Edit the data source connection

You can change a data source's connection to the underlying data. This lets you connect to different data using an existing data source.

In this article:

• Who can reconnect a data source
• How to reconnect a data source
• Effects of reconnecting a data source

Editing the data source connection lets you:

• Reestablish a broken connection to your data.
• Connect to a different account, Google Sheet, database table, etc.
• Edit a BigQuery custom query connection.
• Use a different connector.

Example

 

Suppose you have a data source based on an unfiltered Google Analytics web property and have created a Looker Studio report based on that data source. Now, say you create a new filtered property in your Analytics account, and want to use that data with your existing report. To bring in the new filtered data and leave any configuration changes intact (such as calculated fields, renamed fields, or changed aggregations), you can reconnect the data source to the new property.

Editing a data source connection can have a big impact on your reports. Proceed with caution.

Who can reconnect a data source

Anyone who can edit the data source can edit its connection. For embedded data sources, this includes report editors. For reusable data sources, you must have Can Edit permission to the data source.

How to reconnect a data source

1. Edit the data source.
2. In the upper left, click EDIT CONNECTION.
3. Select the new data set.
4. In the upper right, click RECONNECT. Looker Studio shows the fields changed by this action, if any.
5. Click APPLY.

Effects of reconnecting a data source

• New fields from the data set are added to the data source.
• Fields that have been removed from the data set are removed from the data source.
• If there are changes to the fields or the underlying data set, you become the new credentials owner.
  • If the data source uses service account credentials, and you don't have permission to use that service account, you become the new credentials owner.
• Other changes you've made to the data source, such as renaming fields, changing field types or aggregations, and adding descriptions, are not affected.
• Any reports using to this data source continue to do so, however, you may need to fix any charts broken by the field changes.

If any of the removed dimensions or metrics are used in calculated fields, those calculated fields are disabled. You can edit or remove them, as needed.