Adding tiles and text to a dashboard – Looker Help Center

Once you create a dashboard, the next step is to add tiles and text to the dashboard.

The first tile you add to a dashboard takes up the entire width of the dashboard. Additional tiles you add are sized to one-third of the dashboard’s width and are added horizontally under the first tile. Looker adds additional rows of tiles as necessary. You can move and resize tiles however you like. You can also edit tiles after you’ve created them to adjust the names of the tiles, the visualizations, or the underlying queries or Looks.

For any new tiles that are built within a dashboard, if they were created from the same Explore as a dashboard filter, the dashboard filter is automatically applied to that tile.

Think about the number and complexity of tiles and other elements that you add to a dashboard. More elements require more browser resources, which increases dashboard rendering time. If rendering becomes an issue, consider creating multiple dashboards with fewer elements. Find more recommendations about building performant dashboards in the Considerations when building performant Looker dashboards Help Center article.

Types of dashboard tiles

There are three kinds of tiles you can add to a dashboard:

Query tiles
Look-linked tiles
Text tiles

Query tiles

Query tiles can be built directly within a dashboard or added to a dashboard from a Look or from an Explore.

A query tile is based on an independent query, one that is not linked to a Look. The query underlying a query tile belongs to the dashboard. Even if you use an existing Look to create a query tile, the Look is used only during the creation of the query tile. The tile is unaffected by any later changes to that Look and still exists on the dashboard even if the Look is deleted.

When possible, use query tiles to avoid cluttering your folders with unnecessary Looks.

Look-linked tiles

Look-linked tiles are added to a dashboard from a Look.

A Look-linked tile links the tile’s underlying query to a Look. That Look is used when creating the tile and every time the dashboard is refreshed. The Look and the dashboard must be in the same folder. If you want to add Looks from a different folder, first copy the Look into the same folder as the dashboard.

A Look-linked tile is a good choice if you want to create, change, and test a query in one place but use it in multiple dashboards. If the Look changes, any tiles linked to that Look change. If the Look is deleted, dashboards show an error for the tile.

Text tiles

Text tiles are built directly within a dashboard.

You can use text tiles to define visual sections on a dashboard and to add descriptions. Text tiles in dashboards are designed to have flexible formatting and to default to look more like headings and descriptions than tiles.

You can use some HTML and a subset of the Markdown markup language in text tiles.

Building query tiles within a dashboard

If you’re in a dashboard, you can build a query tile from inside the dashboard.

Once in the dashboard’s edit mode, you can either:

Click Add Tile from the top left of the dashboard pane and then click Visualization, or
Click the Add Tile button in the center of the dashboard pane, if the dashboard is currently blank.

Next, Looker displays a menu of Explores. Choose an Explore to build your query:

Looker opens the Explore window to let you build your query:

Give your query a name. This will be the name of the tile on the dashboard.
Select the fields and filters for your query.
Configure your visualization options.
Once you have set up your query, click Run.
Click Save to save the query as a tile on your dashboard.

For any new tiles that are built within a dashboard, if they were created from the same Explore as a dashboard filter, the dashboard filter is automatically applied to that tile.

When adding a dashboard tile that contains a funnel chart or a timeline chart, you may notice that the charts look different on the dashboard tile than they do in the Explore window. Additionally, map charts’ tooltips function differently when viewed on dashboard tiles. For more information, visit the funnel chart, timeline chart, and map chart documentation pages.

Adding query tiles from an Explore

You can save a query tile to a dashboard directly from an Explore. Once you are in an Explore and have a query that you want to add to the dashboard:

Select Save from the gear menu and then select To an existing dashboard from the submenu.

This opens an Add to Dashboard window:

Give your tile a title.
Select the folder where the dashboard is located.
Select the dashboard.
Click Save to Dashboard.

A confirmation message appears at the top of the Explore once you have added it as a tile on a dashboard. If you click the title of the dashboard in the confirmation message, Looker takes you directly to the dashboard in edit mode.

When adding a dashboard tile that contains a funnel chart or a timeline chart, you may notice that the charts look different on the dashboard tile than they do in the Explore window. Additionally, map charts’ tooltips function differently when viewed on dashboard tiles. For more information, visit the funnel chart, timeline chart, and map chart documentation pages.

Adding saved content tiles

If you see a Saved content option in the Add Tile menu, the Add Looks to dashboards legacy feature is enabled on your instance.

The Saved content option lets you add a tile that is based on saved content (also known as a Look) to a dashboard through the Add Tile menu, rather than navigating to a Look to add it. Visit the Adding saved content to dashboards documentation page for more information about using this feature.

Adding tiles from a Look

You can add both query tiles and Look-linked tiles to dashboards from a Look.

Adding query tiles from a Look

You can save a query tile to a dashboard directly from a Look:

Navigate to a Look or an Explore.
Select Save from the gear menu. This opens a submenu.
Select To an existing dashboard from the submenu.

This opens an Add to Dashboard window:

When you add a query tile from a Look, the tile is given the same title as the name of the Look (which can be edited later).
Select the folder where the dashboard is located.
Select the dashboard.
Click Save to Dashboard.

Any tiles that you add to a dashboard through this method are not connected to the Look you created them from. You can edit the tiles without affecting the Look. You can edit or delete the Look without affecting the tiles.

A confirmation message appears at the top of the Look once you have added it as a tile on a dashboard. If you click the title of the dashboard in the confirmation message, Looker takes you directly to the dashboard in edit mode.

Adding Look-linked tiles from a Look

You can save a Look-linked tile to a dashboard directly from a Look. However, the Look and the dashboard must be in the same folder.

To add a Look-linked tile to a dashboard (see the Adding query tiles from a Look section for visuals):

Make sure the dashboard and the Look are in the same folder, or copy the Look into the same folder as the dashboard.
Select Save from the Look’s gear menu. This opens a submenu.
Select To an existing dashboard from the submenu. This opens an Add to Dashboard window.
Make sure the folder that contains the Look and dashboard is selected.
Select the dashboard.
Click Add Look to Dashboard.

Any tiles that you add to a dashboard through this method are connected to the Look that you created them from and have the same title as the Look. If you edit the tile, the Look and any other tiles that are linked to that Look are affected. If you edit or delete the Look, the tiles are affected.

When adding a dashboard tile that contains a funnel chart or a timeline chart, you may notice that the charts look different on the dashboard tile than they do in the Look. Additionally, map charts’ tooltips function differently when viewed on dashboard tiles. For more information, visit the funnel chart, timeline chart, and map chart documentation pages.

Adding text

Once a dashboard is in edit mode, you can add text tiles to it by clicking Add Tile from the top left of the dashboard pane and then clicking Text.

This brings up a window where you can add a title, subtitle, and body. These elements are optional.

Titles and subtitles support some HTML, including links and images. You can also use some HTML in the bodies of text tiles. However, text tiles converted from original dashboards may not render as expected, especially if the HTML is referencing class names in element tags. To understand how Looker renders HTML, see the HTML sanitization documentation page.

Body text supports a subset of the Markdown markup language. See the Using Markdown in text tiles documentation page for more information about which Markdown syntax is supported in the body text.

Once you save, you will see your text tile at the bottom of the dashboard. It can then be moved and resized just as you would move and resize other tiles.

Adding data actions to tiles

If you have the develop permission for the model that a tile is based on, you can add data actions to that model. Data actions allow dashboard viewers to perform tasks with other tools directly from the tile, such as sending an email or setting values in other applications.

In the example above, the Phone field has a Twilio action. When you click the phone number and select the Twilio action, a Twilio pop-up prompts you to enter a message. Then Twilio sends that message to the phone number.

See the action parameter documentation page for more information.

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