What's the difference?
This article is about legacy dashboards. Visit the Dashboards documentation page to learn more about Looker's new dashboard experience.
Look-linked tiles are saved queries that are generated from an Explore. To add a Look to a dashboard as a Look-linked tile, both the Look and the dashboard must be saved to the same folder.
Tiles are visualizations that are added to a dashboard from an Explore or a Look. Tiles can be Look-linked or query-based. Query tiles differ from Look-linked tiles because they are stored only on dashboards.
Which tile type is better?
Both Look-linked and query tiles have their benefits.
Look-linked tiles are saved in more than one location, which can be useful if the tile based on that Look is deleted from the dashboard. Another reason to use Look-linked tiles is to have a single Look appear on multiple dashboards or appear on a dashboard multiple times. Since all of the tiles reference the same Look, any update to the Look will be reflected on all tiles that reference it.
Query tiles are useful because they don't have to be stored in two places. It's easier to save the query visualization result from an Explore directly to a dashboard. This prevents folders from being overrun with tons of Looks that are only used on dashboards.
How do I tell which type of tile I have?
To identify the type of tile you're using, click the three-dot menu on any dashboard tile and look for the option View Original Look. If this option is displayed, you have Look-linked tiles. If you do not see the View Original Look option but instead see the Explore From Here option, you are using query tiles.
How do I convert one tile type to another?
Looker's new dashboard experience does not support converting between Look-linked tiles and query tiles.
To convert a Look-based tile to a query tile on a legacy dashboard, choose Edit on the dashboard, click the three-dot menu, and select Convert Look to Tile.
To convert a query tile to a Look-linked tile on a legacy dashboard:
- Choose the Explore From Here option on the three-dot menu of the query tile.
- Go to the settings of the Explore and save the Explore as a Look.
- Add the Look to your dashboard.
- Delete the old, query-based tile.