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Create a report from a template

Get answers and gain insights from your data quickly with pre-built reports.

Templates let you visualize your data in a finished report. Use these reports "as is" or customize them to fit your unique requirements. You can also create your own templates for others to use.

In this article:

Visit the Template Gallery to access templates built by Google. You'll find templates that support the following products:

  • BigQuery
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Ads
  • Google Sheets
  • YouTube Analytics
  • Search Console
  • Display & Video 360
  • Search Ads 360
  • Apigee

Note: Even though Google templates are available only in English, your data will appear in the language in which it was collected.

How templates work

A template is a special kind of report, created by appending /preview to the report's URL. You can interact with a template in view mode just as you would any report. However, before you can modify or share the template, you must copy it to a new report by clicking Edit and share.

The data in a template comes either from a data source that's been shared with you, or from a data control placed on the template. Data controls let you select the data set you want to use in a report. If the template is based on a shared data source, you may want to replace that with your own data source to make the report more relevant to you.

See your data in a template

To see your own data in a template you can either replace the default data source with a reusable data source to which you have access, or you can create a new embedded data source. What's the difference?

Select an existing data source

  1. Open a template.
  2. In the upper right, click Use my own data, then click Replace data.
    Note: If the template has multiple data sources, you'll see multiple Replace data buttons. Repeat these instructions for each data source you want to replace.
  3. In the upper left, click Return arrow icon Add data to report.
  4. On the left, click My data sources.
  5. Select the data source; then, in the lower right, click Add.

Create a new data source

  1. Open a template.
  2. In the upper right, click Use my own data.
    Note: If the template has multiple data sources, you'll see multiple Replace data buttons. Repeat these instructions for each data source you want to replace.
  3. Select the account or project configuration for the data set that you want to use, and then click ADD.

Data source status

An orange dot to the right of the Add data button means that you only have view access to the default data source. If you copy the template to your own report, then the report will have errors. We recommend replacing the data source with one to which you have full access.

An orange dot next to the Use my own data button indicates that a user has only view access to a data source.

After replacing a data source in the template, a green dot to the right of the Add data button means that you have full access to the new data source.

A green dot next to the Use my own data button indicates that a user has full access to a data source.

Edit and share a template

You can save a template as your own report. In the upper right, click Edit and share. You can then modify the report and share it with others, just like any other report.

Create your own template

Any report in Looker Studio can be a template: just view the report, and then edit the URL in the location bar by adding "/preview" at the end.

Example:

This is the URL of the Looker Studio "Instructions" report, with "/preview" appended to turn it into a template:

 

Submit a template to the gallery

Got a Looker Studio report you'd like to share as a template for others to use? Submit it to the report gallery.

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