The Looker Studio Microsoft Excel connector lets you access the data stored in a local Excel worksheet. Looker Studio stores copies of your uploaded worksheets in a Google Cloud Storage bucket.
In this article:How to connect Looker Studio to Excel
An Excel data source can connect to a single worksheet in an Excel workbook.
To connect to Excel, follow these steps:
- Sign in to Looker Studio.
- On the Looker Studio home page, in the top left, click
Create, and then select Data Source.
- Select the Microsoft Excel connector.
- In the Available Files section, click + New to upload an Excel spreadsheet, or select a previously uploaded Excel spreadsheet.
- In the Worksheets section, select the worksheet to use for the data source.
- Configure any of the data source options (see the General options section of this article for more details).
- In the upper right, click CONNECT.
- The worksheet is added to your Available Files list.
- The data source fields panel appears.
- The data source is now connected to your dataset.
Create, and then select Data Source.All the columns you've included in the connection now appear as fields in the data source. See Create and edit data sources to learn more about configuring your data source.
General options
When you're setting up the Excel Connector, you can configure the following options:
- Use first row as headers causes the data source to use the first row in your worksheet as the field names in the data source. If this option is not selected, the field names will use the column index (A, B, C, etc.).
- Include hidden and filtered cells lets you include or exclude this data from the data source. The default value is to include them. This option applies only to filters, not to filtered views.
- Include specific range lets you define a range of cells in the selected worksheet. Use standard column-row syntax to define the range: for example, A1:Z26.
- Select rows to skip lets you specify certain rows that Looker Studio should ignore when it creates the data source.
- Select columns to skip lets you specify certain columns that Looker Studio should ignore when it creates the data source.
You can also configure these options later by editing the data source connection.
Field editing in reports
The Field Editing in Reports data source option lets report editors change field definitions at the chart level. Editing field definitions in the report makes customizing your reports faster and easier. Learn more about editing fields in reports.
Configure the data source
The data source fields panel is where you configure the data source by renaming fields and adding descriptions, adding calculated fields, and changing data types and aggregations. Learn more about working with data source fields.
Control who sees the data
At the top of the fields panel, you can change the data credentials. Credentials control who can see the data that this data source provides.
OWNER'S CREDENTIALS let other people view or create reports that use this data without requiring them to have their own access to the dataset.
VIEWER'S CREDENTIALS, on the other hand, require each user of the data source to provide their own credentials to access the dataset.
Learn more about data credentials.
Create a new report from the data source
To create a new report from the data source, follow these steps:
- In the upper right, click CREATE REPORT. The report editor appears.
- Click ADD TO REPORT.
- This action adds the data source to the report.
- You can now create charts and controls that get their data from this data source.
New to Looker Studio?
Take the Create a report tutorial. Or learn more about the report editor.
Delete or download Excel spreadsheets
The Available Files section lists the Excel spreadsheets that you have previously uploaded. You can delete spreadsheets to free up space and download spreadsheets to your device.
When you're using the Excel connector in Looker Studio, the following storage limits apply:
- If you don't have Looker Studio Pro, you can store up to 2 GB in Excel data sources.
- If you have Looker Studio Pro, you can store up to 5 GB in Excel data sources.
To delete or download spreadsheets, follow these steps:
- Sign in to Looker Studio.
- On the Looker Studio home page, in the top left, click
- Select the Microsoft Excel connector.
- The Available Files section lists the Excel spreadsheets that you have previously uploaded. Click the three-dot menu next to the spreadsheet that you'd like to delete or download, and then choose one of the following options:
- To delete the spreadsheet, click Delete.
Deleting an Excel file will also delete any data sources that use the file, potentially impacting charts and reports.
- To download the spreadsheet, click View in Cloud. Looker Studio opens the Google Cloud Storage bucket where your spreadsheet is stored. Click the three-dot menu next to the spreadsheet that you'd like to download, and then select Download.
Looker Studio Pro features
If you have Looker Studio Pro, you can store up to 5 GB in Excel data sources instead of 2 GB.
If you store more than 2 GB in Excel data sources and then downgrade from Looker Studio Pro, spreadsheets that you have already uploaded will not be affected. However, you will not be able to upload new spreadsheets until your total storage is below 2 GB.
Notes
Note the following requirements and limitations for sheets that are uploaded with the Excel Connector:
- If you don't have Looker Studio Pro, you can store up to 2 GB in Excel data sources.
- If you have Looker Studio Pro, you can store up to 5 GB in Excel data sources.
- You can only upload Excel files up to 100 MB.
- The header row must be a single row.
- All cells within a column should be of the same type.
- Excel Online spreadsheets are not supported.
- Password-protected files are not supported.
- Macros are not supported.
- Pivot tables are not supported.
- An Excel spreadsheet can be used by one or more data sources.
- The Available Files section lists only the Excel spreadsheets that you have previously uploaded, not spreadsheets uploaded by other members of your organization.