How to share reports in Looker Studio with clients and your team

Updated 5 months ago

In Looker Studio, you can share your reports with clients, teammates, or collaborators in two ways: by direct invitation or with a link. For your clients or collaborators to correctly access Metricool data, it’s essential to understand how data access works.

📌 In this article:

Data access options

When you connect Metricool to a report, Looker Studio offers different access types:

Owner credentials: Data is displayed using the report creator’s credentials.
👉 This is the recommended option for sharing with clients, as they’ll be able to view the data without connecting anything.
Viewer credentials: Each person opening the report must connect their own credentials.
👉 In practice, this doesn’t work with clients, as they would need the exact API Token of the account where the Metricool brand is connected. Result: they’ll see an error.
Metricool API Token (⚠️ use with caution)
Sharing an API Token grants access to all brands linked to your Metricool account. Only share it in very specific situations, such as with someone in your team who truly needs that level of access. Never share it with clients or external parties.

Recommendation for use with Metricool

If you share a report as an editor, Looker Studio defaults to the owner’s credentials → works without issues.
If you share a report as a viewer, Looker Studio requires personal credentials → your clients or collaborators will see an error.
👉 That’s why the correct way to share with clients is always to configure the report with owner credentials.

How to set up owner credentials

If your clients see an error when opening the report as viewers, check the credentials setup:

Open your report in Looker Studio.
Go to Resources > Manage added data sources.
Select the Metricool data source and click Edit.
At the top, find the Data credentials bar.
Click the displayed name (by default, usually your account).
Choose Use owner’s credentials.
Save your changes.

This way, viewers will be able to access the report without connecting anything extra.

Now let’s see how to do it step by step, either by direct invitation (to specific users) or by sharing a link.

Open the report in Looker Studio.
Click Share (top right).
Enter your client’s or teammate’s email.
Select the role:

Viewer: can see the report, provided you’ve set up owner credentials.
Editor: can modify the report.

Click Send.

⚠️ If you select the Viewer role, make sure you’ve configured owner credentials first.

Open the report in Looker Studio.
Click Share > Link settings.
Choose from:

Restricted: only invited people can access.
[Your domain]: anyone in your organization can access.
Unlisted: anyone with the link can access (not indexed in searches).
Public: accessible to anyone on the internet.

Define the role for link access (Viewer or Editor).
Copy and share the link.

👉 If you don’t want to share the original report, create a copy from File > Make a copy, set owner credentials, and share that version.

Check Google’s official documentation for all ways to share reports in Looker Studio: Ways to share your reports – Looker Studio

Besides basic access, Looker Studio provides advanced settings (gear icon ⚙️).
Here you can customize things like:

Prevent editors from changing access or adding users.
Disable downloading, printing, or copying for viewers.
Restrict viewers from creating alerts.
Adjust how filters are displayed.

👉 These options give you greater control over how users interact with your report.

If you no longer want someone to have access to your report:

Open the report in Looker Studio.
Click Share.
Find the user you want to remove.
Click the dropdown and select Remove access.
Confirm the changes.

👉 If you shared via link, you won’t see individual users. In this case, set the link access to Restricted to disable it.

❓ FAQs

Why does my client or teammate see an error when opening the report?
A common cause is that the report is set with viewer credentials. In this case, your client will see an error. Check the setup and switch to owner credentials.

What’s the difference between viewer and editor?

Viewer: can see the report.
Editor: can edit it. In both cases, using owner credentials is recommended to ensure access.

Can I share a report with someone who doesn’t have a Google account?
Yes, by using the Anyone with the link option.

Is it recommended to share the API Token instead of the report?
No, except in very specific cases within your team. The API Token grants access to all your brands, so be careful who you share it with.

Can I revoke access to a shared report?
Yes. From Share, you can remove users, change roles, or disable the public link.

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How to share reports in Looker Studio with clients and your team