How to add data sources to Looker Studio 2024

Adding a data source to Looker Studio Studio is the first part we must understand in the roadmap to using Looker Studio to make a dashboard. Some knowledge about data sources is still used throughout the design process and after a dashboard has been designed. Now, let’s start this part with Hieu.

Add a data source to Looker Studio

Currently, Looker Studio allows data from 972 different sources. Of these, 23 sources are built and supported by Looker Studio, often Google services, and the other 949 sources are supported by Looker Studio partners. So, any company can use Looker Studio.

Google services include:

1. Looker.
2. Google Analytics.
3. Google Ads.
4. Google Sheets.
5. BigQuery.
6. AppSheet.
7. File Upload.
8. Amazon Redshift.
9. Apigee.
10. Campaign Manager 360.
11. Cloud Spanner.
12. Cloud SQL for MySQL.
13. Display & Video 360.
14. Extract Data.
15. Google Ads Manager 360.
16. Google Cloud Storage.
17. Microsoft SQL Server.
18. MySQL.
19. NEW Search Ads 360.
20. PostgreSQL.
21. Search Console.
22. YouTube Analytics.
23. Tables by Area 120.

Click Add data on the menu to add data sources to Looker Studio.

Add Google Sheets data to Looker Studio

Google Sheets is the simplest and easiest place to store data. Quite a few people make dashboards on Looker Studio and use data sources from Google Sheets because it is free.

Step 1: Select Google Sheets in the Google Connectors section.

Step 2: Select a Spreadsheet and its worksheet to add to Looker Studio.

As long as you own that Spreadsheet file or you can share the file on Google Drive, you have the right to add Google Sheets to Looker Studio easily.

Add BigQuery data to Looker Studio

BigQuery is a more professional database store from Google, with a free trial. But to add BigQuery to Looker Studio, you must be authorized in a project.

Step 1: Make sure your account has permission to access it. If you are not a project owner, ask the owner to grant you permissions by going to IAM, clicking the Grant access button, adding your email, and adding two roles, BigQuery Job User and BigQuery Data Viewer.

Step 2: Select BigQuery in the Google Connectors section.

Step 3: Verify your account to add BigQuery to Looker Studio. Click Authorize to proceed with authentication.

Step 4: Select a table from BigQuery to add to Looker Studio. You select the project, dataset, and table following the tree diagram.

Hieu feels that adding BigQuery to Looker Studio is only problematic regarding decentralization. Hieu has an important note to keep BigQuery from charging too much: create a table with aggregated data and add it to Looker Studio instead of a table with raw data.

Add Google Ads data to Looker Studio

Even Google Ads advertisers use Looker Studio to send reports to their customers, not just data analysts. In the past, when he was a marketer, Hieu also used the same.

Step 1: Select Google Ads in the Google Connectors selection section.

Step 2: Authenticate your account to add data from Google Ads to Looker Studio. Click Authorize to authenticate.

Step 3: Select a Google Ads account to add to Looker Studio. After authentication, you will see Google Ads accounts and MCC if you use an MCC Google Ads account.

Google Ads cung cấp rất nhiều trường dữ liệu, nhìn cái thanh cuộn là biết danh sách trường dữ liệu dài cở nào rồi, đảm bảo mang lại cho bạn nhiều góc nhìn và insight hơn.

For other data sources, you do the same: still have permissions, authenticate your account, and select the data table to add to Looker Studio.

Settings for a data source

Once you’ve added data sources to Looker Studio, there are some settings you’ll need to review to make your dashboard better. Click a data source’s icon to open the data source settings.

Rename the data source

If a dashboard is designed from many different data sources, renaming the data source reasonably will make it more convenient for you during design. The data source’s name is in the settings’ upper left corner.

Change data types for fields

Looker Studio supports many data types; you can change the data type of a field to make it more suitable when displayed on a chart. For example, you show percentages instead of decimals and hours of the day instead of integers. Click the arrow in the Type column of each field to change the data type.

Data refresh frequency

As a dashboard, data is often updated periodically. By default, Looker Studio will refresh data every 15 minutes. However, if your data is too large, it will cause lag after each refresh because Looker Studio clears the cache, creating a lousy user experience. Reduce your data refresh frequency to match your data update frequency.

Lock permission to view data for many people

This solution is only used in cases where you have to share a dashboard with many people, but if there is a page or a chart that you want to restrict viewing rights to, do the following.

Click Data credentials and select Viewer’s Credentials. Then, go to your data source (Google Sheets, BigQuery, etc.) and share or assign permissions to the person you want to see it.

• Power’s Credentials: Thanks to your credentials, everyone can view the chart from that data source.
• Viewer’s Credentials: Only those who have shared or authorized permissions to that data source can view charts from that data source.

Allows reuse of data sources

This section is only suitable for organizations that use Google Suite. Use it when you want people in your organization without permission to access a data source to find it still and add it to their Looker Studio.

Click Resource on the menu, select Manage added data sources, and click Make reusable for the data sources you want to allow people in your organization to reuse.

Use data sources on Looker Studio

Add a calculated field

Similar to other visualization tools, you can add calculation columns using formulas. Looker supports formulas identical to Google Sheets and SQL.

Step 1: Under your data source, click Add a field, and select Add calculated field.

Step 2: Use the data fields to write the formula and click save. Consider changing the appropriate data type as Hieu instructed. For example, if you create a ratio column, change its data type to percentage instead of decimal.

Choose the default data source for a page

If your dashboard has multiple data sources, setting the default data source for a page will help charts added later have the default data source.

Click Page on the menu, select Current page settings, click Select Data Source, and select the data source you want as default.

Change the data source for a chart

Select a chart and click the current data source’s name to change that chart’s data source. If the two data sources have the same fields, the chart will not break. If the chart is damaged, you can replace the fields in dimensions and values.

Delete a data source on Looker Studio

To delete a data source on Looker Studio, go to Resource on the menu, select Manage added data sources, and click Remove with the data source you want to delete from the dashboard.

Conclusion

This article is quite long, but fortunately, it contains almost everything we need to know about adding data sources to Looker Studio and related issues. I hope it helps you!