Duplicating 'File Upload' Data Set

[liamhop]

I am having problems with a series of reports I am trying to build.

They have to use Excel File Upload as the data source due to their being too much data for Google Sheets and our internal admins not wanting to use BigQuery.

I have the formatted fields and custom fields which was time consuming as there are over 100. I have also formatted the report with tables and graphs over 5 pages and had the layout signed off internally.

I now need to create 6 other versions of this report with different files that are all following the same format. There seemingly is no easy way to duplicate a 'file upload' data set. If I change the embedded data set, it changes for all of the duplicated reports. If I create a new data source it is still associated with the same data set so any changes affect all the duplicated reports.

Is there any easy workaround or any way to duplicate a data set to keep the formatting.

[lauratilton · Accepted solution]

Make sure your data source is embedded. Duplicate the report, but don't make any modifications to the pop-up that appears asking if you want to choose a different data source. You will now have a copy of the report with a copy of the embedded data source (but it's still connected to the original Excel upload). You can then go in and Manage the data source of your report copy, Edit the data source (which is really a copy of the original and contains all your calculated fields, etc), then choose Edit Connection and use the Excel connector to connect the data source to another Excel file. 

Data sources can be confusing since a Looker Studio Data Source is different than saying your "data source" is Excel.