Having a dashboard full of data is great, but being able to share that data with your team makes that data more useful.

To share a Google Data Studio Report with someone, simply click the ‘+share’ button in the top right corner of your report and enter their email. You can provide Edit/View access, decide if they receive a notification, and adjust additional privacy settings for your dashboard.

In this post, I’ll cover sharing your reports in detail, so you can have full control of who can (or cannot) see your Data Studio Dashboards.


How To Share Your Data Studio Dashboard

To get started sharing your dashboard, you should have your dashboard open and the email(s) that you’re looking to provide access to. Follow the steps below, and they’ll be able to access the report shortly.

Share The Data Studio Report

Step 1: Open your dashboard, and click “share” in the top right corner

In the top right corner of your report, click the “+share” button and you’ll see a window pop up. You can also click the small down arrow to the right of that button, and click “invite people” from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Enter the email address(es) that you’re looking to share access with

In order to access a Data Studio Report, the visitor must have a Google Account associated with their email. If they don’t have one associated, either have them sign up for one or else you’ll need to make your report visible to everyone with the link – which isn’t great for private data.

Step 3: Decide if they should have View or Edit access

Depending on who you’re sharing access with, you can choose between providing View or Edit access. View means they’ll be able to see the report and interact with the on-screen elements, while Edit provides them full access to the backend, allowing them to change reports, visuals, and data sources.

Step 4: Decide if they should receive a notification (or not)

In most cases, it makes sense to keep this option checked, as it provides the new user with a direct link to the report. Sometimes with clients, I uncheck this option and send them the link directly in an email. Decide what makes the most sense for your future viewers.

Step 5: Click Send

Send will send the report email to the user, or it will just add them as a user. Not much else to say here.

View/Edit Access: What’s The Difference

View Access allows the visitor to review the report, however, they will not be able to go into Edit mode where they can modify the “backend” of the report. Most of my clients only receive View access, as it keeps them from breaking things.

Edit provides full access to the report, including adding/removing tabs, adjusting the visuals, and changing the data sources in the report. This should only be given to people you trust not to break the report.

Additional Settings: What They Mean

Link Sharing: Onthis will always be on, unless option 5 is selected.

  1. Anyone on the Internet can find and view
    • The report can show up in the search results, and anyone can View the report.
    • This is not recommended for anything involving private data.
  2. Anyone on the Internet can find and edit
    • The report can show up in the search results, and anyone can Edit the report.
    • This is not recommended, as anyone can Edit/Break your report.
  3. Anyone with the link can view
    • The report will not show in the search results, but anyone with the link Can View the report.
    • This is fine for non-private data, as dashboards are a great way to share data.
  4. Anyone with the link can edit
    • The report will not show in the search results, but anyone with the link Can Edit the report.
    • Not recommended. Anyone with the link can Edit/Break your report.
  5. Off – only specific people can access
    • Only people who have been added to the report can View/Edit (depending on their level of access)
    • This is how I normally handle access, on a one-to-one basis with my clients.
Prevent Editors from changing access and adding new people

When checked, this setting will not allow users to edit anyone’s level of access (edit/view, owner, remove), and will not allow them to add new users to the report. This only applies to “Edit” accounts, and not the owner.

Disable downloading, printing and copying for viewers

This will prevent visitors from duplicating the report, whether that’s using the print function, downloading as a pdf, or copying the entire report with the copy feature. This is recommended if you’re trying to show a client a template and don’t want them to make a copy of your report.

How To Share Data Sources

Having Edit Access to the report allows you to change everything in the report, except the ability to Edit the Data Sources. This is necessary when adding custom fields, or customizing the data source in any other way.

  1. Go to https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/navigation/datasources
  2. Navigate and click on the specific data source (use search if needed)
  3. Click share in the top right corner, and add the user in the same way you added them to your report.

Remove, Edit, and Change Owners On Your Report

  1. Click the Share Button, and then Navigate to the “Manage access” tab
  2. Find the user in the list, and then click the drop-down to the right of their name
    • To Edit: Change user access between “Can Edit” and “Can View
    • To Remove: Click the Remove item from the drop-down
    • To Make Owner: Click the Make Owner item from the drop-down
  3. Click Save and your changes will be implemented.

Email Data Studio Reports Automatically

If you’re looking to have reports automatically sent out to clients or your team, you can set up automated email delivery of your report. This is a great hands-off approach to avoid manually sending reports each month, while still keeping people in the loop who won’t go to the dashboard themselves.

  1. Click the down arrow to the right of the Share Button, and “Schedule Email Delivery”
  2. Enter the email address(es) you’re looking to add
  3. Decide if you want to customize the Email Subject/Message (recommended)
  4. Enter your custom Email Subject
  5. Enter your custom Message
  6. Decide what pages should be included in the report
  7. Decide the State Date and Time for the first report to be sent
  8. Set the Repeat Rate to decide how frequently your reports will be sent.
  9. Click Schedule and the reports will begin on the Start Date

I normally set reports to be sent out on a weekly or monthly basis. The trick is set the date as the first date it’s going to be sent, such as if I want it sent out the 1st of every month with the previous month’s data, I’ll set it to the first of next month.

  • For Weekly, set the Start Date to a Monday (or whatever day they should receive it). And then choose “weekly” from the drop-down.
  • For Monthly, set the Start Date to the 1st of the month, and then select “Custom” from the Repeat drop-down. You should then see “every 1 month on the 1st day” as an option once custom is selected.

Download Data Studio As A PDF

You can download Data Studio as a PDF, so you can review the dashboard locally on your computer or if you want to send it alongside an email to someone without dashboard access. Dashboards in the PDF will lose the interactive capabilities, but if you design your reports with this in mind – it shouldn’t be an issue.

  1. Click the down arrow to the right of the Share Button, and “Download Report”
  2. Decide to include all pages, or choose specific pages from the list
  3. Ignore custom background-color
    1. This makes the report background white, making it more printer-friendly.
  4. Add a link back to the report
    1. This adds a link to the PDF, linking the user back to the report.
  5. Opt to Password Protect the report
    1. Requires a password to open the downloaded report, which is recommended for keeping data secure.

Embedding Data Studio Reports

Having an interactive report on your website is a great way to show clients of your capabilities or an exciting way to provide visitors additional engagement with your site. If you’re looking to embed a report on your site, you can copy/paste the code Data Studio provides.

*This will make your report visible to anyone with the link, so be sure not to include any private data.

  1. Click the down arrow to the right of the Share Button, and “Embed Report”
  2. Check the Enable Embedding Box
  3. Decide between the Embed Code and Embed URL
    • The Embed code is recommended, as the URL requires additional coding to work.
  4. Adjust the Width (px) and Height (px) to the ideal size for your website
  5. Click Copy To Clipboard and paste the code onto your website
    • In WordPress, use an HTML Block. Or just send it to your developer.

What’s Next

Now you’re able to share reports by adding users, sending the link, downloading as a PDF, and embedding on your website. From a Data Studio Sharing perspective, you should be all set. Let me know if you find any issues or have any questions, and leave a comment below. Thank you!