Tutorial: Create a new report

Follow these steps to create a simple Google Analytics report.

Creating reports in Insights is easy! In this tutorial, you'll build a useful and attractive report in just a few steps.

Let's get started!

Create a new blank report

1. Sign in Insights

2. Select Report menu

3. In the top left, click
4. You'll see the report editor tool, with blank canvas.

5. In the top left, name your report by clicking Untitled Report.

Add another chart to the report

The time series chart plots data over the course of time.

1. In the tool bar, click Add a chart.

2. Select a Time series chart .
3. Click the canvas where you want the chart to appear.

4. Insights automatically adds the Date dimension and the Source metric (assuming you're using an Analytics data source).

5. To adjust the chart's position, click and drag it, or select the chart and move it using your keyboard arrow keys. Each press of the arrow key moves the chart one full column or row (10 px) on the grid. Hold the Shift key down while using your arrow keys to nudge the selected components into place a pixel at a time.

6. To adjust the chart's size, select it, then drag a corner or mid-line point.

7. Let's breakdown the chart by Device Category:

   1. Make sure the time series is selected.

   2. On the right, under Available Fields, use the search tool to find the Device Category dimension.

   3. Drag the field and drop it on the Breakdown Dimension target.

Your chart should now display data series for the different device categories (Mobile, Desktop, and Tablet):

Style the report

Preset themes let you apply color and style options to your entire report.

1. Edit the report.

2. Open the Theme and Layout panel:

   1. The Theme and Layout panel appears on the right whenever no components are selected.

   2. You can also click Theme and layout in the toolbar.

   3. In the THEME tab, click the theme you want to apply.

You can customize any of the preset themes. For example, you can select a different background color that better matches your brand:

1. In the Theme and Layout panel, click Customize.

2. Scroll down to the Background and Border section

3. Use the color picker to set the Background color to your favorite color. Something in a mauvy-peach, perhaps?

Add a banner

Use a colored rectangle as a background banner for your report header.

1. Select the Page component by clicking anywhere in the grid area.

2. Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar.
3. Draw a rectangle across the top of the page.

4. Select the STYLE tab of the Rectangle Properties panel on the right.

5. Set the rectangle background color to blue.

Extra credit! Add a gradient to the banner.

Add a title to the report

The text tool lets you annotate your reports and charts.

1. Select the Text tool from the toolbar .
2. Draw a textbox inside the banner rectangle.

3. Type Google Analytics Demo Dashboard in the textbox.

4. Highlight the text. Use the Text Properties panel on the right to change the font color and the font size to something that looks nice to you.

Hey! Where's the SAVE button?

In the tool bar, click on Save button to save your changed.

Next steps

Add more charts to your report.

Learn more about the building, stylizing, and adding data to reports.