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How to Share Looker Studio Template Link

Cody Schneider•

Sharing a Looker Studio report as a reusable template is a simple trick that completely changes how you collaborate with clients and teammates. Instead of just showing them a report, you can give them a special link that lets them create their own editable copy, ready to connect to their own data. This guide walks you through exactly how to create that template link, step-by-step, and shares some pro tips for making your templates truly useful.

Why Share a Looker Studio Report as a Template?

While sharing a standard "view-only" link is good for presenting finished reports, creating a "template" or "copy" link is better when you want to empower others. It unlocks a few powerful use cases:

  • Standardize Client Reporting: If you're an agency or freelancer, you can build a master report once and share it with every client. They each create their own copy, connect their unique data sources (like their Google Analytics), and get a consistent, branded report without you having to rebuild it from scratch every time.

  • Equip Your Team: You can create template dashboards for different departments. Give your sales team a standard pipeline report template or your marketing team a campaign performance template. Anyone on the team can then copy it and customize it for their specific needs without altering the original.

  • Sell or Share with the Community: Many data-savvy creators build beautiful and insightful Looker Studio dashboards to sell online or share freely. The template link is the mechanism that makes this possible, allowing thousands of people to use your design with their data.

In short, it lets you share the structure and design of your report, not just the data inside it.

Before You Begin: Understand Looker Studio's Standard Sharing Options

It's important to know why the standard sharing buttons don't create a template. Clicking the blue "Share" button in Looker Studio gives you a few options, but most of them are for granting direct access to your one and only master report.

  • Inviting People: Adding people by email gives them viewer, editor, or owner access to your original report. Any changes an editor makes will be seen by everyone else who has access.

  • Link Sharing: Setting link access to "Anyone with the link can view/edit" is similar. It's great for sharing a live dashboard, but it doesn't give the user their own private copy.

Neither of these options is what we want for a template. If a client or coworker messes with a filter or changes a date range on the master report, it affects everyone's view. A template link ensures your original report remains untouched and safe.

How to Create a Looker Studio Template Link (Step-by-Step)

Creating a sharable template link doesn't involve some hidden setting or special button. You just need to slightly modify the report's URL. Follow these exact steps.

Step 1: Set the Correct Sharing Permissions

First, people need to be able to see your report before Looker Studio can prompt them to copy it. You must make your report viewable to anyone with the link.

  1. Open the Looker Studio report you want to share.

  2. Click the Share button in the top right corner.

  3. In the "Share with others" popup that appears, find the "Link settings" section. It will probably say "Restricted" by default.

  4. Click on it and change the setting to "Anyone with the link can view."

  5. Click Save and then Close.

This is an essential step. If you miss this, nobody outside of your organization (or those you've specifically invited) will be able to access the template link, and they'll get a "Request Access" error.

Step 2: Get Your Report's Standard URL

Now, just grab the regular URL for your report directly from your browser's address bar. It will look something like this:

https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/1234abcd-efgh-5678-ijkl-9101112mno/view

Step 3: Modify the URL to Create a Template Link

Here comes the trick. All you have to do is replace the /view at the end of the URL with /copy. That's it!

So, using the example from above:

Original Viewer URL:

https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/1234abcd-efgh-5678-ijkl-9101112mno/view

Your New Template Link:

https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/1234abcd-efgh-5678-ijkl-9101112mno/copy

This newly modified URL is your shareable template link. Anyone you send it to will be immediately prompted to make a copy of your report.

What Your Users See When They Click the Link

When someone opens your /copy link, they won't see your report right away. Instead, they'll be greeted with a page that looks like this:

Here’s the flow from their perspective:

  1. They click the "Make a copy of this report" button.

  2. Under "New Data Source," they'll see your original data source listed. They can click on it and choose from their own available data sources to replace it. For example, they'll pick their own Google Analytics 4 property to pipe into your report design.

  3. Once they've mapped their data source(s), they click "Copy Report."

Looker Studio will then generate a brand new, completely separate report in their own account. It is now their property to edit, filter, and manage as they please, leaving your original template perfectly intact.

Pro Tips for Making High-Quality Templates

Creating the link is the technical part, but creating a template that’s easy and enjoyable to use requires a little more care. Follow these best practices to level up your shared reports.

1. Use a Universally Accessible Data Source

The biggest frustration with a template is opening it and not being able to see any data. If your template is connected to your private, restricted-access Google Analytics account, the user will see charts that say "Data source configuration error."

The solution is to build your template using a data source everyone can access. Your best options are:

  • Looker Studio's Sample Data Connectors: Search for "[Sample] Google Analytics Data" or "[Sample] Google Ads Data" when adding a data source. These are provided by Google and are fully public.

  • A Public Google Sheet: Create a Google Sheet with sample data, and set its sharing permissions to "Anyone with the link can view." Use this as your template's data source.

2. Include Clear Instructions Inside the Report

Don't assume users will know exactly what to do. Add a text box on the first page of your report with simple instructions. A great way to do this is to add a small info page or a "Read Me" box somewhere visible.

Example Instructions:

Welcome to the Marketing Performance Dashboard Template!

  1. Click "Copy Report" above.

  2. For the "Original Data Source," select your own GA4 Property instead.

  3. Enjoy your new dashboard! You can format colors and branding settings in the "Theme and Layout" menu.

3. Name Everything Clearly

After a long session of dashboard building, your report can be filled with charts named "Table," "Bar chart #2," and custom fields called "Calc Field 1_Sessions/Users". This is confusing for a third party.

Do a quick audit before sharing. Rename your charts, pages, and fields to be descriptive and easy to understand. For instance, rename "Table" to "Top Landing Pages by Sessions" and a calculated metric to "Conversion Rate (Signups/Users)."

4. Test Your Link in an Incognito Window

This is the most important final check. Before you send your template link to a client or post it online, copy the .../copy URL and paste it into a new incognito or private browser window. This simulates what a new user who is not logged into your Google account will see.

This quick test helps you catch issues like:

  • Incorrect link permissions ("Access Denied").

  • Broken charts because the data source isn't public.

  • Typos in the URL that lead to a 404 error.

Final Thoughts

Once you get the hang of it, creating a "copy" link in Looker Studio is a fast and effective way to share your dashboard designs. By simply changing /view to /copy at the end of the report URL, you can transform a simple report into a scalable template, saving you and your collaborators countless hours.

Even though Looker Studio is great for building detailed reports, the initial setup and management can still be incredibly time-consuming. Learning which connectors to use, how to arrange charts, and how to blend data sources often feels like a full-time job. With Graphed, we’ve created a way to skip past that manual work. You can connect all your key data sources - from Google Analytics and Shopify to Facebook Ads and HubSpot - in seconds. From there, you just ask for the dashboard you want in plain English, and our AI builds a real-time, shareable dashboard for you instantly, allowing you to focus on insights instead of setup.