Fix Looker Studio error: Fail to get data issue

Looker Studio does a great job helping you create dashboards for one or more data sources. But sometimes, it can be hard to understand some of the errors and how to solve them.

We will cover here the "Fail to get" data error in Looker and how to solve it. You can also find this blog post in video here : https://youtu.be/FWlUmKR5jMg

When did the "Fail to get data" happen?

This error can happen for several reasons, usually when something happens to your data source:

• Broken or incomplete configurations.
• Deleted data sources.
• Loss of authorization to the data set (wrong credential).
• The owner removed the data source from the report.
• The owner left your organization.
• Looker Studio fails to connect to the underlying data set.

How can the "Fail to get data" error be solved?

The only way to get the report back is to reconnect a working data source. We can achieve this in 3 different ways:

• Trying to resolve the issue by reconnecting the problematic data source.
• Duplicate the problematic data source.
• Create a new data source.

Warning: there is one prerequisite for this to work. You need to have at least an editor access to the data source. It is even better if you are the owner. If you do not have the editor access and cannot contact the owner, creating a new data source is the best solution.

To reconnect the data source, follow these steps:

• Go to Resource and Manage added data source.

• ‍Edit your data source. If you cannot edit the data source, try opening it in a new tab. Make it reusable if you cannot open it in a new tab.‍

• Edit connection at the top left.

• Check if an account is selected, select one if necessary, and then click Reconnect.

Go back to your report, refresh it, and check if the charts are OK.

If they are not, try to duplicate the data source :

Go back to :

• Resource, Manage added data source.
• Click on Duplicate.

• Rename and Reconnect the new data source.

Go back to your report, refresh it, and check if the duplicate data source is working.

If the duplicate data source does not work, you need to create a new data source:

Click Add data and select the connector you wish to create a new data source. This one should be working (if not, contact your connector provider).

Quickly edit the data source for all the charts on the page:

You can bulk edit the data source for all the charts in the page with a right-click:

• Select 
• Select all charts with this data source on the page.
• Edit the data source in the set-up column.

I advise creating a copy of your page before trying this.

Official documentation:

You can find the Looker Studio documentation here.

Quickstep to solve the issue "Fail to get data":

• Try to reconnect the data source.
• Try to create a duplicate and work with the duplicate.
• Create a new data source.

In video: