Filter Access by Email Address in Looker Studio

What is filtering by email address in Looker Studio?

Looker Studio reports are often shared with multiple users, teams, or clients. While report-level permissions control who can open a dashboard, they do not always control what each person should see once they are inside the report.

In many cases, different users need access to the same report structure but should only see their own data. Examples include client dashboards, regional reports, or internal performance views by team or owner.

To handle this, Looker Studio supports email-based filtering, allowing you to restrict data visibility based on the viewer’s email address.

This guide explains:

• what email-based filtering is
• when to use it
• how to configure it correctly
• limitations and common issues

What email-based filtering does

Email-based filtering restricts data at the row level, based on the email address of the person viewing the report.

Instead of creating multiple reports, you can:

• use one shared dashboard
• apply a rule that matches data rows to the viewer’s email
• ensure each user only sees the data they are allowed to see

When to use email-based access filtering in Looker Studio

Filtering by email address is appropriate when:

• the same report is shared with multiple clients
• internal users should only see their own accounts or regions
• sales, support, or operations teams need personalized views
• you want to avoid duplicating reports for each user

When to use email-based access filtering in Looker Studio

Filtering by email address is appropriate when:

• the same report is shared with multiple clients
• internal users should only see their own accounts or regions
• sales, support, or operations teams need personalized views

Prerequisites

Before setting up email-based filtering, make sure:

• your data source contains an email field that identifies ownership or access
• the email values match the users’ Looker Studio login emails
• you have Edit access to the report and the data source
• viewers access the report while logged in

How email-based filtering works in Looker Studio

Looker Studio provides a built-in function that detects the email address of the current viewer.

When combined with a filter rule, the report:

• compares the viewer’s email to a field in the data
• only displays rows where the values match

Setting up email-based access filtering in Looker Studio

Use case

Use this setup when you want:

• one report
• many users
• different data visibility per user

Steps

1. Open your Looker Studio report in Edit mode.
2. Select the data source used in the report.
3. Open the data source configuration.
4. To make a new filter, select Filter by Email.
5. Select the field that contains viewer's email address.
6. Save your changes.

⚠️ Important: User awareness. Before applying email-based filtering, make sure users know that their email address is used to control what data they can see. This typically applies when access is granted through a company account, a contract, or an access request.

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Testing your setup

Always test email-based filtering before sharing the report.

Best practices:

• preview the report using different test accounts
• confirm that each user sees only their expected data
• verify that users without matching data see empty states

Errors and limitations

Email-based filtering is powerful, but it has constraints:

• Exact match required

Email values must match exactly, including case and domain.

• No access fallback

Users without matching rows will see no data.

• Depends on data source permissions

If the data source is not accessible, filtering will not work.

• Not a security replacement

This controls visibility in the report, not access to the raw data outside Looker Studio.

Common troubleshooting scenarios

• ‍A user sees no data

Check that their login email exists in the data and matches exactly.

• ‍A user sees too much data

Verify that the filter is applied at the correct level and not overridden.

• ‍Filtering works for some users but not others

Confirm all users are logged in with the expected email accounts.

• ‍Data appears correct in Edit mode but not in View mode

Recheck filter scope and test with a non-editor account.

Key limitations to understand

• Email-based filtering does not encrypt or hide the underlying data source.
• Editors can still see all data unless additional controls are applied.
• This approach works best for reporting, not for high-security data separation.

Conclusion

Filtering access by email address allows you to scale Looker Studio reports without duplicating dashboards. By using viewer-based filters, you can deliver personalized views while maintaining a single report structure. When implemented correctly and tested thoroughly, email-based filtering is an effective way to manage multi-user access while keeping reports simple, consistent, and maintainable.