Add content
Populate your dashboard with content that's relevant to you, such as your favorite blogs, social services or essential tools, and create your personal corpus.
You have several ways to add content in Netvibes:
- Import an OPML file of RSS feeds you have already listed.
- Add websites or RSS feeds, one by one.
- Add existing apps from our Essential Apps gallery
Import an OPML file
If you have already used an RSS aggregator, you can easily import all your RSS feeds in one shot by importing an OPML file into Netvibes.
Here is how:
- Click on the Add button
- Select Reading app menu
- Click on Import OPML button
Simply select your file and validate. The dashboard will refresh automatically with all your RSS sources.
Add RSS feeds
At any time, you can add new RSS feeds to your dashboard.
- Click on the Add button
- Select Reading app menu
- Either enter a website URL or directly enter its RSS URL if you know it
- Hit the Enter key or click on the plus button to retrieve the RSS feed
- Select the RSS feed of your choice and drag and drop it to your dashboard, or simply click on the + in the left corner of the app.
Add essential apps
Choose apps from our gallery that are relevant to you and add them to your dashboard.
- Click on the Add button
- Select Essential apps on the left menu
- Click on any app to see its preview
- Add it to your dashboard
You can add an app by directly clicking on the + on its top left corner, or by dragging and dropping it.
Switch your dashboard view
Netvibes offers two different views to display the info on your dashboard:
- App view: the Netvibes original view, optimized for apps
- Reader view: the optimized view for reading articles
Play with the toggle to switch between both views.
App view
This view allows you to organize your dashboard app by app.
Each tab can display its own layout to better highlight its content.
To change the layout of tab:
- Open the tab settings
- Select the number of “boxes” of this tab
- Choose the layout
There are 12 existing layouts.
Reader view
This view is the best way to read articles as it allows you to have an at-a-glance overview of all your feeds.
Like on the App view, each tab can display its own layout. To change this display:
- On any tab, click on the “Lines” icon, on the top of the content
- Select the display option of your choice among the 3 available.
- Content updates automatically according to the new display
The reader offers three different views: List, Expanded and Mosaic.
List view
The List view displays one line of all the articles. It is the most compact view. It is specifically useful for News tabs as it allows you to easily spot any article, even when you have a lot of sources.
Expanded view
The Expanded view opens and displays all the articles. It is the most detailed view. You can read all the items of your tab by just scrolling your page. The article in focus is indicated by a green line on its left side.
Mosaic view
The Mosaic view displays a series of thumbnails of the main picture from the original post (when available). This is an ideal view for image focused content. Click on the image to display the content of the item.
Automate your dashboard
The Dashboard of Things lets you program the content of your dashboard.
Simply create Potions by picking apps as triggers and other apps as actions.
To do so, launch the Potion wizard:
- Click on the Add button
- Select Potion app
The first step lets you create a potion from existing ones. We have listed some potion examples for you to get an idea of the possibilities.
Or, if you already know what you want to do, you can start from scratch.
The second step lets you pick up the triggers and the actions you want the potion to execute.
If you have selected a preset potion, the triggers and actions are automatically selected. All you will have to do is configure them.
The third and final step lets you give a name to this new potion.
Each potion is represented by an app on your dashboard.
If you delete the app, the potion will also be deleted, so be careful
Triggers
You can add as many triggers as you want.
Depending of the you operator selected, the potion will execute actions if all conditions are triggered (All) or just one (any).
Here is the trigger ingredients list:
All Netvibes specific ingredients are colored in green.
Each ingredient has at least one trigger.
Actions
You can add as many actions as you want.
Here is the action ingredients list:
All Netvibes specific ingredients are colored in green.
Each ingredient has at least one action.
Potion app
Once you have created your potion, an app is displayed on your dashboard.
This app lets you manage your potion:
- Edit (1) lets you relaunch the Potion wizard to edit it entirely or just a small thing.
- Turn OFF/ON (2) lets you deactivated the potion without deleting it.
- Display (3) lets you switch the display of the app : summary or logs.
If you delete the app, the potion will be deleted also.
Share your content
Now that you have built a dashboard for your own use, you can share any articles, apps or even tabs to your friends, colleagues or anyone.
Several ways to share
By default you can share by sending emails or by grabbing links.
But you can also share by posting items directly on many web services.
First, you have to select the web services you want to share on:
Select Dashboards menu.
Select Manage… menu.
And then, select Share, under the “Third Party services” menu
On this page, check all the services you want to share on (1)
If you can't find the web service your are looking for, you can add it manually (3) by clicking on the Add a custom link button (4).
Also, you can choose to share a link that directly leads to the article or a link that leads to a specific Netvibes share landing page (2).
After making any changes, you have to click on the Save changes button (5) to validate them.
Share an article
Whether you are on the App or on the Reader view, click on the Share icon on the top of the article you are reading.
The Share panel appears and lets you:
- Grab a direct link to the article. Click on the article's title or the double arrow icon to open the article on its website, or right click on it to copy its URL.
- Select the web service you want to share on. Click on it to display its web services panel.
- Send an email: click on “Or by email”, enter the email address of your recipients and a message of your choice.
Click on the Cross icon on the top right hand corner of the panel or on the Cancel button to close the panel when you are done.
Share an app
Click on the Settings icon on the top right of any app, and select the Share menu.
The Share panel appears and lets you:
- Send an email: click on “By email”, enter the email address of your recipients and a message of your choice.
- Publish on your page: click on “Publish on your page” to copy this app to another dashboard of yours.
- Grab a link: click on “Grab a link” to obtain the share link of this app.
- Select the web service you want to share on. Click on it to display their web services panel.
Share a tab
Whether you are on the App or on the Reader view, open the Tab settings and select the Share button.
The Share panel appears and lets you:
- Send an email: click on “By email”, enter the email address of your recipients and a message of your choice.
- Publish on your page: click on “Publish on your page” to copy this tab to another dashboard of yours.
- Grab a link: click on “Grab a link” to obtain the share link of this tab.
- Select the web service you want to share on. Click on it to display its web services panel.
Manage your dashboards
Create a new dashboard
With a Netvibes account, you can have as many private dashboards as you need.
Each digital life — home, work, family, and more — can live on its own dashboard, with its own theme, tabs and apps.
To create a new dashboard, click on the Dashboards menu on the topbar.
Then select New.
A panel will appear allowing you to choose between 3 options:
- 1- Create a dashboard based on any topic by entering the keyword(s) of your choice.
- 2- Select one dashboard among our 12 pre-populated ones.
- 3- Import your own OPML file
If you opted for a topic-based dashboard, you will be able to create a specific header to illustrate your dashboard:
- Choose a picture (based on your topic)
- Select a template
- Choose a background color
Your dashboard is now ready.
Manage all your dashboards
Now that you have several dashboards, you may want to manage them. To do so:
Click on the Dashboards menu on the topbar.
Then select Manage…
On this page, you can create new dashboards, reorder them or rearrange their tabs.
Check this page for more details.
Clean your dashboards
If you have too many sources cluttering up your dashboard, use the Spring Cleaning feature to easily remove inactive or noisy ones.
Click on the Dashboards menu on the topbar.
Select Manage…
And look for the Spring Cleaning menu, at the bottom of the left panel.
Check this page for details on all possibilities.