---
title: "Configure variable display options | Grafana Labs"
description: "Learn how to customize variable appearance and interaction patterns."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Configure variable display options

Variable display configuration controls how variables appear and behave in your dashboard. Proper configuration improves the user experience by making variables intuitive and accessible to dashboard viewers.

Display options include the type of selection options, user-friendly labels, and visibility settings. These configuration choices determine how users interact with your dashboard’s filtering capabilities and can significantly impact usability.

To configure variable display options, complete the following steps:

01. Open your dashboard and click **Edit**.
02. In the right sidebar, click **Dashboard options** (gear icon).
03. In the **Variables** section, click a variable name in the list to edit its configuration.
04. In the **Label** field, enter a user-friendly display name.
    
    For example, for the variable named `environment`, enter the label `Environment`.
05. In the **Display** list, select where the variable appears on the dashboard.
    
    For example, leave **Above dashboard** selected.
06. In **Selection options**, optionally enable **Multi-value** to allow multiple selections.
07. Optionally enable **Include All value** to add an **All** choice.
08. If your variable type includes a **Sort** setting (often in the query variable editor), you can choose how option values are ordered.
    
    For example, select **Alphabetical (asc)**.
    
    Custom variables in the sidebar may not show **Sort** — you can skip this if you don’t see it.
09. Click **Save** to save your display configuration.
10. The variable appears in the dashboard with your configured display options.

In the next milestone, you learn how to test variable interactions across different scenarios and edge cases.

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### More to explore (optional)

At this point in your journey, you can explore the following paths:

- [Configure variable selection options](/docs/grafana/latest/visualizations/dashboards/variables/add-template-variables/#configure-variable-selection-options)