blog post

Error Looker Studio : Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'split')

Johan Chemin
April 5, 2023
Error Looker Studio : Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'split')

Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is an excellent tool for creating dashboards for various platforms. You can mix all your KPIs in the same report and quickly access critical data to drive your businesses. 

But sometimes, reports stop working, and you can see charts with error messages. And error messages in Looker Studio can be confusing.

Here, we will see what happens when you get the error message "Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'split')".

How to access the error message?

In Looker Studio, when an error happens, all the charts are unavailable, and all display something like this : 

Report displaying only error instead of component
Report displaying only error instead of component

To access more details about the error, clicks on See details.

Open error message
Open error message

In our case, this is what we see :

Error message "Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'split')"
Error message "Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'split')"

What does "Cannot read property of undefined (reading "split")" means?

When you see this error message, chances are that you did not select any platform account for your Looker Studio data source. Every Looker Studio data source needs to be connected to a platform account (ie: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, WooCommerce...).

If it isn't connected to an account, the data source cannot fetch your KPIs in Looker Studio, and you can see the previous error message.

How to solve "Cannot read property of undefined (reading "split")" ?

The first thing to do is identify the data source with an issue (an essential step if you have more than 1 data source in your report). You can find this by selecting a chart with an error and verifying it's data source configuration here : 

Identify your data source
Identify your data source

Then, open your data source and verify the connexion's configuration.

To do so : 

  • Clicks Resource, then Manage added data source.
  • Edit the row of your problematic data source.
  • Then Edit connexion at the top right.
Go to data source edition connexion
Go to data source edition connexion

You select an account to link to your Looker Studio data source on this page. First, verify that the selector is not empty:

Empty account select box
Empty account select box
  • If it is, select at least one of your accounts.
Select an account
Select an account

  • Then click Reconnect at the top right.
  • Click Ok on the pop-up. (By reconnecting a data source, you refresh the available field list. So if new fields have been added or old fields have been deprecated, you'll update them at the same time).
  • And wait for your data source to reload.
Reconnect your data source.
Reconnect your data source.

  • Close the data source management page to return to your report.
  • If it doesn't refresh itself, hit CTRL+F5 (or command + F5 for mac users).

The problem should be solved now, and your report should display metrics and dimensions without issue.

What to do if the problem persists?

If you followed this post entirely and still see the error message, please contact us on our chat at the bottom right of this page. You can also seek help at contact@catchr.io. Our team of experts is here to help you at any time!

Quick Steps to solve the "Cannot read property of undefined (reading "split")" error in Looker Studio:

  1. Identify your faulty data source.
  2. Go to Resource, Manage Added Data Source.
  3. Edit the faulty data source.
  4. Edit the connexion
  5. Select an account and reconnect your data source.

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