Note: Google Data Studio is now known as Looker Studio.

Reports in Looker Studio are used to tell stories with data. 

Every report you create should have some purpose. The purpose can be to provide actionable insight, give recommendations or persuasion. 

• The person who creates the report is called the ‘report author’ or ‘report creator’.
• The person who edits the report is called the ‘report editor’.
• The person who consumes the report is called the ‘report viewer’.

Best Practices for Creating a Looker Studio report

Following are some best practices for creating a report in Looker Studio:

1. Understand who your report is meant for.
2. Keep it short and simple.
3. Use a report template whenever you can to create a new report.
4. Avoid pulling data directly from a data platform into your reports.
5. Avoid charting data for the current day in your reports.
6. Avoid using functions and calculated fields in your reports.
7. Distribute related charts across multiple pages.

To learn more about these best practices, check out this article: Best practices for creating a report in Looker Studio

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Seven methods to create a new report in Looker Studio

You can create a new Looker Studio report in the following ways:

#1 From the home page (Create menu > Report > Select Connector > Select data source)

#2 From the home page (Create menu > Report > My data sources > Select data source schema)

#3 While editing a report (File menu > New Report)

#4 While editing a report (File menu > Make a Copy)

#5 While creating or editing a data source schema (click on the ‘Create Report’ button).

#6 From the home page (click on the ‘Blank Report’ button).

#7 From the home page (click on the ‘Template Gallery’ button).

To learn more about these report creation methods, check out this article: Seven methods to create a new report in Looker Studio

Looker Studio Template Gallery and Report Gallery

The template gallery list ready to use report templates. Use these templates to create fully functional and attractive Looker studio reports in seconds.

You can find the Looker Studio template gallery in two places:

#1 When you logged into Looker Studio, you see the template gallery link on the right-hand side:

When you click on this link, you can see the list of available report templates:

#2 The second place to look for report templates is the Looker Studio Report Gallery: https://lookerstudio.google.com/gallery

The Looker Studio report gallery lists report templates under the following four categories:

#1 Featured (these are the report templates featured by Looker Studio).

#2 Marketing Templates (these are the report templates meant for marketers)

#3 Community (Looker Studio report templates built by the community)

#4 Community Visualizations (Looker Studio reports with Community Visualizations)

If you want to submit your own report to the Looker Studio Report Gallery then click on the ‘submit your report’ link and then follow the on-screen instructions:

Introduction to the Report Editor

The report editor is used to edit a Google Looker Studio report.

Through report editor you can:

• Rename a report.
• Add/Edit chart components to the report.
• Add/Edit the data source schema used by the report.
• Share report with other users.

You can access the report editor by creating a new report or editing an existing report.

To learn more about the report editor, check out this article: Understanding Report Editor in Google Looker Studio

Components of a report in Looker Studio

A report in Looker Studio is made up of one or more pages. By default, a new report is made up of just one page.

Adding another page

If you want to add another page to your report, then follow the steps below:

Step-1: Open an existing report by clicking on its name (under the ‘Reports’ tab):

The report will open in the view mode.

Step-2: Click on the ‘Edit‘ button at the top right-hand side:

Once you clicked on the ‘Edit’ button, you will see the report in the ‘edit mode‘.

Step-3: Click on the ‘Add a page’ button on the top left-hand side in the report editor:

Once you click on the ‘Add a page’ button, you will be redirected to the new page of your report:

If you want to navigate back to page 1 of the report then click on the ‘Left Direction Arrow‘ available in the menu:

If you again want to navigate to page 2, click on ‘Right Direction Arrow’:

Each page is made up of canvas. 

Here is what the blank canvas looks like:

A canvas is made up of grid lines.

When we create a report in Looker Studio, we add components (like ‘tables’, ‘scorecard’, ‘bar charts’ etc) to this canvas. 

Following is an example of a canvas that contains one component of type ‘table’:

Following is an example of a canvas that contains two components: one table component and one scorecard component:

Each component is made up of one or more fields.

You can change the layout and theme of this canvas through the ‘Layout and Theme panel‘ on the right-hand side:

You can also change the style of each component on the canvas through the ‘Style‘ on the right-hand side:

Other articles on Looker Studio

1. Looker Studio Alternative – Whatagraph
2. Looker Studio Parameters explained with examples
3. Looker Studio Number Formats / Data Types
4. How to Change Language in Looker Studio
5. Looker Studio Date Format and Time Explained
6. Looker Studio Tutorial with FREE PDF ebook
7. Looker Studio Functions, Formulas Tutorial
8. How to work with the Boolean field in Looker Studio
9. Looker Studio Page Navigation Tutorial
10. Understanding Report Editor in Looker Studio
11. Best practices for creating a report in Looker Studio
12. How to share reports in Looker Studio
13. Seven methods to create a new report in Looker Studio
14. How to invite people to view or edit a report in Looker Studio
15. How to share the link of your report in Looker Studio
16. Schedule email delivery of a report in Looker Studio
17. How to download Looker Studio report as PDF
18. How to embed a Looker Studio report on a website
19. Guide to Data Types in Looker Studio
20. Image function in Looker Studio
21. Image Link data type in Looker Studio
22. Image data type in Looker Studio
23. Looker Studio Geo Map – Latitude Longitude
24. Why You Should Avoid Using Functions and Calculated Fields in Looker Studio
25. Looker Studio Calculated Fields Tutorial
26. Working with the Text data type in Looker Studio
27. The Data Set Configuration Error in Looker Studio
28. Data Source Fields in Looker Studio – Tutorial
29. Refresh data source schema fields in Looker Studio
30. Looker Studio Data Sources – Tutorial
31. Looker Studio Dimension vs Metric
32. How to filter by email in Looker Studio
33. Looker Studio – Sharing Data Sources (aka data source schema)
34. Field editing in reports – Looker Studio
35. Data Source Version History in Looker Studio
36. Community Visualization Access in Looker Studio
37. Understanding Data Source Credentials in Looker Studio
38. Understanding Data Freshness in Looker Studio
39. How to create and configure a data source in Looker Studio
40. Looker Studio Aggregation Explained
41. How to Edit a Calculated Field in Looker Studio
42. Formula Rejection in Looker Studio
43. Doing Basic Maths on Numeric Fields via Calculated Fields