click Add Dashboard Link or New.
  3. In Type, select link.
  4. Select link options:
  5. Click Add.

To change or update an existing dashboard link, follow this procedure.

  1. In Dashboard Settings, on the Links tab, click the existing link that you want to edit.
  2. Change the settings and then click Update.

To delete an existing dashboard link, click the red X next to the existing link that you want to delete.

Each panel can have its own set of links that are shown in the upper left corner of the panel. You can link to any available URL, including dashboards, panels, or external sites. You can even control the time range to ensure the user is zoomed in on the right data in Grafana.

Click the icon on the top left corner of a panel to see available panel links. To see an example of panel links in action, check out this demo.

  1. Hover your cursor over the panel that you want to add a link to and then press e. Or click the dropdown arrow next to the panel title and then click Edit.
  2. Open the General tab in the panel settings and then scroll down to the Panel links section.
  3. Click Add link.
  4. Enter a Title.
  5. If you want the link to open in a new tab, then select Open in a new tab.
  6. Enter the URL you want to link to. You can even add one of the template variables that are available. Press Ctrl+Space in the URL field to see the available variables. By adding template variables to your panel ink, the link sends the user to the right context, with the relevant variables already set.

On the panel settings General tab, in the Panel links section, find the panel link that you want to make changes to or delete. Make any necessary changes, or click the X to the right of the title to delete the link.

Data links allow you to provide more granular context to your links. You can create links that include the series name or even the value under the cursor. For example, if your visualization showed four servers, you could add a data link to one or two of them.

Click directly on the panel to see the data link. It appears on the context menu under Add annotation.

To see an example of data links in action, check out this demo.

Currently, data links are only supported in the Graph, Stat, Gauge, and Bar Gauge visualizations.

  1. Hover your cursor over the panel that you want to add a link to and then press e. Or click the dropdown arrow next to the panel title and then click Edit.
  2. Open the Visualization tab in the panel settings and then scroll down to the Data links section.
  3. Click Add link.
  4. Enter a Title.
  5. If you want the link to open in a new tab, then select Open in a new tab.
  6. Enter the URL you want to link to. You can even add one of the template variables that are available. Press Ctrl+Space in the URL field to see the available variables. By adding template variables to your panel ink, the link sends the user to the right context, with the relevant variables already set.

On the panel settings General tab, in the Panel links section, find the panel link that you want to make changes to or delete. Make any necessary changes, or click the X to the right of the title to delete the link.