Controls make reports interactive by letting viewers filter data or provide input. You can use controls to do the following:
- Filter data by dimension values
- Accept user input for parameters
- Set the report timeframe
- Change the dataset used by a data source
Types of controls
Looker Studio supports the following types of controls:
- Drop-down and fixed-size lists let the viewer select from a list of filter values.
- Input boxes let viewers enter a value to use as a filter or to provide input to a parameter.
- Advanced filters let viewers create conditional filters by using comparison operators and regular expressions.
- Sliders let viewers filter by a range of values in a numeric dimension.
- Checkboxes let viewers filter by a Boolean dimension or set the value of a Boolean parameter.
- Preset filters can be used in combination with buttons to let viewers apply preconfigured filters to a report.
- Date range controls let viewers adjust the timeframe of a report.
- Data controls let you select the dataset that is used by a report.
- Dimension controls let report viewers change the dimensions in a chart without needing to edit the report.
- Buttons let viewers filter data, access report actions, and navigate to linked content.
Controls as filters
Filter controls limit the number of records displayed in a chart or table. Providing interactive filters in your reports helps your viewers focus on the data that's most important to them.
Here are some important considerations to keep in mind when using controls as filters:
- Filters are applied at the data source level, not the chart level.
- Filters are based on field ID, not display name.
- Filtering across multiple data sources may require additional configuration.
- Filters also apply to other controls, not just charts.
- Filters are generally case-sensitive, but this can vary by connector.
These considerations are explained in detail in the following sections.
Filters are applied at the data source level
Filters are applied at the data source level, not the chart level. This means that the field that you are filtering on doesn't have to be in the chart, as long as that field appears in the chart's Data panel.
Filters are based on field ID, not display name
Fields in your data source have both a visible display name and a field ID. Filters are applied based on the field's Field ID, not the field's display name.
For example, your data source might have a country dimension. The display name might be Country while the field ID is a string assigned by the data source connector (for example _abcd123). When you apply a filter control, such as Country = "France", Looker Studio looks for the country field's internal ID in all the data sources used by charts on the page. If a data source contains a field with the ID _abcd123, the control will apply the filter to that field.
The preceding concept is a key to understanding how filters work—or don't work—across multiple charts in your report.
Filter across multiple data sources
If your report uses only one data source, controls will filter all charts without the need for further configuration. If your report uses multiple data sources, filtering behavior depends on whether the field IDs match across those data sources.
The following table summarizes how filtering across data sources works:
| If charts in report use... | Field IDs Match? | Automatic Filtering? | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| One data source | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Multiple data sources of the same type from a fixed-schema connector | Yes | Yes | Google Analytics, Google Ads |
| Multiple data sources of different types, or from a flexible-schema connector | No | No (Requires unifying IDs) | Google Sheets, BigQuery; or mixing Sheets + Analytics |
In the preceding table, fixed schema connectors refer to data source connectors such as Google Ads and Google Analytics. Fixed schema connectors have a predefined structure. They create data sources that have the same field IDs for every data source that is based on that connector. Flexible schema connectors, on the other hand, create data sources that have a variable, user-defined structure. Examples of flexible schema connectors include Google Sheets and BigQuery.
When your report includes charts that are based on different flexible schema data sources and you want a control to filter across those data sources, you may have to manually unify the field IDs.
Filters also apply to other controls, not just charts
Filters don't just apply to charts; they can also filter other controls. For example, say you have one filter on a Country dimension, and a second filter on a Campaign dimension. Filtering on Country = "France" causes the filter on the Campaign dimension to only show the campaigns that ran in France. Similarly, filtering on Campaign = "ABC" restricts the filter on the Country dimension to only show the countries where that campaign ran.
Filters and case-sensitivity
In general, the search operators for text dimensions are case-sensitive. However, this can vary by connector, so it's a good idea to test this on your data and provide guidance to your report viewers. To create a case-insensitive regular expression, you can prepend the expression with (?i). Learn more about Regular expressions in Looker Studio.
Controls as input
When a control is based on a parameter, the control provides input to that parameter. Parameters are like variables that get their value from the an interaction with the report (say, by typing in a value directly, or picking a value from a predefined list).
You can use parameters to make calculated fields more dynamic. For example, you could create a Sales Target parameter and use it as the control field for an Input box to let people enter different sales goal numbers to visualize projected performance. You could then apply conditional formatting rules that highlight the results in eye-catching ways.
You can also pass parameters back to the underlying SQL query used to create a BigQuery data source, or to data sources created using community connectors.