User Guide
Getting Started
Help Center
Documentation
Community
Training
Certification

Getting Started

Community
WelcomeGetting started54 News & announcements100 Who's hiring371 Release notes (archive)63 Lesson Comments10 Challenge7
Looker developmentLookML1247 SQL249
Exploring & curating dataExplores401 Dashboards & looks1069
Application developmentEmbedding Looker / Powered by Looker93 Open source projects45 Looker API263
AdministrationUser access & management18 General Looker administration362
Data science & analyticsGot a question?54 Share your best practices7
コミュニティフォーラム (Japanese)ニュースと告知32 ヘルプとサポート10 コラム47
The Kitchen TableTechnical Tips & Tricks752 Common Account Questions10 DCL Mic Drops4

Ask question / Create topic
Login

Technical Tips & Tricks

Previously internal product knowledge now available for you to explore!

752 Topics
30 Replies

When you subscribe we will email you when there is a new topic in this category

752 Topics

Recently active

Most replies Most views Newest first

Article Selected articles about Looker API & SDK use cases

We have gathered a list of community and help center articles covering some major API & SDK use cases. We hope this makes it easier for you to browse and navigate. The code examples are for demo purposes only. For any further questions on those use cases please post a comment under those article...

Article Selected articles about LookML

Selected articles about LookML We have gathered some selected community and help center articles and organised them in different topics. Hope this makes it easier for you to search and navigate. General Why do we recommend many_to_one joins over one_to_many joins?How to add a new row of data with Lo...

Article Selected articles about SQL use cases in Looker

Selected articles about SQL use cases in Looker We have gathered a list of community and help center articles organised in different topics. Hope this makes it easier for you to search and navigate. Calendar tableHow to combine a retail calendar with retail sales dataGenerate Date Series/ Create a c...

Article Breaking News: Knowledge Drops are LIVE!

Democratizing information has always been a core tenet of Looker’s values. It’s how we all become better thinkers and better doers. This ethos isn’t just a philosophy or a catchy marketing phrase; it’s a practice - and it’s one we’ve always taken to heart. So in true Looker-fashion, we’re excited to...

Article How to create a TopoJSON file for use in a Custom Map Layer

Last tested: June 2021This Help Center article explains how to make a topojson file to use in a map layer in Looker.Remember: The property_key field is CASE SENSITIVE! A custom map layer may be set up and referenced correctly, but the map may display blank if property_key is case mismatched.map_laye...

Article How do I make my dashboard timezone listen to the timezone defined in my embed URL?

Last tested: Nov 2020 Enable User-Specific Timezones in the Admin panel. Add the user_timezone as one of the embed URL parameters when generating the embed URL. After the embed URL loads the dashboard, the embed user can switch to Viewer Timezone in the timezone dropdown menu at the top right....

Article How do I filter "on or before" a date?

Last tested: June 2021 Right now, filter syntax only allows for "before" a date. This means that in the example before 6/26/2017, the date 6/26/2017 will not be included.There is a feature request for this inclusive functionality. Right now, you either need to remember to add one day to the date yo...

Article Why is there no Password Reset/Edit button for a user?

Last tested: April 2021No Password ResetMost likely, this user doesn't have a Looker email credential. Without an email credential, they can't have a password.This happens if the user was set up via Google Auth, SAML, LDAP, etc. This means that any management of passwords will have to be done in tho...

Article Why can't I see my Slack channel in the Looker sending modal?

Last tested: April 2021 When you don't see the desired channel in the Looker sending modal:a) If you're using the Lookerbot, you have to invite it to your channel first (On your channel, "Add people to #channel_name", find the Lookerbot the same way you find individual users, and select), orb) if y...

Article Does revoking a user on the idP side affect the user in Looker?

Last tested: June 2021No. Looker doesn't automatically keep track of whether the user has been revoked on the SAML/LDAP/OIDC/Google side. There is a request to Force all users to log out or Automatically recognize new SAML groups if mapping gets updated that you can add your vote through our feedbac...

Article Can LookML dashboards be used in SSO embed?

Last tested: June 2021Yes!Nothing really changes except that the dashboard ID is model_name::dashboard_name, and the embed parameters have to be defined via LookML. This doc explains the embedded parameters that you would usually define in "Embed settings" of a UDD.As always, make sure that the user...

Article How long does a deleted PDT live on the scratch schema for?

Last tested: June 2021The PDT reaper process runs at most every hour (while respecting the PDT maintenance cron string).It will reap all persist_for PDTs whose time has expired, and any sql_trigger_value PDTs for which a new table has already been built.The persist_for clock begins when the PDT is f...

Article What is the difference between the query id and history id in system activity?

Last tested: June 2021The query ID is tied to a particular query. It's uniquely identified by a combination of SQL text, connection, and possibly other fields. It is created the first time a SQL query is run on a connection. Query IDs are not changeable or destructible.The history ID is tied to a ru...

Article Can I extend Looker's default proxy timeout of 60 mins?

Last tested: June 2021No. Any query run in the UI (or API) will be subject to the proxy timeout rules, and it is not possible to increase that timeout past 60 minutes.If you're trying to build PDTs that take longer than an hour then you have a few workaround options.Workaround 1Use the --if dev-- pa...

Article How is the "Estimated Time" for a query calculated?

Last tested: Oct 2020 Looker uses the time it took to run that query last time to predict estimated time. However, it uses the query parameters to determine this, not the SQL, so if you drastically change a LookML definition the estimate may be wrong.If the query hasn't been run before, Looker does...

Article Why doesn't my dashboard have a "Run" button?

Last tested: Sep 2020If Run on Load is “On” for a dashboard, and there are no filters on the dashboard, we do not show the “Run” button or the "Stop" button. This content is subject to limited support.

Article Can I use a VPN to connect a Looker-hosted instance to a my database?

Last tested: June 2021No, but depending on your needs, you may be able to setup a host (tunnel server) that has VPN access to the desired database, and Looker can then set up an SSH tunnel from your instance to this tunnel server .If you host your own instance: You can use a VPN, if both the instanc...

Article Is prefetching allowed in Looker?

Last tested: June 2021Prefetching is strongly discouraged. Use scheduling and datagroups instead. To pre-load dashboards when an ETL job finishes:Create a datagroup that triggers when the ETL job finishes. (Perhaps using a trigger that checks for new rows such as “SELECT MAX(id) FROM table”) Schedu...

Article How can I stop or change the order of my PDT builds?

Last tested: Feb 2021ProblemI have several PDTs building, and I want to either: Pause a PDT from building Control the order of my PDT builds (maybe I want a certain one to always build first) ExplanationThe order of PDT builds is arbitrary except when dependencies are involved. So there isn't any...

Article CORS support for Looker

Last tested: June 2020What is it?The Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a mechanism that allows browser-based applications to directly call the Looker API without having to use an intermediary proxy server for the API calls! This will make it so you can more easily use the Looker API in you ap...

Article If a user schedules Looks and then is disabled will the scheduled Looks still go out?

Last tested: Dec 2020 If the schedule was created by a user that is now disabled, the schedule will fail.The error in the schedule history will tell you that the User is not enabled. Contact your Looker administrator to reassign this scheduled report to an enabled user.This content is subject to lim...

Article Error: Your account has been temporarily locked due to too many bad login attempts

Last tested: April 2021 This error comes up if you try and log in with a bad password too many times.You only have to wait 5 minutes for it to unlock. This is non-negotiable, however you can instead use SAML/LDAP which may have providers that allow you to change these settings.Docs: https://docs.loo...

Article How do I filter out null in a filtered measure?

Last tested: May 2020Most of these examples can be found in the filter expressions doc.Filter out NULL values for non-number dimensionsThe most common filter syntax to filter out nulls is simply "-NULL" . This works for most data types that aren't numbers, such as strings, dates, etc.measure: count...

Article What does history count by source in System Activity mean?If you are looking at an explore like this that count represents the number of queries run from each source - the count matches the query run count measure in this situation

Last tested: Jul 1, 2020 If you are looking at an explore like thisthat count represents the number of queries run from each source - the count matches the query run count measure in this situation This content is subject to limited support.

Article Best practice for handling group ids over multiple instances

Last tested: Aug 13, 2020 Say you have staging/dev/production instances and your group ids are different per instance.The recommendation is to keep the names the same, then1. run api call on group name to get group id, save as variable2. add the group id variable to the sso embed urlNo magic there....

1
2
3
4
...
31

Page 1 / 31

Powered by inSided

Sign up

Already have an account? Login

Social Login

or

Username *

E-mail address *

Company

(Private)

Only you and moderators can see this information

*

Password *

I accept the terms & conditions

loginBox.register.email_repeat

Login to the community

No account yet? Create an account

Social Login

or

Username

Password

Remember me

Forgot password?

Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.

Username or e-mail

Back to overview

Scanning file for viruses.

Sorry, we're still checking this file's contents to make sure it's safe to download. Please try again in a few minutes.

OK

This file cannot be downloaded

Sorry, our virus scanner detected that this file isn't safe to download.

OK

© 2020 Looker Data Sciences, Inc.
Privacy | Terms | Cookies | Community Guidelines