Manage data freshness

Most data source types have a data freshness option (the exception to this is extracted data sources). This option lets you balance your need for up-to-date information against report performance and potential query costs or quotas. Each type of data source has its own default data freshness threshold, but you can adjust this threshold as needed. For example, if you are measuring ad performance on your site or app, you might find that daily data updates are sufficient. Reports that are based on social media analytics, on the other hand, may need their data updated multiple times a day.

Set data freshness for a data source

New data sources that you create have a default refresh rate. To change the default data refresh rate, follow these steps:

1. Edit the data source.
2. In the data source configuration page, click Data freshness.
3. Under Check for fresh data, select a new refresh option if one is available.
4. Click Set Data Freshness.

See data refresh rates by connector

How data freshness works

Data freshness works by temporarily storing in memory the queries and result generated by your reports. When Looker Studio encounters a query that it has seen before and the data freshness threshold for the data source still applies, Looker Studio serves the data that is needed by your report from its memory. Serving data from memory can both speed up your report performance and reduce possible query costs or quota hits. Once a data source's freshness threshold has been exceeded, or a new, previously unstored query is issued, Looker Studio fetches data from the underlying dataset. This process applies to every data source in your report.

Here are some examples of data freshness in action.

Example 1: View a default report configuration

Say that your report connects to a BigQuery data source with the default data freshness setting of 12 hours. In this example, the default report configuration is as follows:

• A table with some dimensions and metrics (for example, Date sold, Item color, Quantity)
• A date range control set to the last 7 days
• A filter control, currently unset

When you view this report for the first time, Looker Studio issues a query to fetch only the data that is needed to display the table. Looker Studio remembers that query and its results temporarily. The next time you view the default report within the data freshness threshold (12 hours), Looker Studio can use the data from its memory instead of fetching it from the data source.

Example 2: Apply filters

Now, let's say that you want to see only the red colored items for the previous quarter, so you adjust the date range and filter controls. Even though you're within the data freshness threshold, since this is a new query, Looker Studio goes to the data source to fetch that data. Looker Studio then remembers this new query and its results, if possible.

Example 3: Data freshness expiration

When you next view your report, more than 12 hours have elapsed. Because the data freshness option for the BigQuery data source has expired, Looker Studio clears its memory for that data source, issues new queries, remembers those results, and resets the data freshness threshold for that data source.

Data freshness and data source credentials

For data sources that use Viewer's Credentials, each viewer of the report has their own data freshness settings. For example, if users A and B both view a report that is based on a data source that uses Viewer's Credentials, user A's queries don't affect the data freshness of the report for user B, and user B's queries don't affect the data freshness of the report for user A.

For data sources that use Owner's Credentials, all viewers of the report are governed by a single data freshness setting. (In effect, the owner of the data source credential is considered to be the viewer in all cases.) For example, if user A owns the data source credential and user B issues a query that causes Looker Studio to update the data in the report, then user A and all other viewers of the report will see the refreshed data.

Data freshness and data source type

Data freshness works the same way for embedded data sources and reusable data sources. To maximize efficiency in terms of query costs and performance, consider using a reusable data source and Owner's Credentials. This will limit data refreshes to a single data source.

Refresh report data manually

Report editors can refresh the data in a report at any time by following these steps:

1. View the report.
2. Click More options (three-dot icon) .
3. Click Refresh data . 

These steps reset data freshness for every data source that is added to the report.

See data freshness for a report

The time and date of the last data refresh is displayed in the bottom left corner of the report. If the time shown is earlier than when you last made changes to the current report view, for example, by changing a date range or adding a filter, then all the charts on the page are being served from memory.

Data freshness and blends

For a blended data source, the data freshness setting will be the minimum refresh time for all the data sources that are included in the blend.

For example, if you blend a Sheets data source that has a refresh time of 15 minutes with a BigQuery data source that has a refresh time of 4 hours, the resulting blended data source will have a refresh time of 15 minutes.

Data freshness and embedded reports

Data freshness and auto refresh

The auto refresh settings on a report do not affect the data freshness of a data source. If a report triggers an auto refresh more frequently than the data source triggers a data refresh, the report returns data from memory.

Related resources

• Report settings
• Manage auto refresh for a report