Last Updated: November 27, 2022

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

Following are the various methods you can use to create a new report in Looker Studio:

1. Creating a new report via the ‘Create’ menu

The first method to create a report is by using the ‘Create’ menu option in Looker Studio.

Follow the below steps:

Step-1: Navigate to https://datastudio.google.com/

Step-2: Click on the ‘Create’ menu option available in the upper left corner of the window.

Step-3: Click on ‘Report’.

Step-4: An overlay will appear like the one below which will ask you to select your connector:

In our case, we are going to use the Google Sheets data source. So we selected the ‘Google Sheets’ connector.

Step-5: Now the overlay will change like the one below:

Select your data source from the available list. In our case, let’s select ‘Sample Sales Data – OptimizeSmart.com’.

Step-6: Click on the ‘Add’ button.

You should now see the reporting editor like the one below:

So that’s how you can create a report using ‘Create Menu’.

Now if you want to edit the data source schema, you can click on the pencil icon next to the data source schema name.

You will see the data source schema editor like the one below:

You can resize the editor window by clicking on the four dots …. and then dragging your mouse upwards:

If you want to change the data type of a field just click on ‘Type’ drop-down menu in front of the field:

You can also change the aggregation method of number fields, as shown below:

Once you have done all your changes simply click on the ‘Done’ button and you are good to go with report visualization:

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2. Creating a new report from an existing data source schema

The next way to create a new Looker Studio report is by using an existing data source schema:

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to https://datastudio.google.com/

Step-2: Click on ‘Create’ drop-down menu located in the upper left corner of your screen:

Step-3: Click on ‘Report’:

Step-4: An overlay will appear like the one below. Now since we are going to use an existing data source schema click on ‘My Data Sources’ tab:

Step-5: Click on the name of the data source schema you want to use for your report:

Step-6: Click on the ‘Add’ button:

3. Creating a new report via the File menu 

Another method to create a new Looker Studio report is by using the ‘File’ menu.

From within the report editor click on the ‘File’ menu >> ‘New report’

4. Creating a new report by making a copy of an existing report

You can create a new Looker Studio report by making a copy of an existing report and then editing it.

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Edit the report you want to copy.

Step-2: Click on ‘Make a Copy’ option from the ‘File’ drop-down menu:

A pop up will appear which will ask you to select a data source schema:

Step-3: You can either continue to use the existing data source schema (listed under the ‘Original Data Source‘) or you can select a new data source schema from the ‘New Data Source‘ drop-down menu.

Step-4: Click on the name of the data source you want to use:

At this point, you also get the option to add a new data source (by clicking on the link ‘CREATE NEW DATA SOURCE’):

Step-5: Click on the ‘Copy Report’ button:

This will create a new copy of the existing report.

Step-6: Edit the copied report.

When you copy a report, the copy inherits the following components from the original report:

1. Chart components (like ‘Table’, ‘Scorecard’, ‘Pie chart’, ‘Bar chart’, etc).
2. Interactive components (like ‘dimensions filters’, ‘date range controls’, ‘data control’,’Google Analytics Segments’ etc)
3. Design components (like ‘images’, ‘text boxes’, ‘rectangles’, ‘lines’, ‘circles’, etc)
4. Embedded external components (like ‘videos’, ‘Images’, ‘Google Docs’, etc)
5. Pages

Note(1): Copying a report does not create copies of its data source schema. 

Note(2): If you want to use any existing report as a template then just make a copy of it.

Note(3): If you see an ‘(Unknown)’ data source while copying a report then it means that data source schema has not been shared with you and you must select a different data source schema from the ‘New Data Source’ drop-down menu:

5. Creating a new report from the data source schema editor

You can also create a new report from within the data source schema editor.

Follow the below steps:

Step-1: Navigate to https://datastudio.google.com/

Step-2: Click on the ‘Create’ drop-down menu:

Step-3: Click on ‘Data Source’:

Step-4: Select the connector that you want to use. Let’s select ‘Google sheets’:

Step-5: Select your data source from the list of available data sources.

Step-6: Click on the ‘Connect button’ in the upper right corner.

Step-7: Change the available fields configuration if you want or you can proceed to create a report. To create a new report, click on the ‘Create report’ button on the top right-hand side of your screen:

This is actually my preferred method of creating a new Looker Studio report. I first create a data source schema, edit the fields configuration settings if required and then create a new report.

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6. Creating a new report via the ‘Blank Report’ button

Another method to create a new report is via the ‘Blank report’ button available on the home page of Looker Studio.

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to the home page of Looker Studio (https://datastudio.google.com/)

Step-2: Click on the ‘Reports’ tab:

Step-3: Click on ‘Blank report’ button:

Step-4: Select your connector.

Step-5: Click on the name of the data source you want to use:

Step-6: Click on the ‘Add’ button:

You should now see the report editor where you can rename your report, add chart components etc:

So that’s how you can create a new Looker Studio report from the ‘Blank report’ button.

7. Creating a new report from the Template Gallery

The final method to create a new Looker Studio report is from the Template Gallery.

Follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to the home page of Looker Studio (https://datastudio.google.com/).

Step-2: Click on the ‘Template Gallery’ link:

 Step-3: Click on the report template you want to use. If you don’t like the template you can scroll down for more templates or you can click on the dropdown to select a particular category tool and then select the template.

Once you click on the dropdown, a new list of tool categories will open up where you will see a bigger list of report templates available for different tools:

As an example, we will select Google Analytics and you can see from the image below that all report template for Google Analytics is displayed.

Step-4: Let’s click on the ‘Google Analytics Audience Overview’ report template.

A new window will open up which shows the full-size version of your report template:

Step-5: Click on the ‘Use my own data’ button in the upper right-hand corner of your screen:

A pop up will appear which will ask you to select a data source schema:

In our case, let’s continue with ‘GA4 – Google Merchandise Store’ data source schema.

Step-6: Click on the ‘Add’ button. You will now be redirected to the report editor.

At this point you can change the name of the report by double-clicking on the report name:

You can also personalize the report as per your needs by accessing the different components of the report and changing its style.

You can also share the report with other users via the ‘Share’ button:

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