Adding a data source is the first thing you need to understand on the road to building dashboards in Looker Studio. What you learn about data sources here will keep coming up throughout the design process and even after your dashboard is finished. Let’s get started.
Add a data source to Looker Studio
At the time I wrote this post (May 2024), Looker Studio let you add data from 972 different sources. 23 of them are built and supported by Looker Studio (mostly Google services), and the other 949 are supported by Looker Studio partners. That’s why Looker Studio can be used in most companies. The number changes all the time, so check the Add data screen for the current list.
Google services include:
- Looker.
- Google Analytics.
- Google Ads.
- Google Sheets.
- BigQuery.
- AppSheet.
- File Upload.
- Amazon Redshift.
- Apigee.
- Campaign Manager 360.
- Cloud Spanner.
- Cloud SQL for MySQL.
- Display & Video 360.
- Extract Data.
- Google Ads Manager 360.
- Google Cloud Storage.
- Microsoft SQL Server.
- MySQL.
- NEW Search Ads 360.
- PostgreSQL.
- Search Console.
- YouTube Analytics.
Click Add data on the menu to start adding a data source to Looker Studio.
Add Google Sheets data to Looker Studio
Google Sheets is the simplest and easiest place to store data. Quite a lot of people build dashboards in Looker Studio with Google Sheets as the data source because it’s free.
Step 1: Select Google Sheets in the Google Connectors section.
Step 2: Select a spreadsheet and the worksheet you want to add to Looker Studio.
As long as you own the spreadsheet or someone has shared the file with you on Google Drive, you can easily add it to Looker Studio.
Add BigQuery data to Looker Studio
BigQuery is Google’s more professional data warehouse, and it has a free trial. However, to add BigQuery data to Looker Studio, you need the right permissions in a project.
Step 1: Make sure your account has the right permissions. If you’re not the project owner, ask the owner to grant you access: go to IAM, click Grant access, add your email, and assign two roles, BigQuery Job User and BigQuery Data Viewer.
Step 2: Select BigQuery in the Google Connectors section.
Step 3: Authorize your account so Looker Studio can access BigQuery. Click Authorize to continue.
Step 4: Select a BigQuery table to add to Looker Studio. Following the tree, choose the project, then the dataset, then the table.
In my experience, the only tricky part of adding BigQuery to Looker Studio is getting the permissions right. One important tip to keep your BigQuery costs down: create a table with aggregated data and add that to Looker Studio instead of a table with raw data.
Add Google Ads data to Looker Studio
It’s not just data analysts. Google Ads advertisers also use Looker Studio to send reports to their clients. Back when I worked in marketing, I did the same.
Step 1: Select Google Ads in the Google Connectors section.
Step 2: Authorize your account so Looker Studio can access Google Ads. Click Authorize.
Step 3: Select the Google Ads account you want to add to Looker Studio. After authorizing, you’ll see your Google Ads accounts, plus your MCC if you use an MCC Google Ads account.
Google Ads provides a huge number of fields. Just look at the scroll bar to see how long the list is. That gives you plenty of angles and insights to work with.
Other data sources work the same way: make sure you have permission, authorize your account, and select the table to add to Looker Studio.
Settings for a data source
Once you’ve added your data sources, there are a few settings worth reviewing to make your dashboard better. Click a data source’s icon to open its settings.
Rename the data source
If your dashboard uses many data sources, giving each one a clear name makes designing much easier. The data source name is in the upper left corner of the settings.
Change data types for fields
Looker Studio supports many data types, and you can change a field’s type so it displays better on a chart. For example, you can show percentages instead of decimals, or hours of the day instead of integers. Click the arrow in the Type column of a field to change its data type.
Data refresh frequency
Dashboard data is usually updated on a schedule. By default, Looker Studio refreshes data every 15 minutes. However, if your data is large, the dashboard can lag after each refresh because Looker Studio clears its cache, which makes for a poor user experience. Set the refresh frequency to match how often your data is actually updated.
Restrict who can view the data
Use this when you share a dashboard with many people but want to restrict who can see a certain page or chart.
Click Data credentials and select Viewer’s Credentials. Then go to the underlying data (Google Sheets, BigQuery…) and share it or grant access to the people you want to see it.
- Owner’s Credentials: The data is accessed with your credentials, so everyone can view charts from that data source.
- Viewer’s Credentials: Only people who have access to the underlying data can view charts from that data source.
Make data sources reusable
This only applies to organizations that use Google Workspace. Use it when you want people in your organization who don’t have access to a data source to still find it and add it to their own Looker Studio reports.
Click Resource on the menu, select Manage added data sources, and click Make reusable for the data sources you want people in your organization to reuse.
Use data sources in Looker Studio
Add a calculated field
Like other visualization tools, you can add calculated columns with formulas. Looker Studio’s formulas are quite similar to Google Sheets and SQL.
Step 1: Below your data source, click Add a field and select Add calculated field.
Step 2: Write the formula using your fields and click save. Remember to set a suitable data type as shown earlier. For example, if you create a ratio column, change its type to percent instead of decimal.
Choose the default data source for a page
If your dashboard has multiple data sources, setting a default data source for a page means any chart you add later uses that data source automatically.
Click Page on the menu, select Current page settings, click Select Data Source, and choose the data source you want as the default.
Change the data source for a chart
Select a chart and click the name of its current data source to switch to another one. If both data sources have the same fields, the chart won’t break. If it does break, just replace the fields in the dimensions and metrics.
Delete a data source in Looker Studio
To delete a data source, go to Resource on the menu, select Manage added data sources, and click Remove next to the data source you want to remove from the dashboard.
Conclusion
This article has gotten quite long, but luckily it covers almost everything you need to know about adding data sources to Looker Studio and the related settings. I hope it helps!
