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The mechanism by which Looker Studio accesses a specific data platform, system, or product.
In Looker Studio, connecting to your data involves the following components:
Connectorsconnect Looker Studio to your underlying data. Connecting to your data creates adata sourcein Looker Studio.
Data sourcesrepresent a particular instance of a connector: for example, a connection to a specific BigQuery table or query, a Google Analytics property, or Google Sheets. Data sources let you configure the fields and options that are provided by the connector that's used to create that connection instance. In addition, the data source gives you a secure way to share information and insights with report viewers who may not be able to directly access the underlying data.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Connector\n\nThe mechanism by which Looker Studio accesses a specific data platform, system, or product.\n\nIn Looker Studio, connecting to your data involves the following components:\n\n\n- **Connectors** connect Looker Studio to your underlying data. Connecting to your data creates a **data source** in Looker Studio.\n- **Data sources** represent a particular instance of a connector: for example, a connection to a specific BigQuery table or query, a Google Analytics property, or Google Sheets. Data sources let you configure the fields and options that are provided by the connector that's used to create that connection instance. In addition, the data source gives you a secure way to share information and insights with report viewers who may not be able to directly access the underlying data.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nRelated resources\n-----------------\n\n[Connect to your data](/looker/docs/studio/about-data-sources)"]]
