Create Reports from Microsoft OneDrive Data in Looker Studio

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to gain access to live Microsoft OneDrive data and create custom reports in Looker Studio.

Looker Studio, formerly known as Google Data Studio, empowers users to craft customized reports featuring data visualizations that can be shared with clients while reflecting your brand identity. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to Microsoft OneDrive data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for Microsoft OneDrive and generating reports from Microsoft OneDrive data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for Microsoft OneDrive, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live Microsoft OneDrive data within Looker Studio without the need for data replication. As you create visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to retrieve data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported query operations, including filters, JOINs, and more, directly to Microsoft OneDrive. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested Microsoft OneDrive data.

This article requires a CData Connect AI instance and the CData Connect AI Connector for Looker Studio. Get more information on the CData Connect AI and sign up for a free trial at https://www.cdata.com/cloud.


Configure Microsoft OneDrive Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to Microsoft OneDrive from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Microsoft OneDrive data from Looker Studio, we start by creating and configuring a Microsoft OneDrive connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Select "Microsoft OneDrive" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Microsoft OneDrive.

    OneDrive uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the OAuth section of the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Microsoft OneDrive Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Microsoft OneDrive data from Looker Studio.

Visualize Live Microsoft OneDrive Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new Microsoft OneDrive data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

  1. Log into Looker Studio, click data sources, create a new data source, and choose CData Connect AI Connector.
  2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account.
  3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance
  4. In the CData Connect AI Connector in Looker Studio select Connections to import from the dropdown and click Next
  5. Now select a Connection (e.g. OneDrive1) and click Next
  6. Select a Table (e.g. Files) or use a Custom Query and click Connect to continue
  7. If needed, modify columns, click Create Report, and add the data source to the report.
  8. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
  9. Select Dimensions and Measures to customize your visualization.

Live Access to Microsoft OneDrive Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Microsoft OneDrive data from your Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Microsoft OneDrive data.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.

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