Without a question, Google Data Studio is a remarkable self-service platform for extracting valuable business insights and bridging the data accessibility gap for entire teams. We created KPIs Studio around this product, so it’s fair to assume we really like it.
However – this is where the however comes in. Even after five years in the data visualization arena, the tool still lacks a number of essential capabilities. Heck, some of the features mentioned by Patrick Strickler of CompassRed in this great article from 2019 are still unreleased. As a result, we decided to make a list of all the features we consider the tool may benefit from.
We added the direct links toward each respective feature request, so please make sure you star them. Adding a star to a request subscribes you to it, but most importantly, it upvotes it, which, according to Google, “can be an important signal for prioritization.”
You can also take a look at all the Data Studio requested features and upvote the ones that you need so that their product team knows what to prioritize.
Our advice is to start by searching for the specific features you feel are missing, check if there are already requests open for them, and star them. If the features haven’t been requested by others, request new features yourself.
Worth mentioning: I love Maggie Appleton’s Digital Garden, “An open collection of notes, resources, sketches, and explorations I’m currently cultivating” and how she splits her notes into Seedlings, Budding, and Evergreens. Inspired by her, we will keep some of the features in this list in the germinating phase until we finish writing a full case for them.
In the meantime, please use the fast access links below to jump to the feature whose absence brings you the most misery, then upvote, upvote, upvote!
Your Quick Access Links
Additional data blending join types
Star / upvote the feature request here:
Currently, Data Studio only offers the option to blend data through a left outer join operation.
The left outer join blends data through join keys, one or more common dimensions between your data sources. The first data source (the one on the left) will be treated as the baseline, therefore any further data entries from the second or more data sources that go beyond the left-most ones will be omitted from the new dataset.
The values from the left data source will be blended with the values from the rest of the data sources if there is a perfect match between them. This is limiting because the blending will result in inaccurate data being displayed.
For example, let’s say you want to blend Facebook Ads data with Google Ads data, so that you have an overview of your total advertising cost and the total number of leads that you gained. We built this blend example directly in Data Studio. Take a look at the returned totals. Using the NARY_MAX function can only take us so far.
What would solve the problem would be having additional data blending join types like FULL OUTER JOIN or UNION. Go and vote these feature requests!
Ability to organize reports through folders or tags
Star / upvote the feature request here:
After the multiple data blending join types, this is probably the most wanted feature – Folders in Google Data Studio. Just search for “folders” in the Issue Tracker and you’ll see for yourself. We’ve probably upvoted every folder-related request by now. (Remember to upvote an existing request rather than starting a new one on the same topic.)
This feature has only been requested in… 2018. Time to maybe implement it, Data Studio team?
Transfer data-source-level calculated fields when copying a report with the same data structure
Star / upvote the feature request here:
When copying a report, starting from zero with replicating all the calculated fields / formulas created at the data source level (we all know how many calculated fields one dashboard can reach) is a counterintuitive step.
If the data source has the same structure as before, for example, replacing one Google Ads account with another, this should be a default feature.
Allow mixing metrics and dimensions in CASE WHEN formulas and other calculated fields
Star / upvote the feature request here:
For this Monthly Forecasts dashboard enhancement, I was recommending, if you want to add an “under/over the budget” to your end-of-the-month budget predictions, like this:
to use the formula below at chart-level only (table chart with one dimension & no metrics).
CASE
WHEN (SUM(Amount spent)/Days Passed Current Month*MIN(Days per Month)/Monthly Budget-1)>0 THEN 'over the budget'
WHEN (SUM(Amount spent)/Days Passed Current Month*MIN(Days per Month)/Monthly Budget-1)<0 THEN 'under the budget'
END
The reason for this is that calculated fields can’t mix metrics (aggregated values) and dimensions (non-aggregated values). Data Studio doesn’t allow you to save this calculated field at the data source level but at the chart level the formula will work, even if it has an error message.
Creating custom dimensions like these, based on metric values (or the other way around, custom metrics based on dimension values) is necessary for advanced data analysis and interpretation. We’ll be waiting on the edge of our seats for this feature.
Replace / designate new data sources, blended data and filters in bulk
Star / upvote the feature request here:
Sure, right now you have the possibility to select multiple components at once and reassign them a new data source, but this requires the manual selection of the charts.
What if you wanted to replace all the components having as a data source the LinkedIn Ads account for your product ABC with the LinkedIn Ads account for your product XYZ? The tool should allow replacing not only data sources but also blended data and filters at any stage throughout the dashboard building process. The Resources > Manage data sources / blended data / filters > Actions section would be a great location for this feature.
This is currently possible only when you make a copy of a dashboard and only at the data source level, as you assign a new data source to replace the original one.
Ability to duplicate data source when blending with itself
Star / upvote the feature request here:
There are situations when you need to blend a data source with itself. Cases when you would need this:
- You want to reaggregate data. One example is calculating the average of averages. More details here on how to use blending to reaggregate data.
- You want to compare metrics for different date ranges (1 day vs. 7 days vs. 14 days).
Customize email delivery by recipient and by page + Allow Viewers to schedule it themselves
Star / upvote the feature request here:
As we’ve seen so far, teams usually prefer one dashboard – even if each department looks at different pages, not multiple dashboards – one for each department.
So why not allow each recipient to schedule the email delivery by the pages and the frequency they are interested in?
Also, right now only Editors and Owners of the report can schedule an email. If someone has View access, they should be able to schedule their email delivery however they want, without requesting it from the ones with Edit access.
Allow View or Edit access for an entire domain / organizational unit
Star / upvote the feature request here:
Google Workspace already has this option to share documents with the entire domain by setting up organizational units. However, you only have two options for Data Studio: you can invite specific people or Google Groups.
So what happens if you need to share a dashboard with a fifty-person team? “You can also share more broadly by letting anyone with the link access your Data Studio reports”, according to this GDS Help resource. We’re talking about business intelligence here. We need a more secure and efficient way to manage permissions for larger teams.
[GERMINATION] Missing features in Data Studio that would make the tool much stronger
We’ll keep this list open and add to it as we come across new instances, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article. To finish adding the arguments for these feature requests, give us a nudge on LinkedIn whenever you want. Here are other missing features in Data Studio that we think the tool would benefit from:
Use parameters in data blending
Be able to blend more than 5 data sources
Dynamic parameters for custom queries in BigQuery
Google Apps Script integration
Comparison date range selector / control
Ability to display both percentage and absolute change
Permit one chart to be in multiple groups
Ability to copy charts between reports
Possibility to duplicate conditional formatting
Ability to manually assign a field as a dimension or metric
Implement comments
Use custom fonts
Select multiple filters at once
Download chart as image
Have a layers navigator and be able to drag and drop layers
[IMPLEMENTED] Create calculated fields in a blended data source
More info coming soon.
Release date:
How to:
So. Much. Potential
I think we can all agree that Google Data Studio has changed the data visualization landscape. If you don’t, let’s chat. Of course, the product isn’t flawless, but – my goodness – how many businesses it has helped so far, and for how many companies it has permanently changed their approach to data!
“I want Data Studio to succeed because it is a delightful product to use despite all of its shortcomings.”, Patrick Strickler concluded his post on the “Top 3 Missing Features in Google Data Studio in 2019“. I fully concur! KPIs Studio is here because Google Data Studio exists. Of course, there’s always the possibility that Google will shut down this service as well, but for now, we’re enjoying it, offering suggestions to improve it, and hoping it will live long and prosper! 🖖