Update the data shown in the default reports using filters and visualizations
Nonprofits have the ability to customize general reports by exploring the data. This means taking what populates in a general report and customizing it using your desired filters and visualizations. These custom versions of reports are called looks. Exploring is a starting point to query, edit, sort, and drill into data within a look before saving or downloading.
How to access the explore interface
Begin your exploration by clicking on explore from here from the three-dot-menu. The three-dot-menu will appear when hovering over a specific visualization. Scroll down to the data table to explore the data set as a whole.
Or, hover over a specific visualization in the dashboard to explore from there. Exploring from a specific visualization will open the interface with those filters pre-populated with that information.
How to customize your look using filters
Exploring helps you answer questions about your supporters and campaigns using your data. Filters let you limit the data you see based on criteria you specify, rather than seeing the whole data set. Using a filter is like setting a net that catches only the data you want to look at, and lets everything else through.
Fields are grouped by, dimensions, which can be thought of as groups or buckets of data, and measures, which tell you information about those buckets.
There are a couple different ways to add filters. Change the information you see by making different selections in the field picker. Select the filter button that appears when you hover over the field in the field picker.
This adds your field to the filters bar where you can then adjust the value of the filter. You can choose from a list of choices to match or not match certain values.
Pro-tip: Any time you make changes, click the run button to see results. Remove a filter by clicking the ‘X’ on the right side.
The selections you make in the field picker will show up in the data table at the bottom of the right side of the page. You can also add a filter from the data table by clicking the gear that appears in the upper right of a column as you hover over the title.
Pro-tip: To start a new look from scratch, click remove fields and filters from the gear.
How to customize the way your data displays using visualizations
Visualizations help you find stories within the numbers. The visualization you choose determines the way your data is displayed in a look. Expand the middle section of the explore and select the type of visualization for your look.
Each type of visualization has different settings you can use to customize its appearance. Edit by clicking on the gear or edit button on the right side of the visualization.
Pro-tip: Select table if you would like your data to appear very similarly to the data table, or like a simple Excel or Google file.
How to customize your data table by pivoting dimensions
Multiple dimensions are often easier to look at when you pivot one of the dimensions horizontally. Each value in the dimension will become a column in your look. This makes the information easier to consume visually, and reduces the need to scroll down to find data.
To pivot a dimension, click pivot for that dimension. Before running the query, be sure that you also have included at least one unpivoted dimension and at least one measure. You can pivot additional dimensions as desired, but must always include at least one unpivoted dimension.
Remove a pivoted dimension by clicking on the gear in the dimension and then clicking unpivot.
Check out these resources to learn more about how to further use Looker here: https://training.looker.com/