Enabling and disabling Looker reports

This document provides guidance for enabling Looker reports on your Looker (original) or Looker (Google Cloud core) instance.

Requirements and limitations

Before you enable Looker reports, verify that your Looker (original) or Looker (Google Cloud core) instance meets the following requirements:

  • Your Looker instance must be running Looker 24.18 or later and be Looker-hosted.

  • If your Looker instance uses Google OAuth for authentication, your instance must be running Looker 25.4 or later.

  • You must have the Admin Looker role within your Looker instance.

Limitations

Looker reports are in preview, and the following limitations apply:

  • Looker reports aren't supported for Looker (Google Cloud core) instances that are configured to use CMEK, VPC-SC, or FIPS 140-2 validated encryption.
  • Looker (Google Cloud core) users who are granted the Admin via IAM role, but not the Looker Admin role, won't be able to create or view reports. To enable report usage, assign the Looker Admin role to these users on the Looker Roles page in the Admin panel.
  • Users won't be able to use Looker reports if they log in to their Looker instance by using secondary authentication.
  • Looker reports are not accessible using the Looker mobile application.

Enabling Looker reports

To enable Looker reports, follow the instructions for Looker (original) or Looker (Google Cloud core):

Looker (original)

To enable Looker reports for a Looker (original) instance, follow these steps:

  1. In Looker, navigate to Admin > Labs, and enable the Access Studio in Looker Labs feature.
  2. In Looker, navigate to Admin > Reports > Reports setup.
  3. On the Reports page, enable the Enable Reports option.

Looker (Google Cloud core)

To enable Looker reports for a Looker (Google Cloud core) instance, follow these steps:

  1. In Looker, navigate to Admin > Reports > Reports setup.
  2. On the Reports page, enable the Enable Reports option.

Using Looker reports with Gemini in Looker

When Looker reports and Gemini in Looker are enabled for a Looker instance, Looker users who have the appropriate permissions can query Looker Explore data in natural language by accessing Conversational Analytics.

Disabling Looker reports

To disable Looker reports, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Admin > Reports > Reports setup.
  2. Disable the Enable Reports option.
  3. Confirm that you understand that you will lose all your report data after 30 days if you disable Looker reports by selecting the box.
  4. Click Disable.

Restoring access to Looker reports

To restore access to existing Looker reports on your Looker instance, follow the steps to re-enable Looker reports within 30 days of disabling the feature.

After you re-enable Looker reports, some reports might appear in the Recovered reports folder. This typically occurs if the report's original folder was deleted or if the folder's permissions were changed. Admins can move these reports from the Recovered reports folder to another folder or delete the reports.