Understanding the Distro dashboard
What the Dashboard shows: today's to-dos, fixes that keep Distro running, a card for each area and recent activity, plus how the sidebar is organised.
The Dashboard is the first page you see after logging in. It answers one question: what needs you today? It collects to-dos and problems from every part of Distro into one list, then shows a card for each area so you can see at a glance what is running and what isn't.
The dashboard always shows the product selected in the product switcher at the top of the sidebar. The header reads Dashboard · your product name.
The header
The greeting is followed by a one-line summary, for example "2 things to do today and 1 fix to keep Distro running". When nothing is waiting, it says you're all caught up.
- Add product opens the form for adding another business. See Set up your first product.
- Start today's to-dos appears when there is at least one to-do and takes you to the first one.
Needs you
This panel has two columns.
To do today
Things that are waiting for a decision from you. Each row shows the area, what is waiting and a button that takes you straight there. Typical to-dos:
| Area | To-do | Where it takes you |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | Generate your intelligence report | Intelligence |
| Copilot | Approve social drafts, drafts waiting in the extension panel, follow-ups due or overdue | Copilot |
| Outreach | Email conversations that need a reply | Outreach → Inbox |
| LinkedIn actions waiting for your browser (open Chrome with the Distro extension) | The LinkedIn account page | |
| SEO & Content | Articles waiting for your approval | SEO & Content |
When the list is empty, Distro shows "Nothing waiting on you".
Keep things running
Health fixes: things that stop an area from working until you fix them. Examples:
- Connect a Google account to send campaigns: no Google account is connected in Sending accounts. See Connect your Google account.
- Connect your LinkedIn account, Reconnect your LinkedIn account or Verify your LinkedIn session: see LinkedIn account or extension not connected.
- Connect the Distro extension: the Copilot Chrome extension isn't connected.
- Copilot idle for N days: Copilot hasn't taken an action for 7 days or more.
- Report is N days old or Product details changed since your report: your GTM plan is more than 30 days old, or you changed your product details after it was generated.
When everything is healthy, the column reads "Every area is connected and healthy."
Your areas
One card per area. Each card has a coloured status dot, a short status line and two numbers. Click a card to open that area.
| Card | Status examples | Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot | Extension not connected, Paused, No actions yet, Idle N days, or Active with the time of the last action | Opportunities, warm leads |
| Outreach | Setup 3 of 5, then the number of campaigns launched | Contacts (or replies in the last 30 days), campaigns |
| The health of your connected LinkedIn account | Requests today and replies, or campaigns and sending mode | |
| SEO & Content | Autoblog on (with the next post date), or Manual publishing | Search impressions or keywords tracked, AI citation score or articles published |
| Intelligence | No report yet, or Generated with a date | Report sections, age in days |
The dot colours mean:
- Green: working normally.
- Amber: needs attention, usually matched by a fix in the Keep things running column.
- Grey: idle or not started yet.
The Outreach "Setup X of 5" count follows the same five steps as the Get set up panel on the Outreach Overview: connect your Google account, add contacts, write a template, create a campaign and launch it. Clicking the Outreach card opens the Outreach Overview. The Outreach and LinkedIn cards appear only when those modules are enabled for your account.
Recent activity
The last card lists the five most recent things Distro did across all areas, such as a Copilot action or a new reply to a campaign. Failed actions are marked "(failed)".
The sidebar
| Section | Items |
|---|---|
| Top | Product switcher, Dashboard, Intelligence |
| Growth | Copilot, SEO & Content |
| Outreach | Overview, Campaigns, Inbox, People, Templates, Analytics, plus Intent signals and LinkedIn Autopilot when they are on for your account. Below a thin line: Sending accounts and Outreach settings |
| Bottom | Help & support (Help Center, walkthrough videos, message support), Talk to the founder |
The Outreach section is one flat list with no sub-menus, and it appears when Outreach is enabled for your account. LinkedIn doesn't have its own section: LinkedIn campaigns are in Campaigns, LinkedIn prospects are a tab in People, and you connect or manage your LinkedIn account from Sending accounts. Email + LinkedIn campaigns (previously called Sequences) are in Campaigns too. See How Outreach works.
You can collapse the sidebar to icons with the chevron button; Distro remembers your choice.
The profile menu
Your account settings are not in the sidebar. Click your photo or initial in the top-right corner to open Your Distro account:
- Account settings: tabs for General (your profile and products), Notifications, Appearance, Billing and Security.
- Plan & billing: your plan, trial, payment method and invoices.
- Integrations & API: API keys, webhooks, MCP and CRM. Only shown if your account has it.
- Progress
- Sign out
Sending accounts and Outreach settings in the sidebar are only about sending campaigns. Your Distro login, plan and billing are always in the profile menu.
Replay the tour
The sidebar tour runs once per device. To see it again, go to /dashboard?tour=1.
Email us at hello@usedistro.com with what you tried and what you see. Signed in? Help & support in the app has walkthrough videos and a message form.