How Often Does Looker Studio Refresh Data?
One of the most common questions about Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is how often it actually updates your data. You’ve built the perfect dashboard, but when you check it this morning, the numbers still look like yesterday’s. A lack of fresh data can lead to skewed insights and slow decisions, so understanding how it works is essential for reliable reporting. This article will break down Looker Studio’s data refresh schedules, show you how to control them, and help you troubleshoot common update issues.
Understanding Data Freshness: The Two Main Types of Connections
Looker Studio’s data refresh rate isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. It completely depends on the type of data source you’re using. Fundamentally, everything falls into one of two categories: live connections or extracted data sources.
1. Live Connections: Some data sources, particularly Google’s own BigQuery and certain SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL), use a live connection. When you load a report with a live connection, Looker Studio sends a query directly to the database and pulls the most current information available at that exact moment. Every time you refresh the report or change a filter, it queries the database again. This is as close to “real-time” as you can get, but it requires a very fast and robust database to avoid slow-loading reports.
2. Extracted Data Sources (EDS): This is the most common connection type, used by Google connectors like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Google Sheets, as well as many third-party partner connectors. Instead of querying the source every single time, Looker Studio pulls in a static "snapshot" of your data and stores it in a high-speed cache. This makes your reports load much faster. However, it also means your data is only as fresh as the last snapshot. Looker Studio updates this snapshot on a schedule, which is what we refer to as the "data refresh" or "data freshness" setting.
For most marketers, who primarily rely on connectors for tools like Google Analytics, Ads, and Sheets, understanding how this cache and refresh schedule works is the key to accurate reporting.
Default Refresh Rates for Popular Connectors
Each extracted data source connector has a default refresh schedule. While you can change these settings (we’ll cover that next), knowing the defaults helps you understand why your data might not be as current as you expect.
Google Analytics (Universal Analytics and GA4)
The default data refresh rate for both the Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 connectors is every 12 hours. This means when Looker Studio extracts your GA4 data, it will hold onto that snapshot for up to 12 hours before fetching a new one. This is sufficient for most high-level trend analysis but can be a source of confusion if you’re trying to monitor daily performance closely.
It’s also important to remember that Google Analytics itself has a processing latency. It can take 24-48 hours for all data, especially conversions, to be fully processed and finalized in GA4. So even if Looker Studio refreshes, it can only pull the data that GA4 has made available via its API.
Google Ads
Similar to Google Analytics, the default data freshness for the Google Ads connector is every 12 hours. This is generally fine for tracking campaign performance, but not ideal for minute-by-minute bid management, which should be done directly within the Google Ads platform anyway.
Google Sheets
The Google Sheets connector is much more nimble. Its default refresh schedule is every 1 hour. This makes it a great choice for dashboards that need to reflect more frequent changes, like those tracking manual data entry, project statuses, or budgets updated throughout the day. You can adjust this to be as frequent as every 15 minutes.
BigQuery
As mentioned earlier, BigQuery is a live connection by default. There is no refresh schedule to set because Looker Studio queries your BigQuery tables in real time. The only "delay" would be any ingestion latency within BigQuery itself (i.e., how long it takes for a new event to appear in your dataset).
Uploaded Files (CSV)
When you upload a file like a CSV directly to Looker Studio, it is treated as a static, extracted data source. It does not have an automatic refresh schedule. The data will remain unchanged until you manually upload a new version of the file and choose to append or replace the existing data. If you need regularly updated data from a file, it’s far better to upload that file to Google Sheets first and then connect Looker Studio to the sheet.
How to Manually Refresh Your Looker Studio Report
If you suspect your report data is stale, you can trigger a manual refresh to clear the cache. However, it's crucial to understand what this action does and doesn't do.
Here’s how to do it:
Open your report in View mode.
Click the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select Refresh data from the dropdown menu.
When you click this, Looker Studio clears its report cache and requests the most recently available data from the data source's extract cache. It does not force the data source itself to go back to the original platform (like Google Analytics) and fetch new data out of cycle.
For example, if your Google Analytics data source is set to refresh every 12 hours and it last refreshed 2 hours ago, clicking "Refresh data" will simply pull that same 2-hour-old data again. You will still have to wait another 10 hours for the data source itself to fetch a new snapshot from Google Analytics.
How to Check and Change the Data Refresh Schedule
You are not stuck with the default settings. You can easily check and modify the refresh schedule for any extracted data source to better fit your needs. Want more timely data? Speed up the refresh. Want to reduce load on the source API? Slow it down.
Step 1: Go to "Manage added data sources"In either Edit or View mode, navigate to the Resource menu in the top navigation bar and select Manage added data sources.
Step 2: Locate your data source and click "Edit"You'll see a list of all data sources used in your report. Find the one you want to adjust and click the Edit action on the right side of the row.
Step 3: Find the "Data freshness" optionAt the top of the data source configuration screen, you’ll see a summary of the source. Click on the Data freshness link. The default setting (e.g., "every 12 hours") will be displayed.
Step 4: Choose a new refresh rateA dialog box will appear showing all available options based on the connector type. For most Google Platform connectors, the available options are:
Every 15 minutes (only for some like Google Sheets)
Every 1 hour
Every 4 hours
Every 12 hours
Every day at a specific time
Select the option that best works for you and click Set data freshness.
Pro Tip: While faster refresh rates seem better, be mindful. Setting every data source to a 15-minute or 1-hour refresh can introduce other issues. It increases API calls to the source platform and can slightly slow down your report's initial load time right after a refresh occurs.
Troubleshooting Common Data Refresh Issues
Even with the right settings, you can run into problems. Here are a few of the most common refresh-related headaches and how to solve them.
1. "My data isn’t updating after I click the refresh button."
This is the most frequent issue, and it almost always comes back to the cache layering. As explained above, the "Refresh data" button in the viewing menu only clears the report-level cache. If the underlying data source's own cached data hasn't updated yet, there's no new data to show you.
Solution: Go to Resource > Manage added data sources and check the "Data freshness" setting and the "Last refreshed" timestamp for your source. This will tell you exactly when the last successful data extraction occurred. If it was recent, you need to wait for the next scheduled refresh.
2. "Looker Studio shows different numbers than Google Analytics."
Discrepancies between platforms are common and usually caused by timing. There are two primary reasons for this:
GA4 Processing Latency: Google Analytics needs time to process its own data. It can take 24-48 hours before the data shown in the GA4 user interface is considered final and complete.
Looker Studio Cache Lag: Your Looker Studio report is based on a snapshot that could be up to 12 hours old (by default). The GA4 interface, meanwhile, might be showing more recent, intraday data.
Solution: For validating historical data, always give it at least 48 hours for the numbers to align across platforms. For daily reporting, accept that there will naturally be a few hours of lag between the live platform and your Looker Studio dashboard due to caching.
3. "My report is stuck on a 'Data Set Configuration Error'."
This happens when there's an issue with the underlying data source itself, and Looker Studio helpfully caches the error message. Common causes include a deleted column in a connected Google Sheet, revoked credentials, or a broken third-party connector.
Solution:
First, fix the source of the problem (e.g., restore the missing column in your Google Sheet, re-authenticate the data source).
Go to Resource > Manage added data sources for your broken report.
Click "Edit" on the problematic data source.
In the top left corner, click Refresh Fields. This forces Looker Studio to re-examine the source's schema (columns, fields, etc.). Once it confirms the fix, the error should resolve.
Final Thoughts
Navigating Looker Studio's refresh settings is mostly a matter of knowing whether your data connection is live or extracted, and then configuring the extraction schedule to match your reporting needs. By understanding the layered caching system and knowing how to check and adjust these settings, you can ensure your reports are both fast and accurate.
Frankly, this entire process of managing data pipelines, tweaking cache settings, and worrying about refresh schedules is the kind of busywork we hate. The time spent troubleshooting a connection is time you aren't spending on strategy. That’s why we built Graphed. Our platform automates these connections entirely. Just connect your sources like Google Analytics, Ads, CRM, and Shopify in seconds, and our system handles the data syncing automatically, always keeping it up-to-date. You can build a real-time analytics dashboard just by describing what you want to see, no more worrying about why your data is 12 hours old.