I am new to the Looker Studio forum and I have an issue I need to resolve. I seen some similar topics, but not quite what I am experiencing and although one was close and resolved, I could not see the resolution - that’s for another day though.
Here’s the issue:
I upload new data from a template into a table that has 10 columns. Each time I load from the template, the first column in the table reverts to a Number (Should be %). Only the first column of the table reverts to a decimal number, and it only reverts when I create a new dataset from the template. Once I change the decimal number to a percentage it sticks.
The “Click Thru Rate” and “Conversion Rate” (first column only - two separate tables) always comes in as a decimal “Number” format when creating a new Client from the template. We have several funnels per client, so this needs to be updated several times and is very painful. This only happens in the first column of each table. As you can see all other items are % with no change to the formatting.
It seems this is happening because each time the data loads, the field is being interpreted as a number. Instead of using that column directly, you can create a calculated field and apply the necessary condition there.
For example, if you are working with data from a sheet, sometimes Looker interprets the field as a number. In such cases, you can handle it by using a add calculated field.
You can follow these steps:
Add a new field.
Apply the logic using: CAST(Completion AS NUMBER)
Save the field.
Click on the fx option and change the format from Number to Percent (Numeric → Percent).
Then revisit the field to confirm the changes.
I have also added step-by-step screenshots for your reference to make the process easier to follow.
Thank you for taking the time to put together this instruction, however; we currently do these steps on all 10 columns, and the first column breaks each time we copy the Looker Studio file to create a new client file. Just not sure why only the first column breaks, and it only breaks when we ‘copy report’ making it so we don’t have to start from scratch each time.
Each time the first column comes in as a “New Field” with the Data type as Number with the correct formula. Like seen here:
Columns 2-10 come in as above “CTR 2 - CTR Total”, and correctly formatted in the formula section. Data type as Percent and correct Formula as seen below:
Apologies—I think I may be missing something. I’m not able to add an extra calculated field to the table, because doing so changes the table structure and prevents it from fitting correctly within the funnel.
The issue I’m running into is specifically with the Data type of the existing calculated field. Even when the field is set to Percent, copying the file causes the Data type to revert to Number, and this consistently happens only for Column 1.
I did try using the formula CAST(Completion AS NUMBER) in the calculated field box, but that did not work in this context. Because of these constraints, I’m not sure what action is being suggested or how it would resolve the behavior I’m seeing.
To prevent the ‘Completion’ field from being treated as a string, we utilize CAST(Completion AS NUMBER). This forces a numeric data type at the schema level, enabling seamless formatting options for percentages and durations within the field settings.
