Navigating the dashboard
This guide gives you a quick introduction to how the dashboard is organized and how to navigate it efficiently.
The sidebar
The sidebar on the left is your navigation center. It is organized into sections:
┌────────────────────┐
│ 🖨 Printer status │ ← One row per printer
├────────────────────┤
│ Overview │
│ Fleet │
│ Active print │
├────────────────────┤
│ Filament │
│ History │
│ Projects │
│ Queue │
│ Scheduler │
├────────────────────┤
│ Monitoring │
│ └ Print Guard │
│ └ Errors │
│ └ Diagnostics │
│ └ Maintenance │
├────────────────────┤
│ Analytics │
│ Tools │
│ Integrations │
│ System │
├────────────────────┤
│ ⚙ Settings │
└────────────────────┘
The sidebar can be hidden by clicking the hamburger icon (☰) in the top left. Useful on smaller screens or in kiosk mode.
The main panel
When you click on an item in the sidebar, the content is shown in the main panel to the right. The layout varies:
| Panel | Layout |
|---|---|
| Overview | Card grid with all printers |
| Active print | Large detail card + temperature curves |
| History | Filterable table |
| Filament | Card view with spools |
| Analytics | Graphs and charts |
Clicking on printer status for details
The printer card on the overview panel is clickable:
Single click → Opens the detail panel for that printer:
- Real-time temperatures
- Active print (if running)
- AMS status with all slots
- Recent errors and events
- Quick buttons: Pause, Stop, Light on/off
Click the camera icon → Opens live camera view
Click the ⚙ icon → Printer settings
Keyboard shortcut — the command palette
The command palette gives quick access to all features without navigating:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl + K (Linux/Windows) | Open command palette |
Cmd + K (macOS) | Open command palette |
Esc | Close palette |
In the command palette you can:
- Search for pages and features
- Start a print directly
- Pause / resume active prints
- Switch theme (light/dark)
- Navigate to any page
Example: Press Ctrl+K, type "pause" → select "Pause all active prints"
Widget customization
The overview panel can be customized with widgets of your choosing:
How to edit the dashboard:
- Click Edit layout (pencil icon) in the top right of the overview panel
- Drag widgets to the desired position
- Click and drag the corner of a widget to resize it
- Click + Add widget to add new ones:
Available widgets:
| Widget | Shows |
|---|---|
| Printer status | Cards for all printers |
| Active print (large) | Detailed view of ongoing print |
| AMS overview | All slots and filament levels |
| Temperature curve | Real-time graph |
| Electricity price | Next 24-hour price graph |
| Filament meter | Total consumption last 30 days |
| History shortcut | Last 5 prints |
| Camera feed | Live camera image |
| 3D model viewer | Interactive 3D preview with Three.js and gcode toolpath |
- Click Save layout
:::tip Save multiple layouts You can have different layouts for different purposes — a compact one for daily use, a large one to display on a big screen. Switch between them with the layout selector. :::
Theme — switching between light and dark
Quick switch:
- Click the sun/moon icon in the top right of the navigation bar
- Or:
Ctrl+K→ type "theme"
Permanent setting:
- Go to System → Themes
- Choose between:
- Light — white background
- Dark — dark background (recommended at night)
- Automatic — follows the system setting on your device
- Choose accent color (blue, green, purple, etc.)
- Click Save
Keyboard navigation
For efficient navigation without a mouse:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Tab | Next interactive element |
Shift+Tab | Previous element |
Enter / Space | Activate button/link |
Esc | Close modal/dropdown |
Ctrl+K | Command palette |
Alt+1 – Alt+9 | Navigate directly to the first 9 pages |
PWA — install as an app
3DPrintForge can be installed as a progressive web app (PWA) and run as a standalone app without browser menus:
- Go to the dashboard in Chrome, Edge, or Safari
- Click the Install app icon in the address bar
- Confirm the installation
See the PWA documentation for more details.
Kiosk mode
Kiosk mode hides all navigation and shows only the dashboard — perfect for a dedicated screen in the print workshop:
- Go to System → Kiosk
- Enable Kiosk mode
- Select which widgets should be shown
- Set refresh interval
See the Kiosk documentation for full setup.