Complete Introduction to Data Studio (Looker Studio) (Udemy.com)
Turn Google Sheets into interactive reports and dashboards your team can use, in Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio)
Created by: Ian Littlejohn
Last updated September 2026
What you will learn
- Connect Data Studio to a Google Sheet and have a live report running in your first 30 minutes
- Build interactive dashboards with filters and controls, so your team answers its own questions
- Create scorecards that show KPIs against the previous month, quarter and year
- Build time series graphs with trend and reference lines to show where the numbers are heading
- Write calculated fields, including CASE statements, for the measures your data does not hold
- Analyze data on a map, and compare categories with TreeMap, scatterplot, column, bar and pie charts
- Add running totals, drill down and period comparisons without writing any code
- Use conditional formatting so the exceptions in a table find the reader
- Publish and share dashboards, including a responsive view for phones and tablets
- Work through a case study that takes one raw Google Sheets extract to a finished dashboard
How it compares
Against the other 371 rated Udemy courses in Data Analysis on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 73% of them
- Reviews9,704#25 of 372 by number of reviews
- Length5.5 hourslonger than 56% of them
- Last updatedSeptember 2026more recently than 88% of them
Course Description
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
Every lesson in this course is written, created and recorded by me. AI is used only to help produce supporting images and written materials around the lessons.
Every month you rebuild the same report from the same Google Sheet. New export, same charts, same formatting, and by the time it reaches your manager the numbers have already moved.
This course fixes that. You will connect Data Studio to a Google Sheet, build a report that refreshes itself, and share it with the people who keep asking you for it. Next time someone wants to know how the numbers look, they open a link.
Data Studio is free with any Google account. Google called it Looker Studio between October 2022 and April 2026, so you will see both names online - it is the same product. It is drag and drop, it runs entirely in a browser, and it works on Windows, Mac and Chromebook.
WHAT YOU WILL BUILD
Tables with conditional formatting, so the exceptions find the reader instead of the reader hunting for them
Scorecards showing KPIs against the previous month, quarter and year
Time series graphs with trend and reference lines, to show where the numbers are heading
Pivot tables and card visualizations for summarizing by category
Interactive filters and controls, so your team answers its own questions without coming back to you
Calculated fields, including CASE statements, for the measures your data does not hold
Running totals, drill down and period comparison calculations
Geographical maps, TreeMaps, scatterplots, and column, bar and pie charts
A published dashboard with a responsive view for phones and tablets
HOW THE COURSE WORKS
Download the Google Sheets training data in the first two minutes and build alongside me. Six practical activities give you a short brief and then a full walkthrough video showing how I would do it. A case study section takes one raw extract all the way through to a finished dashboard.
Five hours 29 minutes, 76 lectures. Short enough to finish this week, and built so you have something working long before you get to the end.
ABOUT THE TRAINER
I am a Udemy Instructor Partner and I have been training business people to work with data since 2008. I specialise in teaching business users to turn data into information and intelligence, using Microsoft Excel, Copilot in Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Data Studio and Amazon QuickSight.
Across 16 courses on Udemy I have taught more than 398,000 learners and hold an average rating of 4.6 from more than 139,000 reviews. This is the most reviewed Data Studio course on Udemy, rated 4.6 from more than 9,600 ratings - over four times as many ratings as any other course on the topic.
WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING
"I was very pleasantly surprised by this course, I just wanted to whip through it to get the gist"
"Excellent course with a general overview of all the features that Looker Studio has to offer"
"Very thorough and concise course. I feel like I've gained all of the knowledge I need to get started"
"Really enjoyed this course - having never worked with Looker it was great and gave me all the information"
READY TO START
Everything in this course is built with the free version of Data Studio and a Google Sheet you can download in the first two minutes.
Enroll now and have a live dashboard running before the end of the day.
Instructor Details
- 4.6 Rating
9,704 Reviews
Ian Littlejohn
I specialise in training business users to learn powerful methods and techniques to transform data into useful information and intelligence as well as learning strong data analysis methodology.
I completed my university degree in economics and emerged keen and eager to change the world. I spent the first half of my career working for multinational companies, on projects of various sizes, in different sectors, all revolving around analysing data of some sort and working with different software products, including Microsoft Excel.
I found that so many Excel users had a very basic understanding of how Excel works, and instead of using Excel to do the work for them, were doing all the work themselves, using old spreadsheet technology like macros instead of embracing technology like Pivot Tables. Pivot Tables were actually introduced into Excel in 1994 but many Excel users have avoided using them because they seem complicated and difficult to use.
In 2008 I decided to start my own training company and this was borne out of the passion I had to teach Excel users how to work smarter, not harder. As technology evolved, and new systems developed, I continuously expanded my training to include Power BI, Amazon QuickSight, Looker Studio, and most recently Copilot in Excel and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
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Reviews
By Vitalii Kravtsov on 8/24/2026
I have decided to take this course because I want to explore something more effective than working with data in pivot tables, which I used to do.
By Alexander Naltchadjian on 7/12/2026
The teacher is obviously very experienced and knows how to give a course. He makes sure his students aren't getting too bogged down by details while getting main points across smoothly.
By Kelly Linos on 6/25/2026
So far so good. I am learning a lot and have already started manipulating my own data sets with things learnt
By Michael Allison on 6/11/2026
This course and the instructor were excellent. The course was presented in a logical order, with clear instructions, and the main features of Google Data Studio covered so I can apply them to my business.
By Carlos Ordoñez on 6/9/2026
It's an excellent course, very easy to follow and understand. The guidance and explanations is awesome!
By Roberto Ayala on 5/22/2026
So far everything is explained and file provided to follow along with the lesson. Kudos to the instructor.
By Surya Sambangi on 4/19/2026
Course Content is clear and definitely helpful for beginners like me. It would be helpful if you include some tips and tricks, short cuts and how to address common beginners mistakes. Thank you so much.
By Karolina Marszałek on 12/30/2025
It is a nice introduction to the tool, although there are two options I'd love to hear about which are currently skipped: application of a parameter feature and how to control the tooltip content.
By David Genzen on 12/30/2025
This is a great overview of Looker Studio. I teach people how to use Google applications for a living, and I believe that I've learned a lot that I will be able to share with my students. I will come up with my own examples from the Sheets classes that I teach.
By Sonam Dorji Layrab on 12/22/2025
The course I undertook served the purpose of analysing the daily data in generating a concise report that I have to submit daily and monthly to my manager. The course has also helped me to manage large amounts of data to ensure an authentic and real-time report at hand always.
By Georg Keferboeck on 11/21/2020
Very informative, easy to follow and straight to the point. All the qualities that makes an excellent tutorial.
By Edson Arantes Barreto on 11/21/2020
Excellent introductory course for someone who wants to learn from scratch!
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 92 / 100












