Can't see/access the company / markdown homepage

[LookerExperts]

Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 6, 2020
 

When adding a Looker URL as homepage, admins need to make sure all your users have access. One reason your colleagues may not be able to see the homepage, especially when seeing a 403 error, is because they don't have model permissions to view the page you have linked.

Workaround

Only users with the see_lookml permission will be able to view a markdown document using the URL from the IDE. However, if you select View Document from the little arrow dropdown on the markdown file in the IDE, it allows you to view the document outside of the IDE. This URL requires only the access_data permission to view, but users will still need a role with the access_data permission on at least one model in the project where the Markdown file lives. If admins do not want to give access_data to all users for a model in an existing project, they can use the following workaround:

1. Create a new dummy project.
2. Put the custom homepage markdown inside the project.
3. Create a new dummy model inside this project.
4. Give all users access_data permission on this dummy model.

One caveat is that users with no role will still not be able to see the markdown file. Some users would like to have SAML users with no role log in and see a custom homepage that tells them who to contact to set up a Looker account, but adding users even with the access_data permission may have contractual implications versus adding users with no role whatsoever.

This content is subject to limited support.