How to Use Looker Studio with Excel

You can't connect Looker Studio directly to an Excel file sitting on your computer, but don't let that stop you. There's a simple and effective workaround using Google Sheets as a bridge that unlocks all of Looker Studio’s powerful visualization capabilities for your spreadsheet data. This guide will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step, from tidying up your Excel file to building an interactive dashboard.

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Why Connect Excel to Looker Studio?

Most business data starts its life or lives permanently in an Excel spreadsheet. It’s the go-to tool for everything from tracking sales and marketing expenses to managing project timelines. But when it comes to presenting that data, Excel’s charting features can feel a bit rigid and static.

Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio), on the other hand, is a free tool purpose-built for creating live, interactive, and shareable dashboards. By visualizing your Excel data in Looker Studio, you can:

• Create dynamic reports with clickable filters and date range controls.
• Combine your Excel data with other data sources if needed.
• Build professional-looking dashboards that are easy for anyone to understand.
• Securely share a web-based link to your report instead of emailing around clunky files.

In short, you get the familiarity of Excel for data management and the superior reporting power of Looker Studio for analysis and presentation.

The Workflow: Excel → Google Sheets → Looker Studio

The key to making this work is understanding that you aren't creating a direct A-to-B connection. Instead, you're using Google Sheets as an intermediary. It’s a simple two-step process:

1. First, you’ll move your data from its original Excel file into a Google Sheet.
2. Second, you’ll connect that Google Sheet as a data source within Looker Studio.

Once connected, Looker Studio will treat the Google Sheet as the "source of truth." Any changes or additions to your data will need to be made in the Google Sheet for them to appear on your dashboard. Let's start with getting your source data ready.

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Step 1: Get Your Excel Data Ready

Great dashboards start with clean, well-structured data. Before you upload anything, spend a few minutes preparing your Excel file. This will save you a ton of headaches later.

Your data should be organized in a simple tabular format. This means:

• A Single Header Row: Your first row should contain unique, descriptive names for each column (e.g., "Date," "Product SKU," "Units Sold"). Avoid multi-row headers or merged cells in this row.
• No Merged Cells: Looker Studio can’t properly read tables with merged cells. Go through your spreadsheet and unmerge any cells containing data.
• Consistent Data Types: Ensure each column contains only one type of data. A "Revenue" column should only have numbers, a "Date" column only dates, and so on. Mixed data types can cause import errors.
• No Blank Rows: Remove any empty rows within your data set, as they can sometimes be interpreted as the end of the file.

Example of Good Data Structure

Here’s an example of a simple sales data table that’s perfectly formatted for use in Looker Studio:

Once your Excel file is cleaned up and saved, you're ready to import it into Google Sheets.

Step 2: Upload Your Excel File to Google Sheets

This is the "bridge-building" step. It moves your data from your local Excel file to a cloud-based Google Sheet that Looker Studio can access.

1. Navigate to sheets.google.com and start a new, blank spreadsheet.
2. In the new spreadsheet, go to the top menu and click File > Import.
3. An "Import file" window will pop up. Select the Upload tab.
4. Drag your prepared Excel file into the window or click "Select a file from your device" and locate it.
5. After it uploads, you’ll be given a few import options. The most important choice is "Import location." Select Replace spreadsheet. This replaces the empty default sheet with your data.
6. Click the Import data button.

Your Excel data will now be populated in the Google Sheet. Take a second to double-check that everything looks right - columns are aligned, dates are formatted correctly, and numbers look like numbers.

Step 3: Connect Google Sheets to Looker Studio

Now that your data is in Google Sheets, it's time for the final connection.

1. Go to lookerstudio.google.com and click Create in the top-left corner, then choose Data source.
2. You'll see a gallery of connectors. In the "Google Connectors" section, find and click on Google Sheets.
3. You may need to authorize Looker Studio to access your Google Sheets. If so, click AUTHORIZE and follow the prompts.
4. You’ll then see a list of all the Google Sheet files in your Google Drive. Find and select the spreadsheet you just created.
5. In the "Worksheet" column, select the correct tab that contains your data (usually "Sheet1" unless you renamed it).
6. Make sure the options to "Use first row as headers" and "Include hidden and filtered cells" are both checked. These are typically the default and correct settings.
7. Click the blue Add button in the bottom-right corner.

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Reviewing Your Data Fields

After clicking "Add," Looker Studio will show you a configuration screen for your new data source. This is a list of all the columns from your spreadsheet. Notice how each column is labeled as either a "Dimension" (in green) or a "Metric" (in blue).

• Dimensions: These are categorical fields - things you can group your data by. For example, "Region," "Sales Rep," and "Product Type."
• Metrics: These are numerical fields you can measure or do math on, like "Units Sold" or "Total Revenue." Looker Studio automatically creates a default "Record Count" metric, which is useful for counting rows.

Looker Studio does a good job of guessing which fields are which, but it's always a good idea to perform a quick check. If it miscategorized something (e.g., classifying a numeric ID like a zip code as a metric), you can click the field type and change it.

Once you’re satisfied, click Create Report in the top right to start building your dashboard.

Step 4: Build Your First Visualizations

You’ll now be in a blank report canvas, ready to visualize your data. Let's create a few simple charts using our sales data example to see it in action.

Add a Scorecard for Total Revenue

Scorecards are perfect for displaying single, key performance indicators (KPIs).

1. From the top menu, go to Add a chart and select Scorecard.
2. Draw a small box on your report canvas where you want the scorecard to go.
3. By default, it will probably show "Record Count." With the scorecard selected, look at the Properties panel on the right. Find the "Metric" field and click on it.
4. Select Total Revenue from the list. The scorecard will update to show the sum of all revenue from your spreadsheet.

Create a Bar Chart of Revenue by Region

Bar charts are great for comparing values across different categories.

1. Go to Add a chart and select Bar chart.
2. Draw a larger box on the canvas.
3. In the Properties panel, set the Dimension to Region.
4. Set the Metric to Total Revenue.

You will instantly see a bar chart showing the total revenue generated by each region, sorted from highest to lowest.

Add a Time Series Chart for Sales Over Time

Track your performance day by day with a time series chart.

1. Go to Add a chart and select Time series chart.
2. Place it on your canvas.
3. The Dimension in a time series chart must be a date field. Looker Studio should automatically detect this and select Order Date. If not, set it manually.
4. Set the Metric to Total Revenue.

You now have a line graph that shows your revenue trends over the period covered in your spreadsheet.

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Keeping Your Dashboard Updated

It’s important to remember that your Looker Studio dashboard is reading from the Google Sheet, not the original Excel file. If your underlying data in Excel changes, you need to update the Google Sheet for those changes to reflect on your dashboard.

For one-off reports, this process is simple: just re-upload the new Excel file into the same Google Sheet, overwriting the old data. Once the Google Sheet is updated, the changes will flow through to your Looker Studio report automatically (you might need to click the "Refresh data" button at the top of a Looker Studio report to see immediate updates).

If you have data that is updated daily or weekly, the manual process of uploading can become tedious. In that case, you may want to consider transitioning your workflow to use Google Sheets as your primary file, eliminating the Excel step altogether.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your Excel data to Looker Studio opens up a whole new world of reporting possibilities, transforming static spreadsheets into dynamic and insightful dashboards. By using Google Sheets as a straightforward bridge, you can get the best of both worlds without needing any technical expertise.

We know that even with this workaround, the routine of exporting CSVs, cleaning them up, and manually uploading data to get updated reports can still be a drag. At Graphed, we built a tool to eliminate this busywork entirely. We connect directly to your live data sources and allow you to build real-time dashboards just by describing what you want to see in simple, natural language. This cuts out all the intermediate steps, giving you instant access to insights without the manual refresh cycle.