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The custom data sources feature gives you the flexibility to report on any third party data along with existing Reporting Ninja data connections such as Facebook, Google Ads and more. Just upload your csv files to an Excel file or to a Google spreadsheet, connect your data via the our custom data sources feature, and start using Reporting Ninja as your all-in-one comprehensive data reporting solution for reports and dashboards.
In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about how to use your custom data in Reporting Ninja.
Reporting Ninja allows you to use your own custom data sources and include in your reports KPIs, graphs and tables presenting data coming from:
In order to use your custom data, you only need to edit your regular reports or templates and drag & drop a KPI, graph or table from the palette into the report canvas, and select “Microsoft Excel (xlsx)” or “Google Sheets”.
Before reviewing how to proceed in case you want to use an Excel file, a Google Sheet or an embedded spreadsheet, it is important to understand to your custom data needs to be prepared.
No matter if you intend to use an Excel file (.xlsx), a Google Sheet or an embedded spreadsheet, your data needs to meet the following requirements:
In order to use an Excel file (.xlsx), it must be hosted in a remote location like a DropBox folder, so it can be accessible for our product. So the first step is getting a direct URL for Excel file.
Assuming you are using DropBox, follow these steps to get the URL of your file:
You can find more information about getting view-only access to your files in DropBox in this link https://www.dropbox.com/help/167.
To validate your URL you can use your browser. It is a valid URL when you copy it in the address bar of your browser and it directly starts downloading the file with a prompt to save it locally, not when you see the file with the DropBox viewer. In the case of DropBox this can be achieved by changing the final “?dl=0” in the URL by “?dl=1”.
Once you have your Excel file (.xlsx) URL follow these steps to use it:
Every time you modify the URL or the sheet to be used, you need to click the button “Pull data” before you can see the Excel file content in the “Sheet” tab in the widget settings window.
The data you will see in the “Sheet” tab in the widget settings window is read-only.
Please bear in mind, that for instance in the case of DropBox, it takes some time between files are changed in local and the remote replicas are synchronized. So if after you click the button “Pull data” you can’t see the latest content, you need to wait some time.
In order to use a Google Sheet you must first publish the entire spreadsheet as a Microsoft Excel file (.xlsx).
Follow these steps to get your spreadsheet URL:
You can find more information about publishing Google Docs in this link https://support.google.com/docs/answer/37579?hl=en.
To validate your URL you can use your browser using an incognito session. It is a valid URL when you copy it in the address bar of your browser and it directly starts downloading the file with a prompt to save it locally.
Once you have your spreadsheet URL follow these steps to use it:
Every time you modify the URL or the sheet to be used, you need to click the button “Pull data” before you can see the Excel file content in the “Sheet” tab in the widget settings window.
The data you will see in the “Sheet” tab in the widget settings window is read-only.
Please bear in mind, that it can take some time between spreadsheets are changed and those changes are published. So if after you click the button “Pull data” you can’t see the latest content, you need to wait some time.
Besides Excel files or Google Sheets, you can also copy or enter your own data in embedded spreadsheets.
In order to use an embedded spreadsheet, follow these steps:
