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How To Share A Looker Dashboard To Your Digital Signage Screens With Fugo's Looker App

Connect your Looker account to Fugo and keep dashboards live on any digital signage screen - no manual refreshing, no separate device, no public data.

Written by Fugo

Table of contents

Fugo & your Looker data

Fugo's Looker app connects directly to your Looker account and keeps a dashboard live on any screen you point it at, with no manual refreshing and no separate device to maintain, and without making sensitive data public.

For the people looking at the screen: pick the dashboard once, and it just stays current. Fugo re-fetches the latest data automatically every time it comes up in rotation, so what's on screen always matches what's in Looker.

For IT and Looker admins: the app authenticates using a Looker API3 key you generate for a specific user, so access follows the permissions already set up on that Looker account. The dashboard renders as a live, embedded view (not a periodic screenshot), which means the screen running Fugo needs to meet Looker's own browser requirements - see Requirements below.

This is different from Fugo's generic Dashboards feature, which connects to other BI and reporting tools (Tableau, Looker Studio, Salesforce, HubSpot, Grafana, and others) via a URL and login, and displays them as a scheduled screenshot. Looker gets its own native app instead, because it integrates directly with the Looker API rather than just capturing a webpage; that's what enables the live refresh and direct dashboard selection described below.

💡 Tip: To see your Looker dashboard on screen, it needs to be added to a playlist that's published to a screen. If you haven't connected a screen yet, see our hardware collection for setup instructions for your device.

💡 Note: If you're displaying a Looker Studio dashboard (Google's separate reporting tool, formerly Google Data Studio) rather than a Looker Enterprise dashboard, that's a different product - see our Looker Studio App Guide instead, which works through the generic Dashboards feature described above.

Requirements

Fugo plan

The Looker app is a Premium app, available on the Core and Enterprise plans only. (See pricing plans.)

Looker account access

The Looker user you generate credentials for (see Configuring your Looker app settings below) needs permission to create an API3 key and view access to the dashboard(s) you want to display. We'd recommend using a dedicated Looker user for this integration rather than a personal account, so access doesn't break if that person's account changes or is removed later.

Browser/hardware compatibility

Because the Looker app renders your dashboard live (there's no screenshot fallback mode), the device running Fugo needs a browser version that Looker currently supports. Looker only supports the current major Chrome version and the one before it at any given time, so older or embedded player browsers that fall behind this window may show a blank app instance. You can check the device's Chrome version against Looker's current requirements, and update it if your player supports that, or use a Fugo Player or Chromebox, both of which support up-to-date Chrome.

If your hardware can't be updated and you still want a Looker dashboard on screen, our generic Dashboards feature can display a Looker dashboard as a scheduled screenshot via a shared URL instead - this doesn't require the same live-browser compatibility since Fugo does the rendering in the cloud rather than on your player.

How to add the Looker app to a playlist

Everything you display on a screen is published through a playlist. There are two ways to get the Looker app into a playlist:

  • Add it directly as a full-screen slide - drop the Looker app straight into your playlist's content list as its own full-screen instance. The fastest route if you just want the dashboard shown as-is.

  • Build it into a custom design first - if you want more control over the layout (like adding your logo, cropping the dashboard into a frame, pairing it with a ticker or other apps), build that layout in Studio, save it, then add that saved design into your playlist as a content item.

Either way, you'll end up configuring the same Looker settings and publishing from the same playlist. The Design Studio is just an optional detour for a custom layout. We'll walk through both options below.

Option A: Add Looker directly in the playlist builder

  1. Log into your Fugo account. If you don't have one yet, you can start your 14-day free trial here.

  2. Open the Playlists page from the lefthand navigation panel. Then click Create Playlist.

  3. This opens the playlist editor, which will walk you through four steps: Content → Screens → Schedule → Preview. You'll land on the Content step first.

  4. Switch the source selector to Apps.

  5. Either scroll or use the search bar to find the Looker app and click its card. If you plan to add more than one dashboard, you can click the app as many times as needed to create multiple instances of the app.

  6. You'll see your app instance(s) added to your content list on the right.

☝️ The Looker app is a Premium app, available during your free trial and after upgrading on the Core & Enterprise plans only. If your plan doesn't support Premium apps, you'll see a lock icon and an upgrade prompt instead.

  1. In your content list, find the Looker item and click its gear icon to open its settings.

  2. Connect your Looker account and configure the app as covered in Configuring your Looker app settings below, then click Save.

  3. Continue to Screens, Schedule, and Preview as covered in How to publish your playlist to a screen below.

Option B: Design a custom layout in the Studio, then add it in the playlist builder

  1. Click Studio in the top navigation, then click Create or Get started to start a new design.

  2. In the left-hand content menu, open the Apps tab.

  3. Either scroll or use the search bar to find the Looker app and click its card.

  4. This will drop the app onto your canvas. Drag its resize handles to size and position it: full screen, or shrunk down to share the slide with other content.

  5. With the app tile selected, click the purple cog icon in the contextual toolbar above it to open the Looker app settings.

  6. Connect your Looker account and configure the app as covered in Configuring your Looker app settings below, then click Save when you're done.

  7. Customize the rest of the canvas as you like. You can do things like:

    • Add your company logo.

    • Add text boxes and scrolling ticker texts with important messages, reminders, or requests pertaining to your dashboards or data initiatives.

    • Add QR codes to your display to create calls to action for your colleagues pertaining to your dashboards or workflows.

    • Incorporate other apps & integrations into the display, such as the World Clock app or CNN app to grab attention with live updating headlines.

👉 Learn more about Studio features in our Design Studio Overview.

  1. To add another slide with another dashboard, add another slide and instance of the Looker app.

  2. Name your design when you're done with it and click Save. Then click Back to Fugo to exit out of the Design Studio.

  3. Go to the Playlists page and create (or open) a playlist.

  4. In the Content step, switch the source selector to Studio, and select the design you just saved - it'll be added to your content list on the right, just like any other item.

  5. Continue the steps through Screens, Schedule, and Preview as covered in How to publish your content to a screen below.

Configuring the Looker app settings

Whether you opened it from a playlist or from the Studio, the Looker app settings work the same way. Unlike some of Fugo's other BI apps, there's no single "Authorize" button here - Looker authenticates through an API3 key you create yourself, so you'll be entering a few pieces of connection info directly.

API host

Your Looker account's API endpoint URL. Open a new tab, go to your Looker account homepage, and copy that URL into this field.

UI host

The URL Looker uses to serve the embedded dashboard UI. In most setups this is the same as your API host, and Fugo will automatically copy what you enter into API host over into this field for you. If your organization runs a non-standard setup (for example, a proxy or a cluster), your UI host may differ from your API host - you can confirm the correct API host value in Looker's API Admin Settings screen if you run into connection issues.

Client ID and Secret

These come from a Looker API3 key, which authorizes Fugo to read dashboards on behalf of a specific Looker user:

  1. In Looker, go to Admin > Users.

  2. Find the user you want to create a key for (we'd recommend a dedicated user for this integration) and click Edit under Actions.

  3. On that user's profile page, click Edit Keys next to API3 Keys. This opens a new tab where you can manage that user's API3 keys.

  4. Click New API3 Key.

  5. Copy the Client ID for the new key and paste it into the Client ID field in Fugo.

  6. Reveal and copy the Secret for the same key and paste it into the Secret field in Fugo.

Once all four fields are filled in, click Next. Fugo validates the connection and loads your available dashboards.

Select dashboard

Choose which Looker dashboard you want this app instance to display, from the dropdown of dashboards your Looker account has access to.

Enable Scroll

Turn this on if your dashboard is too long to fit on screen and you'd like Fugo to scroll through it automatically, rather than just showing the top portion. When enabled, a Dashboard height (pixels) field appears - Fugo can't automatically detect how tall your dashboard renders, so you'll need to set this manually (some trial and error may be required). If you don't want to scroll the full length of the dashboard, you can set the height lower than the dashboard's actual height, which stops the scroll at that point instead of continuing to the very bottom.

Duration (Seconds)

How long this slide displays before moving to the next slide, if it's part of a rotation. When scrolling is enabled, this same duration also controls how long the scroll animation takes to move through the dashboard.

Click Save once you're happy with your settings.

How to publish your playlist to a screen

Once your Looker app (or a Studio design containing it) is in a playlist's content list:

  1. In the Screens step, select one or more screens to publish to. Use the By Screen tab to pick specific screens or screen groups individually, or switch to the By Property tab to target any screen that has a matching custom property instead - for example, publishing to every screen tagged Location: Chicago or Department: Sales, without selecting each one by name.

  2. In the Schedule step (optional), choose how this content should run:

    • Always on - plays continuously once published.

    • One-off block - plays only within a specific start/end date range.

    • Recurring - repeats on chosen days of the week within chosen time windows.

  3. Use Preview to check how it'll look on screen. All your playlist settings will be listed on the righthand panel for you to review.

  4. Make sure to give your playlist a name, then click Save and Publish to push it live, or Save to keep it as a draft you can come back to.

👉 Learn more about playlists & scheduling settings in our Playlists Overview.

How often will my dashboard refresh on screen?

Once configured and published to screen(s), there's no manual intervention needed to set a refresh interval or update your dashboard. Fugo automatically fetches the latest data from Looker each time your app comes up within the content rotation, and refreshes its connection to your Looker account in the background roughly once an hour so a long-running rotation keeps working without you needing to reopen the app's settings.

Troubleshooting the Looker app

Blank screen where your Looker app used to display

This is most commonly a browser compatibility issue - Looker only supports the current Chrome version and the one before it, so a player running an older or embedded browser can fall out of support over time. Check the device's Chrome version and update it if possible, switch to a Fugo Player or Chromebox, or use the generic Dashboards feature (screenshot-based, so it doesn't require the same browser version) as a fallback.

Connection or authorization errors

Double-check the API host, UI host, Client ID, and Secret you entered match what's in your Looker account's API3 Keys screen, and that the Looker user tied to that key hasn't been deactivated or had its permissions changed. If you need to start over with different credentials, open the app's settings and click Back to log out and reconfigure the connection.

API host and UI host don't match

If your organization uses a proxy or a Looker cluster, your API host and UI host URLs may genuinely be different, even though Fugo defaults to filling in the same value for both. Confirm the correct API host in Looker's API Admin Settings screen and update the field in Fugo if needed.

Need more help?

Get in touch via the support chat inside the CMS, or email support@fugo.ai.

To get started, sign up for a 14-day free trial here: www.fugo.ai/app.

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