Do data sources stop syncing when reports are moved to trash?

Looker Q&A Looker Studio
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Do data sources stop syncing when reports are moved to trash?

Hello, I’m new here, let me know if I am posting at the wrong place.

I’m archiving several Looker Studio dashboards by moving them to trash (not permanently deleting them yet), and I need clarification on data source syncing behavior.

My Questions:

  1. Do data sources continue to sync automatically when a report is in the trash? Specifically, for connectors with automatic 12-hour refresh cycles (like Google Analytics, Google Ads, etc.), does the sync continue to run even though the report is in trash?

  2. Does the 12-hour automatic refresh happen even if no one opens the report? Or does it only refresh when someone actually views the report?

  3. What is the definitive way to stop data sources from syncing - is moving to trash sufficient, or do I need to permanently delete the reports?

Why I’m asking:

I need to reduce unnecessary data refreshes for reports that are no longer actively used, but I want to keep them in trash temporarily in case they need to be restored. I’m looking for official confirmation or documented behavior about whether trashed reports continue to trigger data source queries.

What I’ve found so far:

The official documentation states that “Data sources in the Trash continue to exist unless you permanently delete them”, but it doesn’t explicitly clarify whether they continue to sync/refresh automatically.

Any official guidance or firsthand experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

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Great question! Data sources generally don’t care about reports when it comes to their syncing behavior. You could remove all reports connected to a data source and the data source would continue to sync.

So, you need to go to the data source (or connector) itself, and either change the refresh rate or delete the data source.

1 Like
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Hi Sam, thanks a lot for your detailed answer!

I just wanted to double-check my understanding of Looker Studio’s 12-hour data freshness feature. My impression is that it acts as a caching mechanism rather than an automatic sync process.

In other words, if a report is moved to the trash or not opened, it shouldn’t trigger any queries in the background — meaning there’s no extra queries unless someone actually views the report.

This helps me safely archive old dashboards without worrying about unintended query runs.

Thanks again for your help!

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Yup, sounds like you understand it well!

It is more of a caching mechanism than a sync, in most cases. The one edge case worth checking is to see if you’ve set up an auto refresh on a data extract. That will continue to run queries in the background.

The main thing you’re gaining by moving dashboards to the trash is making it less likely for users to view it. Dashboards also have an auto refresh feature but that only applies while a dashboard is actually open for a user.

The other main mechanism that can automatically run queries is dashboard schedules. Schedules are technically not deleted when you move a dashboard to the trash, but the schedule owner should get an error message about the dashboard being in the trash. So you’d probably be aware of this edge case too.