How to Customize Tables in Google Data Studio [Complete Guide]

So finally, after creating and working with so many charts in Google Data Studio, today we are going to learn how to customize tables in Google Data Studio. So, this article will only focus on styling and customization of charts, we will see various charts and will explore so many customization features of Data Studio. In google sheets, we learned and worked on so many charts, since Data Studio is primarily about charts so we will see detailed customizations, there are some distinct options in Data Studio as compared to sheets, we will explore those features and try to customize our charts beautifully based on themes colors, etc.

Why Use Tables in Google Data Studio?

Since we have already seen the creation and calculation of charts, this is the right time to learn about customization. Because colors, themes, fonts, and styling are the main courses going to attract our users/viewers, or customers. So it’s very important to learn and use excellent customization and styling features of Data Studio. We can have full control over the styling and customization of our charts, so therefore we need to learn how to customize tables in Google Data Studio.

How to Customize Tables in Google Data Studio?

To not skip any of the vital features in the style tab of our charts in Data Studio, we will start from the top and go to the bottom, we will see each and every section and will apply them to our charts to make them appealing, attractive, and user friendly. Let’s start.

So, I am starting from the style tab of a chart, before this you need to have a simple chart on your canvas, select the chart and go to the style tab.

Customize Tables in Google Data Studio – Table Header and Colors

This is the very first section of the style tab in Data Studio charts just after conditional formatting (Conditional formatting is a big topic, so we will cover it in other tutorials). Let’s see what we have got in the header section

Step 1

Show header checkbox

It’s checked by default; we can uncheck it to hide the table headers

Step 2

Wrap text.

This option is understandably only found when table headers are shown, using this checkbox we can wrap the text of our headers, the same wrap text as we have in Google Sheets.

Step 3

Header font color
This option is also only available when headers are shown, here we can set the font color for headers

Step 4

Header font size (change the font size of header text)

Step 5

Header font family (change the font family for header text)

Step 6

Table colors

Header background color (background color only for header)

Cell border color (cell outline color)

Odd row color (background fill color for every odd row such as 1,3,5,7 and so on)

Even row color (background fill color for every even row such as 2,4,6,8 and so on)

Customize Tables in Google Data Studio – Table Labels and Body

In this section, we will learn how to customize tables in Google Data Studio and will check out table labels and body sections, as the name suggests here, we have got some labeling options and some customization for table bodies. Let’s see the detailed features.

Step 1

Font Color (change the table text font color)

Font size (change the table text font size)

Font Family (select a font family for table text content)

Step 2

Row number checkbox (show hide row numbers)

Wrap text checkbox (wrap or unwrap text)

Horizontal scrolling checkbox (enable or disable horizontal scroll bar)

Customize Tables in Google Data Studio – Table Footer and Missing Data

In this section, we will learn how to customize tables in Google Data studio regarding the footer area, we have some elements in the footer, and we can surely customize them as we have full control of every element of our chart. Let’s see what option we have got here.

Step 1

Show pagination checkbox (This will show the pagination, which means current page and total pages)

Step 2

Compact pagination (a little packed view of pagination)

Step 3

Footer border-color

Step 4

Footer border weight

Step 5

Footer border style

Step 6

Missing data

Here, we can select what to show when data is missing, we have so many options like null, no data, etc.

Customize Tables in Google Data Studio – Dimensions, Alignment, Axis, Target & More

In this section, we will learn how to customize tables in Google Data Studio, we will see alignments for dimensions, and metrics. Let’s check out what options we have

Step 1

Alignment for dimension (we can set alignment for dimension text as left, right, or center)

Step 2

Alignment for metrics (Here we can select do the same with metric content)

Step 3

We have another option here, we show Numbers, Heatmap, or Bar/Pub for the values of the metric

Numbers are by default (show values)

Heatmap (shows a heatmap with values and fill colors), we can also change color

Bar/Pub (shows a bar chart instead of numbers), we can also change the color of the bars, and we can also enable numbers with bars from the below checkbox “Numbers”

Step 4

Compact numbers checkbox (it will show packed numbers such as 1K for 1000)

Step 5

Decimal precision, here we can select the trailing decimal points from 0-3 or auto

Step 6

Show target checkbox (we can show or hide the target line, we can also set the target value for it)

Below we can also select the target color

Step 7

Show Axis checkbox (here we can show or hide the axis)

We can set its font color

Also, the Font family

We can use Axis compact numbers checkbox to enable packed numbers (1000 as 1K)

We also have axis decimal precision drop down here

Customize Tables in Google Data Studio – Change Background and Border Color

In this section, we will learn how to customize tables in Google Data Studio and will glance at the background and border.

Step 1

Footer background color

Step 2

Border radius

Step 3

Overall border opacity

Step 4

Outer border-color

Step 5

Outer border weight

Step 6

Add border shadow checkbox (adds a slight shadow to the outer border)

Step 7

Chart header Dropdown

We can select any option from always show, don’t show, or show on hover

Note: Chart header here is not meant for column headers, chart header is just a header area where we have a three-dot menu button on the right side and a reset button on the left.

Also note that showing on hover means hovering anywhere on the chart, and not on the actual header position.

We can also select the color for chart elements

Step 8

Finally, we have a “Reset to report theme” button, that will reset all the styling to default

So, this was a complete styling guide specifically for tables in Google Data Studio, we have some similar and some different styling options for each chart, we will also learn styling for other charts in detail to never miss any useful feature while working with our reports.

I hope you have understood all the key features of table styling, and you will not forget to style your tables like a pro.

Important Notes

Frequently Asked Questions

How to customize charts in Google Data Studio?

In the above article, we learned how to customize tables in Google Data Studio, tables are kind of charts that can be used to visualize data in the form of tables, other charts such as pie charts, time series charts, bar charts, Google maps charts, scorecards, etc. can also be customized like above, we need to create a chart first, then select it and go to the second tab, which is Style tab, and completely dedicated for the styling of charts.

Can I have different customization for different tables in Google Data Studio?

Of course. Charts are mutually exclusive from other charts even within a single page or canvas, we have a unique Chart box for each chart, and we can have different formatting, color, styles, font, and everything for our different charts. If I have two table charts on a single same page even with the same dimensions and metrics, still i can style both of them separately, when you select a chart it has a chart box, when you select multiple charts, then there is no chart box in the sidebar, which means that you cannot customize more than one chart at once, because they all can be of different styles and customizations.

Conclusion

Wrapping up how to customize tables in Google Data Studio, I did not skip any small thing, I covered the table chart style tab from beginning to end in some sections, I hope you have learned and understood all the style features and customization options for a table chart. There are some features that have dependability, like when you uncheck the show header checkbox, then understandably the rest of the options for that headers are unavailable.

I hope you understand this. I will see you next time with another helpful tutorial. Keep learning with us. Thank you.