Looker Connect Training
Help Center
Documentation
Community
Cloud Certifications

Looker Connect Training

Cloud Certifications

- - Knowledge base
Product Announcements
Events
Groups

Community
The Kitchen Table
Technical Tips & Tricks

Technical Tips & Tricks

Previously internal product knowledge now available for you to explore!

1,744 Topics
402 Replies

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

1744 Topics

Most replies

Recently active Most views Newest first

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to prevent committing changes when there are LookML errors (Code Quality)Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 10, 2017 If you want to make sure that your production LookML has no errors, you can enable Code Quality in Project Settings.Cite Docs.Starting in 5.22, users have the option to allow committing with warnings but still prevent committing with errors. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can we sync permissions and groups from Google Auth?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Dec 3, 2017 No. Unlike other external authentication systems we support, we don't match any groups from Google Auth when bringing users into Looker.You can make sure that each user lands in a single default role, but then you will still have to manually assign permissions and groups to users. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to Remove drill fields from dimension groups/remove date drills from visualizationKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 10, 2020 The ProblemI have a dimension group, which generates some default drills. I would like to remove these drills from my visualization!SolutionAdd a drill_field parameter set to empty bracket to the dimension groupThis maintains the grouping from the date dimension, but and remove default drill_fields! This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I sort my pivoted table by measure totals?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 1, 2020 No - there is a feature request, please add your +1 and use caseYou can do this for row totals however, just by clicking on the row total column header. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What is the difference between Tile and Single Column PDF?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 20, 2018 Basically, Tile is the regular download format. It takes a picture of your current dashboard.Single Column PDF is an extra option that you can choose that makes each tile full width.From Docs:Optionally, click the Single Column PDF if you want the PDF to show the dashboard tiles in a single vertical column. Leave the box unchecked if you want the PDF to show the tiles arranged as in the dashboard. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why are my timestamps being converted twice? / Multiple timezone conversionKnowledge Drop

Last tested; May 31, 2018 You're most likely seeing this because we're referencing a date/time field inside another date/time field. For example, say we have the following:dimension_group: created {type: timetimeframes:[date, year, month, quarter, raw]sql: ${TABLE}.created_at ;;} dimension: bad_date {type: date_timesql: date_add(${created_date},1) ;;} If we select the bad_date dimension, we will see multiple timezone conversions applied in the SQL.Instead, we should use the _raw timeframe like so: dimension: good_date {type: date_timesql: date_add(${created_raw},1) ;;} Which correctly generates only one conversion: This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Materialized Views in LookerKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 21, 2020 Some databases allow materialized views, which is like a persisted SQL query. You can call these in Looker like any other table, but they won't show up when Looker searches for tables. So you won't see them in the view generator or SQL Runner sidebar. Feature request to have these work with the LookML generatorAdditionally, as of 21.10, users can create PDTs that are stored as materialized views. See the Materialized Views Runbook for more info (BTW, they will show up in the left sidebar in SQL Runner.) This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I set instance-level defaults for the schedule or default download options?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 16, 2018Right now, it is not possible to set instance-level defaults for schedule options. If you're interested in this, please share your use case with the product team via Pendo feedback! This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I see undeployed commits in Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 24, 2020You can see the commit message and shortened commit SHA in the "history" option next to the git action button. To see the whole commit with diffs, you should visit your remote Git provider. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Will changing a users' information on the LDAP side cause any problems in Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 2, 2018 It depends on whether the attribute changed is an ID Attribute in your Looker LDAP settings.If this is not changing on the LDAP side, then the user will not be affected. In this example, changing a user's email would be fine because their ID Attr is cn .If they instead changed the cn , then upon the user's next login, a new user would be created. You would want to update the LDAP credentials in Looker, but since that isn't possible, you'd instead want to delete their LDAP credentials, make sure they have email credentials matching their LDAP email, and then merge by email. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Do schedule filters override dashboard filters?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 10, 2018 Yes! The filters on a schedule will override any filters applied on the dashboard if the filter is on the same field.This gives you the advantage of having a single copy of the dashboard, but the ability to schedule it to multiple people, each with different filter values. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What is a Gravatar?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 21, 2020 Gravatar is how we populate a user profile picture in Looker. Once you have a Gravatar set up, it will show up in the top right of the page. To navigate to the set up, you can click the link above or go to "Account" in the top right hand corner. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I make a static PDT?Knowledge Drop

Last tested; Jul 6, 2017 This is not recommended - if you have static values, they should be a non-persisted derived table or written to your database.That said, you can use sql_trigger_value: SELECT 1 ;;. This value will never change so the PDT will never be rebuilt unless the SQL is changed or someone requests a manual rebuild. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I control the default log creation and rotation?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 13, 2020 By default, for Looker-hosted instances, Looker keeps one running log, at looker/log/looker.log. Every day, it cuts off that log and saves it as a new file with the date in the filename. Then after a week, a script zips up those logs.If you host your own instance, then there is an option in the Admin panel to change the frequency of this log rotation. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I set up a user without sending a setup email?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 18, 2019 Yes, you can. You have the option on the Add Users page to send or don't send the setup email.The new user won't be able to log into Looker without the setup email, but this can be useful if you plan to just give them SAML/LDAP credentials later. Or sudo the new user because you're doing a permissions test. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does changing a user's groups in SAML/LDAP/etc affect their Looker user?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 8, 2018 Yes. Each time a user logs in with SAML/LDAP/OpenID, their role gets reconstructed based on the SAML/LDAP/OpenID groups they are in.So, if you have group to role mapping set up in Looker, then you can change Looker permissions solely by editing the user's groups in the external authentication system. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you apply a reference line to a table calculation?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 28, 2020 Yes. It works like any other series.The catch with reference lines is that they can only reference the first series. So, if your table calc is a measure, then you'll need to hide all other measures. There is a feature request for selecting any series with a reference line - please comment your use case! This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can we have more than one LDAP server hooked up to Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 12, 2019 No; we only talk to one configured service endpoint. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What's the max amount of values we can plot?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 14, 2020 This is limited by the max UI row limit (5000) and the max column limit (200 when pivoted, unlimited otherwise). We can't show any more than that in the UI.cite docs. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I hide a Look tile title on a dashboard?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 30, 2019 Yes!On Dashboard Next, when a dashboard is in edit mode, you can hide a title by clicking Hide title in the tile’s three-dot menu.On Legacy Dashboards you can do this by clicking the eye icon next to the title of a tile while editing the dashboard.But for single value vizualization tiles, you can only do this via the edit tab of the visualization - there's a "Show title" toggle. This content is subject to limited support.

ryland.wolffLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What are the "VRFY_CDT..." tables on a scratch schema?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 7, 2020 These tables are created during connection tests for a database. These tables should be dropped immediately after the tests are completed.If a user is seeing these tables on the scratch schema a bit after their connection test, it is likely that the looker user on their DB or the PDT user does not have the proper permissions to drop these tables. We will want to reference the specific database configuration for instructions on the permissions needed for the DB user. This content is subject to limited support.

ryland.wolffLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Do users need "manage_spaces" permission to make new folders in their personal space?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 6, 2020Yes! Users will need themanage_spaces permission andManage Access, Edit permissions in a folder in order to create subfolders, even in a personal folder. This content is subject to limited support.

ryland.wolffLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Network BlackholingKnowledge Drop

Last tested: May 12, 2020 orWhy does Chromium take 5 minutes when instance is not connected to the internet?For users who would like to keep very secure networks for their Looker instance, it is possible for them to create network settings that result in network blackholing, which is the process of discarding incoming or outgoing traffic. When this happens we can have processes like Chromium wait for a timeout before completing their tasks.We have see this primarily with Chromium tasks. When trying to perform a Chromium task, we would have about 4 minutes of unaccounted time where we are waiting for a response back from Google Analytics or ping.looker.com. After this response is timed out, Chromium performs its task as expected, but happens slowly.The way to fix this is to immediately reject this traffic or disable it in the first place. Some ways to accomplish this are:Reach out to Looker Support to enable the license feature `disable_tracking` to stop usage pings from going out if th

ryland.wolffLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I not need to click the Authenticate button after logging out?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 31, 2020Some SSO providers have settings that do not require a user to click the Authenticate button when logging back into an application. This can create some significant confusion and appear as a security issue, but is most likely caused by an IdP setting. For example, when using OIDC with AuthO there is a setting enabled by default called Enable Seamless SSO that will cause this. This content is subject to limited support.

ryland.wolffLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

More than 3 conditions with Excel value formattingKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 10, 2020 When using the Excel-style value formatting in a visualization, we can create a multiple conditions by linking them with a ;. For instance, applying two or more conditions [>=300]0.00,\M; [<=299] 0.00 \K in the visualization directly.This is possible to be able to format positive, negative, 0 values and text. From Microsoft's documentation:The following example shows the four types of format code sections. Format for positive numbers Format for negative numbers Format for zeros Format for textIf you specify only one section of format code, the code in that section is used for all numbers. If you specify two sections of format code, the first section of code is used for positive numbers and zeros, and the second section of code is used for negative numbers. When you skip code sections in your number format, you must include a semicolon for each of the missing sections of code. You can use the ampersand (&) text operator to join, or concatenate, two

1
...
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
...
70

Page 57 / 70

Badges

sbrylowskihas earned the badge Friendly Face
carriehas earned the badge Helpful
carriehas earned the badge Community Star
carriehas earned the badge Friendly Face
Dawidhas earned the badge Community Star

Show all badges

Powered by inSided

Terms of Service

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 of Service.

If you’re an EEA-based consumer of digital content, services, or goods, and you’ve agreed to our Terms of Service, then EEA consumer laws provide you with a legal guarantee. Under this guarantee, we’re liable for any lack of conformity that you discover for the one-time supply of digital content or services at any time during the “continuous” supply of digital content or services.
Your national laws may provide an even longer guarantee. Your rights under these legal guarantees aren’t limited by any other commercial guarantees that we provide. If you want to make a guarantee claim or if you would like to delete your account data, please contact us lookerconnect-help@google.com.

loginBox.register.email_repeat

Login to the community

No account yet? Create an account

Social Login

or

Username or Email

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

© 2022 Google. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms | Community Guidelines