Looker Keyboard Shortcuts
Looker's shortcut set, like most modern BI and analytics tools, stays fairly compact since the core interaction of building an Explore query is primarily driven by clicking fields, dimensions, and measures in a browsable sidebar rather than typed commands — the shortcuts that do exist focus on search, which becomes essential once a LookML data model has accumulated hundreds of available fields across many Explores, and on navigating between saved Looks (Looker's term for saved queries/reports) and dashboards. Field search inside an Explore accepts partial matches against both the field label and its underlying LookML name, which matters on instances where analysts have renamed fields away from their original technical names. This page is written for analysts and data team members who spend real working hours inside Looker's Explore interface rather than occasional dashboard viewers — the shortcuts covered here save the most time for people running many ad hoc queries per day, comparing generated SQL against expectations, or maintaining dashboards used by other teams. Because Looker runs entirely in the browser, standard browser shortcuts (tab switching, browser back/forward, find-on-page) also apply and often get overlooked by users focused only on Looker's own in-app commands.
Field Search
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search available fields | / | / | Focuses the field search box within an Explore's sidebar, filtering the potentially large list of available dimensions and measures as you type rather than scrolling through a long nested field picker manually. |
| Search saved Looks/dashboards | Ctrl+K | Cmd+K | Opens a global search overlay for finding a saved Look, dashboard, or Explore by name across the entire Looker instance. |
| Clear current field search | Esc (search field focused) | Esc | Clears the current field search query, returning to the full unfiltered field list in the sidebar. |
| Expand/collapse a field group in sidebar | Click group header (no dedicated key) | Same | Toggles visibility of a whole category of fields within a view, useful for collapsing groups you never use so the visible sidebar stays focused on the dimensions and measures actually relevant to your current Explore. |
Explore Navigation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run current Explore query | Ctrl+Enter (query builder focused) | Cmd+Return | Executes the currently configured Explore query, running it against the underlying data warehouse and displaying results, faster than clicking the Run button for users who prefer staying on the keyboard. |
| Save current query as a Look | Ctrl+S | Cmd+S | Saves the currently configured Explore query as a Look, Looker's term for a saved, reusable, shareable query and its results. |
| Show generated SQL | Ctrl+Shift+S (varies) | Cmd+Shift+S | Opens a panel showing the actual SQL query Looker generated from your LookML-modeled Explore configuration, useful for developers and analysts wanting to verify or debug exactly what's being sent to the underlying database. |
| Download query results | Click gear/download icon, no dedicated default key | Same | Exports the current result set to CSV, Excel, or other supported formats, commonly used when results need to leave Looker entirely for further manipulation in a spreadsheet or for sharing with someone without Looker access. |
| Pivot a dimension in results | Click column header > Pivot | Same | Turns a selected dimension's distinct values into their own columns across the result table, restructuring a tall result set into a wider cross-tab layout without rebuilding the query's underlying field selection from scratch. |
| Schedule a Look for recurring delivery | Look menu > Schedule | Same | Sets up automatic recurring delivery of a saved Look's results by email or to an integration like Slack, letting stakeholders receive an updated report on a schedule without manually opening Looker each time. |
Dashboard Editing
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add new tile to dashboard | Click Add button, no dedicated default key | Same | Adds a new visualization tile to the currently edited dashboard, typically by selecting an existing saved Look or building a new query directly, with no dedicated keyboard shortcut for this specific action. |
| Toggle dashboard Edit mode | Click Edit button, no dedicated default key | Same | Switches a dashboard between view-only mode and edit mode, where tiles can be added, resized, and rearranged. |
| Apply a dashboard-level filter | Click filter field at top of dashboard, no dedicated key | — | Dashboard filters set at the top of the page cascade down into every tile configured to respect them, letting a viewer narrow the whole dashboard by date range, region, or another dimension without editing each tile's query individually. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does field search matter so much more in Looker than in some other BI tools?
Looker's underlying LookML data model can define an extensive, deeply organized set of dimensions and measures across many different Explores, and unlike a tool where you're working with a flat, self-evident spreadsheet of columns, a mature Looker implementation's field list can be genuinely large enough that scrolling through a nested sidebar manually to find one specific field becomes impractical — the search shortcut (/) is correspondingly one of the most-used shortcuts in daily Looker use for anyone working with a substantial data model.
What's the difference between a Look and a dashboard tile?
A Look is a standalone saved query and its results, viewable and shareable on its own as a single self-contained page. A dashboard tile is typically built from or references a Look (or a freshly configured query) but displays as one panel among potentially many other tiles arranged together on a single combined dashboard view — a Look can exist independently, while a tile's purpose is specifically to contribute to a larger, multi-visualization dashboard layout.
Why would someone want to see the generated SQL behind an Explore query?
Viewing the generated SQL (Ctrl+Shift+S) lets analysts and data engineers verify exactly what query is actually being sent to the underlying data warehouse, useful for debugging unexpected results, understanding performance characteristics of a particular query, or for someone learning SQL to see how a point-and-click Explore configuration translates into an actual executable query — it's also commonly used when troubleshooting a LookML model definition that isn't producing the expected filtering or join behavior.
Do dashboard filters change the underlying saved Look, or just the dashboard view?
Applying a filter at the dashboard level only affects what's displayed on that dashboard for the current viewing session — it doesn't modify or overwrite the underlying saved Look or query definition itself, so the original Look remains unchanged and available with its original configuration the next time it's opened outside the dashboard context.
Can Ctrl+K search find LookML model names, not just Looks and dashboards?
The global search overlay primarily indexes saved content — Looks, dashboards, and Explores by their display names — rather than underlying LookML source files or model definitions, so searching for a raw LookML field or view name that hasn't been surfaced as a saved item's title typically won't return a match through this particular search tool.
Can I have Looker send me a report automatically instead of checking a dashboard manually every day?
Yes — scheduling a Look or a dashboard sets up recurring delivery of its current results by email, Slack, or another supported integration at whatever interval you configure, which is commonly used for daily or weekly stakeholder updates that don't require someone to actively log into Looker and check.