Create a responsive report

A responsive report scales well across many different screen sizes. Choose this report type if you expect your users to regularly view the report on a tablet or other mobile device.

Create a responsive report

Follow these steps to create a responsive report:

  1. Sign in to Looker Studio.
  2. Click Create and then select Report.
  3. Add a data source to the report.
  4. By default, the report type is set to Freeform. To use a responsive report, select the Responsive report type.
  5. Add sections, charts, and controls to your report, as described in the following sections.

Add sections to your report

In a responsive report, components (charts and controls) are grouped into sections. Sections let you group together similar components, as well as filter on all section components at once.

Create a section

To create a new section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click the + button before or after an existing section. This button appears only when you hover over it.

    If your report doesn't contain any sections yet, click Insert, and then select a chart type. Looker Studio will create a new section and put the new chart inside.

Add charts and controls to a section

To create a new chart or control in a section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. If the section is empty, click either the Add chart or the Add control button in the center of the section.
  3. If the section is not empty, click either the Add chart or the Add control button on the right edge of the section. These buttons appear when you hover over a section.

To move an existing chart or control from one section to another, drag the component to the section.

Resize a section

The height of a section is determined by the height of its components. A section will be as tall as its tallest component. To modify the height of a section, perform either of the following actions:

  • To make a section taller, resize the tallest component to be taller.
  • To make a section shorter, resize the tallest component to be shorter.

The width of the section is not editable. The section will always be the full width of the screen.

Add a filter to a section

To add a filter to a section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click the section, making sure not to click any of the components.

    If the section is crowded with components, try clicking the six-dot icon on the left of the section. This icon appears when you hover over a section.
  3. Open the Properties menu and select the Setup tab.
  4. In the Filter section, under Filter On This Group, click + Add a filter.

By default, filters in a section will apply to the entire report.

Limit section filters to a section

To limit filters in a section to apply to only the components in the section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click the section, making sure not to click any of the components.

    If the section is crowded with components, try clicking the six-dot icon on the left of the section. This icon appears when you hover over a section.
  3. Open the Properties menu and select the Setup tab.
    • To limit filters in this section to apply to only the components in the section, clear the Apply filter controls to page checkbox.
    • To allow filters in this section to apply to the rest of the report, select the Apply filter controls to page checkbox. This checkbox is selected by default.

Style a section

To customize the style of a section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Hover over a section, and select Open Style Menu from the options on the right hand side of the section.

  3. Change the style settings. These settings will apply to every component in the section.

    When you style a section, that section is no longer part of the report theme. If you apply a different theme to the report, the section won't inherit the new theme's settings.

Reorder sections

To reorder sections, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click the six-dot icon on the left of the section that you want to reorder.
  3. Drag the section up or down to reorder the section.

Change the data source for a section

To change the data source for all components in a section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.

  2. Click the section, making sure not to click any of the components.

    If the section is crowded with components, try right-clicking on the six-dot icon on the left of the section. This icon appears when you hover over a section.

  3. Open the Properties menu and select the Setup tab.

  4. In the Data source section, click the data source name to select another data source.

Delete a section

To delete a section, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.

  2. Right-click the section, making sure not to click any of the components.

    If the section is crowded with components, try right-clicking on the six-dot icon on the left of the section. This icon appears when you hover over a section.

  3. Click Delete.

Preview a report for mobile devices

You can preview how your report will look on mobile devices such as a phone or tablet. To view a preview of your report, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click the downward arrow button next to the View button on the toolbar, then select a device type. Looker Studio opens a preview of your report.
  3. To change the device size, click the Phone, Tablet, or Large Screen buttons in the bottom right corner of the preview.
  4. To exit the preview, click the Exit Preview button in the bottom right corner of the preview.

Change report types

You can change the layout mode of a report between freeform and responsive. To change the layout mode of your report, follow these steps:

  1. Edit your report.
  2. Click Theme and layout.
  3. Click the Layout tab.
  4. In the Layout mode section, select either Freeform or Responsive.

Note the following limitations and considerations when you change layouts:

  • Changing layouts may cause some formatting options to be lost — including chart positions, background fills, and borders.
  • You can only change from freeform layout to responsive layout if your report has one or fewer components per page. If your report does not meet this requirement, instead create a new responsive report and copy components from the freeform report into the new responsive report.

Limitations of responsive reports

The following settings are not supported for responsive reports: