---
page_title: Getting started
page_description: Getting started
page_keywords: grafana, guide, documentation
---

# Getting started
This guide will help you get started and acquainted with the Grafana user interface. It assumes you have a working
Grafana 2.0 instance, and have added at least one Grafana data source.

## Beginner guides
Watch the 10min [beginners guide to building dashboards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKNZMtoSHN4&index=7&list=PLDGkOdUX1Ujo3wHw9-z5Vo12YLqXRjzg2)
to get a quick intro to the dashboard & panel editing UI.

## Top header
<img class="no-shadow" src="/img/v2/v2_top_nav_annotated.png">

The image above shows you the top header for a dashboard.

1. Side menubar toggle: This toggles the side menu, allowing you to focus on the data presented in the dashboard. The side menu provides access to features unrelated to a Dashboard such as Users, Organizations, and Data Sources.
2. Dashboard dropdown: This dropdown shows you which Dashboard you are currently viewing, and allows you to easily switch to a new Dashboard. From here you can also create a new Dashboard, Import existing Dashboards, and manage Dashboard playlists.
3. Star Dashboard: Star (or unstar) the current Dashboard. Starred Dashboards will show up on your own Home Dashboard by default, and are a convenient way to mark Dashboards that you're interested in.
4. Share Dashboard: Share the current dashboard by creating a link or create a static Snapshot of it. Make sure the Dashboard is saved before sharing.
5. Save dashboard: The current Dashboard will be saved with the current Dashboard name.
6. Settings: Manage Dashboard settings and features such as Templating and Annotations.

## Dashboard
Dashboards are at the core of what Grafana is all about. Dashboards are composed of individual Panels arranged on a number of Rows.
By adjusting the display properties of Panels and Rows, you can customize the perfect Dashboard for your exact needs.
Each panel can interact with data from any configured Grafana Data Source (currently InfluxDB, Graphite, OpenTSDB, and KairosDB).
This allows you to create a single dashboard that unifies the data across your organization. Panels use the time range specified
in the main Time Picker in the upper right, but they can also have relative time overrides.

<img src="/img/v2/dashboard_annotated.png" class="no-shadow">

1. Zoom out time range
2. Time picker dropdown. Here you can access relative time range options, auto refresh options and set custom absolute time ranges.
3. Manual refresh button. Will cause all panels to refresh (fetch new data).
4. Row controls menu. Via this menu you can add panels to the row, set row height and more.
5. Dashboard panel. You edit panels by clicking the panel title.
6. Graph legend. You can change series colors, y-axis and series visibility directly from the legend.

## Drag-and-Drop panels

You can Drag-and-Drop Panels within and between Rows. Click and hold the Panel title, and drag it to its new location.

![](/img/animated_gifs/drag_drop.gif)

## Tips and shortcuts

* Click the graph title and in the dropdown menu quickly change span or duplicate the panel.
* Click the Save icon in the menu to save the dashboard with a new name
* Click the Save icon in the menu and then advanced to export the dashboard to json file, or set it as your default dashboard.
* Click the colored icon in the legend to select series color
* Click series name in the legend to hide series
* Ctrl/Shift/Meta + Click legend name to hide other series

## Grafana loves the keyboard

* Ctrl+S Saves the current dashboard
* Ctrl+F Opens the dashboard finder / search
* Ctrl+H Hides all controls (good for tv displays)
* Hit Escape to exit graph when in fullscreen or edit mode













