A Looker dashboard is a collection of queries displayed as visualizations on a screen. Users can alter filters on dashboards, apply alerts to tiles, set up dashboard delivery schedules, and download a dashboard's data, among other things.
There are two types of Looker dashboards: user-defined dashboards and LookML dashboards.
Each type of dashboard has different benefits and constraints:
| Characteristic | User-Defined Dashboard | LookML Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Generally created and edited by | Business users and Looker developers. | A select group of LookML developers. |
| Defined | By adding query tiles, Look-linked tiles, or text in the user interface; arranging them using drag-and-drop operations; and adding and formatting dashboard filters and other options (as described on the Creating user-defined dashboards documentation page). | Written and edited in a YAML-based dashboard file, as described in the Creating a LookML dashboard file section of the Building LookML dashboards documentation page. |
| Updated | When the dashboard is edited or the corresponding saved Looks are updated. | When the LookML file for the dashboard is edited. |
| Stored | In a user's personal folder or in a shared folder for easy collaboration across a wider group of users. | As version-controlled files that are associated with the project in a Git repository. By default, LookML dashboards are accessible for viewing in the LookML dashboards folder located in the All folders top-level folder. They can also be moved to other folders as desired. |
| Convertible | To LookML dashboards, as described in the Getting dashboard LookML from a dashboard section of the Viewing dashboards documentation page. | To user-defined dashboards, as explained on the Converting from LookML to user-defined dashboards documentation page. |