TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

1. set up Looker as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
2. set up Google Sheets as a destination connector
3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Looker

Looker is a Google-Cloud-based enterprise platform that provides information and insights to help move businesses forward. Looker reveals data in clear and understandable formats that enable companies to build data applications and create data experiences tailored specifically to their own organization. Looker’s capabilities for data applications, business intelligence, and embedded analytics make it helpful for anyone requiring data to perform their job—from data analysts and data scientists to business executives and partners.

What is Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet tool that allows users to create, edit, and share spreadsheets online. It is a part of the Google Drive suite of productivity tools and is accessible from any device with an internet connection. Google Sheets offers a range of features that make it a powerful tool for data analysis, project management, and collaboration. Users can create and format spreadsheets, add formulas and functions, and create charts and graphs to visualize data. Google Sheets also allows users to collaborate in real-time, making it easy to work on projects with others. Users can share spreadsheets with specific people or make them public, and can control who has access to edit or view the document. Additionally, Google Sheets integrates with other Google tools such as Google Forms, allowing users to collect data and automatically populate it into a spreadsheet. Overall, Google Sheets is a versatile and user-friendly tool that can be used for a variety of tasks, from simple calculations to complex data analysis.


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Prerequisites

1. A Looker account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
2. A Google Sheets account.
3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Looker and Google Sheets, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Looker to Google Sheets, it extracts data from Looker using the source connector, converts it into a format Google Sheets can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Google Sheets via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Looker data for advanced analytics and insights within Google Sheets, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

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Methods to Move Data From Looker to Google Sheets

• Method 1: Connecting Looker to Google Sheets using Airbyte.
• Method 2: Connecting Looker to Google Sheets manually.

Method 1: Connecting Looker to Google Sheets using Airbyte.

Step 1: Set up Looker as a source connector

1. Open Looker and navigate to the Admin panel.

2. Click on "Connections" and then "New Connection".

3. Select "Airbyte" as the type of connection.

4. Enter a name for the connection and the URL for the Airbyte instance.

5. In the "Authentication" section, select "OAuth2" as the authentication method.

6. Enter the Client ID and Client Secret provided by Airbyte.

7. In the "Advanced" section, set the "API Version" to "v1".

8. Click "Test" to ensure the connection is successful.

9. Save the connection and navigate to the "Explore" panel.

10. Select the Airbyte connection as the data source and choose the relevant tables to explore.  

Note: It is important to ensure that the Airbyte instance is properly configured and the necessary connectors are installed before attempting to connect to Looker. Additionally, the specific steps for adding credentials may vary depending on the version of Looker being used.

Step 2: Set up Google Sheets as a destination connector

1. Go to the Airbyte website and log in to your account.
2. Click on the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Scroll down until you find the "Google Sheets" destination connector and click on it.
4. Click on the "Create Destination" button.
5. Enter a name for your destination and click on the "Create" button.
6. You will be redirected to the Google Sheets authorization page. Sign in to your Google account if you haven't already.
7. Click on the "Allow" button to grant Airbyte access to your Google Sheets account.
8. You will be redirected back to the Airbyte website. Select the Google Sheets destination you just created from the list of destinations.
9. Enter the name of the spreadsheet you want to use as your destination and select the worksheet you want to use.
10. Click on the "Test" button to make sure the connection is working properly.
11. If the test is successful, click on the "Save" button to save your destination settings.
12. You can now use the Google Sheets destination connector to transfer data from your source to your Google Sheets destination.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Looker data to Google Sheets

Once you've successfully connected Looker as a data source and Google Sheets as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
2. Choose your source: Select Looker from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
3. Select your destination: Choose Google Sheets from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Looker objects you want to import data from towards Google Sheets. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Looker to Google Sheets according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Google Sheets data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Looker data.

Method 2: Connecting Looker to Google Sheets manually.

Moving data from Looker to Google Sheets manually involves several steps. You'll need to use Looker's data export functionality and Google Sheets' import capabilities. 

Step 1: Prepare Your Data in Looker

1. Log into Looker: Sign in to your Looker account.
2. Create or Choose a Report: Identify the report that you want to export to Google Sheets.
3. Refine Your Data: Apply any filters or adjustments to ensure the data is exactly what you need for your Google Sheet.
4. Run the Report: Execute the query to generate the report.

Step 2: Export Data from Looker

1. Export Options: Click on the "Gear" icon or "Explore Options" and find the export option.
2. Choose Format: Select the format in which you want to export your data. For this purpose, choose CSV as it is easily imported into Google Sheets.
3. Download the File: Click on the export button to download the CSV file to your local machine.

Step 3: Prepare Google Sheets

1. Open Google Sheets: Go to Google Sheets and sign in with your Google account.
2. Create a New Sheet: Click on the “+” button to create a new sheet or open an existing one where you want to import the data.

Step 4: Import Data into Google Sheets

1. Go to File: In your Google Sheet, click on "File" in the top menu.
2. Import Data: Select "Import" from the dropdown menu.
3. Upload the CSV File: In the import window, go to the "Upload" tab and either drag your CSV file into the space provided or click "Select a file from your device" to upload the exported CSV file from Looker.
4. Choose Import Options: Once the file is uploaded, a dialog will appear with several options. You can choose to create a new spreadsheet, insert new sheets into the current spreadsheet, replace the current sheet, or append the data to the current sheet. Select the option that best fits your needs.
5. Customize Settings: You may also have options to select the separator character (typically a comma for CSV files), which is important for correctly parsing the data.
6. Import: Click on the "Import Data" button to finalize the import process.

Step 5: Verify and Clean Up

1. Check the Imported Data: Ensure that the data looks correct in the Google Sheet. Verify that the columns and rows are aligned properly and that the data types are as expected.
2. Clean Up: If there are any headers or footers that were imported from Looker that you do not need, delete them.
3. Format the Data: Apply any necessary formatting to the Google Sheet to make the data presentable and easy to work with.

Step 6: Automate the Process (Optional)

If you need to perform this task regularly, you can write a Google Apps Script to automate the process:

1. Open Script Editor: In your Google Sheet, go to "Extensions" > "Apps Script".
2. Write the Script: Use Google Apps Script to write a script that fetches the CSV data from a specific URL (you can obtain a permanent link to your Looker report if your Looker setup allows it) and imports it into your Google Sheet.
3. Trigger the Script: Set up a time-driven trigger to run the script at regular intervals.

Step 7: Save and Share (Optional)

1. Save Your Work: Make sure to save your Google Sheet.
2. Share the Sheet: If you need to share the imported data with others, click on the "Share" button and set the appropriate permissions.

Please note that this process requires manual intervention unless you script the import process. If you're dealing with sensitive data, ensure that you comply with your organization's data governance policies when exporting and importing data between systems.

Use Cases to transfer your Looker data to Google Sheets

Integrating data from Looker to Google Sheets provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

1. Advanced Analytics: Google Sheets’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Looker data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Looker alone.
2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Looker, syncing to Google Sheets allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
3. Historical Data Analysis: Looker has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Google Sheets allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
4. Data Security and Compliance: Google Sheets provides robust data security features. Syncing Looker data to Google Sheets ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
5. Scalability: Google Sheets can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Looker data.
6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Looker data in Google Sheets, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
7. Reporting and Visualization: While Looker provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Google Sheets, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Looker table that needs to be converted to a Google Sheets table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

1. Configure a Looker account as an Airbyte data source connector.
2. Configure Google Sheets as a data destination connector.
3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Looker to Google Sheets after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

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