# Adding a panel
<a name="add-a-panel-to-a-dashboard"></a>

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This documentation topic is designed for Grafana workspaces that support **Grafana version 8.x**.  
For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 12.x, see [Working in Grafana version 12](using-grafana-v12.md).  
For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 10.x, see [Working in Grafana version 10](using-grafana-v10.md).  
For Grafana workspaces that support Grafana version 9.x, see [Working in Grafana version 9](using-grafana-v9.md).

 You can use panels to show your data in visual form. This topic walks you through the basic steps to build a panel. 

**To add a panel to a dashboard**

1.  Choose the dashboard that you want to add a panel to. 

1.  Choose the **Add panel** icon. 

1.  Choose **Add new panel**. 

    The Grafana workspace creates an empty graph panel with your default data source selected. 

1.  While not required, we recommend that you add a helpful title and description to your panel. You can optionally use variables that you have defined in either field, but not global variables. For more information, see [Templates and variables](templates-and-variables.md).
   + **Panel title** – Text entered in this field is displayed at the top of your panel in the panel editor and in the dashboard.
   + **Description** – Text entered in this field is displayed in a tooltip in the upper-left corner of the panel. Write a description of the panel and the data that you are displaying.

1. Write a query for the panel. To display a visualization, each panel needs at least one query. You write queries on the **Query** tab of the panel editor. For more information, see [Queries](panel-queries.md).

   1. Choose a data source. In the first line of the **Query** tab, choose the dropdown list to see all available data sources. This list includes all data sources that you added. For more information about data sources, see [Connect to data sources](AMG-data-sources.md). 

   1. Write or construct a query in the query language of your data source. Options will vary. See your specific data source documentation for specific guidelines. 

1.  In the **Visualization** section of the **Panel** tab, choose a visualization type. The Grafana workspace displays a preview of your query results with that visualization applied. 

1. We recommend that you add a note to describe your changes before you choose **Save**. Notes are helpful if you need to revert the dashboard to a previous version. 

1.  To save the dashboard, choose **Save** in the upper-right corner of the screen.