Tutorial: Create a new report

Follow these steps to create a simple Google Analytics report.

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Creating reports in Data Studio is easy! In this tutorial, you'll build a useful and attractive report in just a few steps.

Let's get started!

In this article :

  • Create a new blank report
  • Add a data source to the report
  • Add a table (using the toolbar)
  • Add a time series chart (using the menu)
  • Style the report
  • Add a banner
  • Add a title to the report
  • Next step

1 Create a new blank report

  1. Sign in to Data Studio.
  2. In the top left, click Create Create, then select Report.
  3. You'll see the report editor tool, with the Add data to report panel open. This panel has 2 tabs: Connect to data and My data sources.
    1. UseConnect to data to select a connector, create a new data source, and add that to your report:
      1. Select the type of data you want to visualize.
      2. Provide your account or other details.
      3. In the bottom right, click Add.
    2. UseMy data sources to add an existing data source to your report:

      The My data sources tab includes a number of sample data sources.

      To follow along with this tutorial, select the [Sample] Google Analytics Data data source. If you add a different data source, your results may vary from the steps described here.

      1. Locate the data source you want.
      2. In the bottom right, click Add.
      3. The data source is added to your report.
  4. A table appears with fields from that data source.
    1. Use the properties panel on the right to change the data and style.
  5. In the top left, name your report by clicking Untitled Report.

Add more data

To add more data sources to a report, in the toolbar, click Add data.

The add data panel.

  1. Add data button.

2 Add another chart to the report

school icon The time series chart plots data over the course of time.

  1. In the tool bar, click Add a chart.
  2. Select a Time series chart Time series icon .
  3. Click the canvas where you want the chart to appear.
  4. Data Studio automatically adds the Date dimension and the Source metric (assuming you're using an Analytics data source).
  5. To adjust the chart's position, click and drag it, or select the chart and move it using your keyboard arrow keys.

    Each press of the arrow key moves the chart one full column or row (10 px) on the grid. Hold the Shift key down while using your arrow keys to nudge the selected components into place a pixel at a time.

  6. To adjust the chart's size, select it, then drag a corner or mid-line point.
  7. Let's breakdown the chart by Device Category:
    1. Make sure the time series is selected.
    2. On the right, under Available Fields, use the search tool to find the Device Category dimension.
    3. Drag the field and drop it on the Breakdown Dimension target.

Your chart should now display data series for the different device categories (Mobile, Desktop, and Tablet):

3Style the report

school icon Preset themes let you apply color and style options to your entire report.

  1. Edit the report.
  2. In the toolbar, clickTheme and layout.
  3. In the THEME tab, click the theme you want to apply.

Example of applying a theme.

You can customize any of the preset themes. For example, you can select a different background color that better matches your brand:

  1. In the Theme and Layout panel, click Customize.
  2. Scroll down to the Background and Border section
  3. Use the color picker to set the Background color to your favorite color. Something in a mauvy-peach, perhaps?

school icon Use a colored rectangle as a background banner for your report header.

Style rectangle

  1. Select the Page component by clicking anywhere in the grid area.
  2. Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar. Rectangle tool icon
  3. Draw a rectangle across the top of the page.
  4. Select the STYLE tab of the Rectangle Properties panel on the right.
  5. Set the rectangle background color to blue.

Extra credit! Add a gradient to the banner.

When one color fades into another, the effect is called a gradient. Gradients are an option of the background color property.

  1. Click the background color control: Background color icon
  2. Click Gradient.

The left and right color swatches determine the starting and ending colors. Enter the specific color hex values, choose from the palette, or use the vertical sliders to select the color.

The orientation arrow controls the flow of the gradient.

Gradient control

5Add a title to the report

school icon The text tool lets you annotate your reports and charts.

Add title

  1. Select the Text tool from the toolbar. Text tool icon
  2. Draw a textbox inside the banner rectangle.
  3. Type Google Analytics Demo Dashboard in the textbox.
  4. Highlight the text. Use the Text Properties panel on the right to change the font color and the font size to something that looks nice to you.

Hey! Where's the SAVE button?

Data Studio automatically saves every change you make, so there's no need to click Save when editing a report. Pretty sweet!

Next steps

Add more charts to your report.

Learn more about the building, stylizing, and adding data to reports.

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