How to add formatted text, a checklist or an announcement to a Jira Cloud dashboard

Last checked 19 October 2026

Teams often want a dashboard to carry more than charts: a short explanation, links to runbooks, a release checklist, or a notice for everyone who opens it. I make Dashboard Notes, one of the options below.

What Jira Cloud includes

Jira Cloud's built-in gadgets show issue data, such as filter results, charts and activity. There is no built-in gadget for free-form formatted text, and the HTML gadget from Jira Server and Data Center is not available in Cloud.

If what you need is a list of issues (for example, open release blockers), a Filter Results gadget with a saved filter is the better choice, because it stays up to date by itself.

Text gadget apps

• Rich Text Gadget from Atlassian Labs is free and widely installed. Its Marketplace listing marks it as unsupported, and its reviews mention text that does not match Jira's font, no dark mode, and images that must already be hosted at a public web address.
• Dashboard Notes is free. It uses Jira's own font and follows Jira's light or dark theme. You can paste or drag images straight in; they are stored in Atlassian's app storage, so no public web address is needed. It also has headings, check lists, tables and links that open in a new tab, and it keeps the last five saved versions. Only people who can edit the dashboard can change a note.

Tips for notes people actually read

• Put the one thing people must know in the first line. Most people only read that far.
• Use a check list for recurring steps, such as a release checklist, and untick it each time.
• Link to the Confluence page or runbook rather than copying it, so there is only one copy to keep up to date.
• Put a date on announcements, so readers can tell when they are out of date.