# Views and Layouts

A View is one saved record: a data source, the settings that say where and
for whom it shows, and one or more layouts. Each layout presents the View's
data in its own way and appears as a tab wherever the View is shown.

## The Views screen

**Views** lists every saved View with its name, the number of layouts, the
layout types it uses and its status, **Active** or **Disabled**. Search
filters the list and, with the page, is part of the address; **Edit** opens a
View and the delete action removes it after you confirm. Deleting a View is
permanent and removes every layout in it.

**Create View**, here or on View's Start screen, asks for a name; before the
first View, the screen says there are no Views yet and offers the same
button. A new View reads the Posts post type and
starts with one Table layout; add the other layouts you need in the editor.

## The View editor

The editor has three parts:

- **The preview** in the center renders the selected layout with live data,
  with the View's layouts as tabs along its top once it has more than one,
  and says so when the View's conditions hide it from you. It shows the
  current,
  unsaved state, so every change appears as you make it.
- **The inspector** on the right has the same layout tabs. Its **+** button
  adds a layout, and below the tabs it shows the selected layout's settings.
- **The toolbar** starts with the settings button, which switches the
  inspector to **View settings**: the data source, placement, shortcode and
  conditions that belong to the whole View.
  [View Settings](/docs/view/views/general.md) describes them. **Delete View**
  beside it removes the View and every layout in it after you confirm, and
  returns to the Views list.

**Save** stores the View and **Discard** returns it to its saved state; both
stay disabled until you change something. Until then your changes stay in the
editor's tab, also when you switch to another screen and come back, and
closing or reloading the page asks first. On a narrow screen the inspector
opens over the preview from **Show settings**.

## Layout settings

Every layout's inspector has these sections:

- **General**: arrows to move the layout left or right among the tabs, its
  **Name**, shown on its tab, and its **Type**.
- **Data**: filters that decide which rows the layout includes, explained in
  [Data Filtering](/docs/view/views/data-filtering.md). A Default post screen
  layout has none.
- The sections of its type, described on the
  [Table](/docs/view/views/table.md), [Kanban](/docs/view/views/kanban.md),
  [Feedback](/docs/view/views/feedback.md) and
  [Charts](/docs/view/views/charts.md) pages.
- **Conditions**: who sees the layout's tab; see
  [Conditions](/docs/view/views/conditions.md).
- **Delete**: **Delete layout** asks first, then removes the layout when you
  next save the View; until then **Discard** brings it back.

## Layout types

| Type                    | What it shows                                                                     |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Table**               | Rows and columns with search, filters, sorting, paging, export and inline editing |
| **Kanban**              | Cards in columns, one per term of a taxonomy or one per value of a column         |
| **Feedback**            | A list of items with status, category, upvotes and comments                       |
| **Charts**              | A dashboard of chart and number cards computed from the rows                      |
| **Default post screen** | WordPress's own post list, as a tab beside the others                             |

A **Default post screen** layout matters only on the post list screen that a
View replaces: selecting its tab there shows WordPress's standard list table,
with its bulk actions and filters. The editor's preview shows a placeholder
for it, and admin pages and embeds leave it out.

A table loads one page of rows at a time. Kanban, Feedback and Charts layouts
load every row that matches their filters, 500 at a time, so give a large
source a filter before you show it on a board.

## Several Views for one post type

A View of a post type replaces that post type's list in wp-admin. When
several Views read the same post type, the most recently created one that is
not disabled replaces it; when that View's own conditions do not match the
user, WordPress shows its standard list. Every View stays available on admin
pages and through its shortcode, whichever replaces the list.