How to Create a Pivot Table in Looker Studio (New Method)

A pivot table helps you quickly summarize and analyze large data sets by reorganizing data to reveal relationships between data points. It’s a powerful tool to simplify complex data, making patterns and insights easier to spot.

Pivot tables transform rows from a standard table into columns, allowing for advanced grouping and data summarization not possible with a regular table. For example, while a standard table can show revenue per user by country and quarter, a pivot table better summarizes and highlights trends, making insights easier to interpret.

A pivot table easily reveals relationships in data, like showing “Revenue Per User” by country, quarter, and year. It helps spot trends or anomalies, such as countries with no revenue in Q4, making insights clearer and more actionable.

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Chart Data in Looker Studio

Pivot tables in Looker Studio support up to 500,000 cells but may experience performance issues with large datasets. You can use filters to reduce data volume, and up to 5 pivot tables can be added per page. Fixed-schema sources (e.g., Google Ads) allow up to 5 row dimensions, while flexible-schema sources (e.g., Google Sheets) allow up to 10. Pivot tables can include up to 2 column dimensions and 20 metrics, but they don’t paginate like standard tables and can’t use metric filters.

Creating a pivot table in Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) helps summarize data by rows and columns, and it’s great for comparing different data points. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Your Report

Go to Looker Studio and either create a new report or open an existing one.

Step 2: Connect Your Data Source

Click Add Data and choose your data source (e.g., Google Sheets, Google Analytics, BigQuery, etc.).

Step 3: Insert Pivot Table

Insert Pivot Table:
- In the report editor, click on Add a chart in the top menu.
- Choose the Pivot Table option from the chart types.

Step 4: Configure Rows and Columns

Rows:
- In the chart’s settings pane, click on the Rows field.
- Choose the dimension you want to display in rows (e.g., Date, Category, Product, etc.).
Columns:
- Click on Columns to add a second dimension (e.g., Region, Product Type, etc.).
- This will split the data into the column categories.

Step 5: Add Metrics (Values)

Under the Values section, select the metric you want to display in the table (e.g., Revenue, Sales, etc.).
You can add multiple metrics for comparison.

Step 6: Customize and Format

You can format the table by changing the style, formatting numbers, and adjusting text size.
Use conditional formatting to highlight specific values.

Step 7: Filter and Refine

Add filters to narrow down the data, if necessary.
You can apply date range controls or other filters to view specific segments of your data.

Step 8: View and Share

After setting up the pivot table, you can adjust its size, reposition it in your report, and share it with stakeholders.

Stylize the chart

Title options:

The Style tab in Looker Studio lets you customize the chart’s appearance. By selecting “Show title,” you can add a chart title and adjust its style and placement to enhance presentation.

Title	Provides a text field where report editors can enter a custom title for the chart.
Title font type	Sets the font type for the title text.
Title font size	Sets the font size for the title text.
Font styling options	Applies bold, italic, or underline styling to the title text.
Title font color	Sets the font color for the title text.
Left	Aligns the chart title to the left side of the chart.
Center	Centers the chart title above or below the chart.
Right	Aligns the chart title to the right side of the chart.
Top	Positions the chart title at the top of the chart.
Bottom	Positions the chart title at the bottom of the chart.

data labels control options:

Header font color	Changes the font color of the table header.
Header font size	Changes the font size of the table header.
Header font family	Changes the font family of the table header.

Table Colors

The colors of the table borders and cells control options:

Header background color	Sets the color of the table header background.
Cell border color	Sets the color of the border between rows.
Highlight color	Sets the color of the highlight bars.
Odd/Even row color	Sets the color of odd or even rows in the table.

Table Labels

The appearance of the table data control options:

Font color	Sets the font color of the data.
Font size	Sets the font size of the data.
Font family	Sets the font family of the data.
Heatmap text contrast	Sets the font color automatically when displaying a heatmap. Choose from 3 levels of contrast, low, medium, or high.

Metric

This section controls the appearance of the metrics.

Drop-down menu	Number – displays the metric value “as is.” Heatmap – displays the metric value with a colored background, the intensity of which shows how that value compares to the other values in that column. Use the Heatmap text contrast option (in the Table Labels section above) to set the font color automatically to provide better readability of your data labels. Choose from 3 levels of contrast: Low, Medium, or High. Bar – displays the metric value as a horizontal bar. You can change the bar color and include the numeric value, as well, if desired.
Compact Numbers	Rounds numbers and displays the unit indicator. For example, 553,939 becomes 553.9K.
Decimal Precision	Sets the number of decimal places in metric values.
Show target	Appears when the column type is set to Bar. Shows a target line for the value set in the target value field, similar to a bullet chart.
Show axis	Displays an X-axis for the bar chart.

Background and border

These options control the appearance of the chart background container.

Background	Sets the chart background color.
Border Radius	Adds rounded borders to the chart background. When the radius is 0, the background shape has 90° corners. A border radius of 100° produces a circular shape.
Opacity	Sets the chart opacity. 100% opacity completely hides objects behind the chart. 0% opacity makes the chart invisible.
Border Color	Sets the chart border color.
Border Weight	Sets the chart border line thickness.
Border Style	Sets the chart border line style.
Add border shadow	Adds a shadow to the chart’s lower and right borders.

Chart Header

The chart header lets viewers perform various actions on the chart such as exporting the data or sorting the chart. The following chart header options are available:

Show on hover (default)	Three vertical dots appear when you mouse over the chart header. Click these dots to access the header options.
Always show	The header options always appear.
Do not show	The header options never appear. Note that report viewers can always access the options by right-clicking the chart.
Color	Sets the color of the chart header options.

Summary

Pivot tables in Looker Studio are flexible and customizable, making them a powerful tool for analyzing data. Once set up, the table can be filtered and formatted to meet your reporting needs.