Making announcements to your users

If your company uses the Looker pre-built homepage, admins or users who have the manage_homepage permission can share text, links, and images with all Looker users in the right-hand announcement sidebar:

Admins and users who have the manage_homepage permission can add or edit the sidebar. Before content is added to the sidebar, non-admin users will see the pre-built homepage without the sidebar. Admins and users who have the manage_homepage permission will see prompts to add content to the sidebar.

Note: For Looker (Google Cloud core) instances, the Discover sidebar appears instead of the announcement sidebar until the user closes the Discover sidebar by clicking the Close icon. Once the Discover sidebar is closed, the announcement sidebar appears.

Adding a card

1. At the top of the sidebar, click + Add New Card.
2. Under Title, enter a title for the card. The title appears as header text that is always visible on the card. Titles that are more than 25 characters long may not display properly %mdash; the end may be cut off.
3. Optionally, enter the following:
   • Description: Text that appears after the title on the card. The Description field has a 250-character limit.
   • Link: URL that opens in a new browser tab when a user clicks on the card. Enter the full URL, including the https:// or http://. The URL path does not appear to the user, but the card title and text will appear blue if the card is a link or will appear black if the card is not a link. You can also use the Description field to add a text description of the link target, such as its title.
   • Upload Image: Click the Upload Image button to upload an image that appears in the card.
4. When your new card is finished, click Create.

Editing a card

1. Click the three-dot Content Card Menu icon on the card you would like to edit, and select Edit.
2. Optionally, edit the following:
   • Title: Bold text that is always visible on the card
   • Description: Text that appears after the title on the card
   • Link: URL that opens in a new browser tab when a user clicks on the card
3. Optionally, click the trash bin icon to delete the card's image. If you want to upload a new image, click Upload Image to navigate to and upload a new image for the card.
4. Select Save to save the card.

Changing a sidebar title or description

1. Hover over the sidebar title or description to reveal the Edit pencil icon. Click the Edit pencil icon.
2. Select the existing title or description and replace it with a new sidebar title or description.
3. To save changes, click the Done checkmark icon.

Rearranging cards

Click and drag the six-dot Drag handle icon in the bottom left of a card to move the card's order in the sidebar.

Deleting a card

1. Click the three-dot Content Card Menu icon on the card that you would like to edit, and select Delete.
2. To confirm the deletion, click Confirm.

Linking to Markdown documents

You can write documentation, announcements, or information for Looker projects using GitHub-flavored Markdown and link to the documentation files in the sidebar.

Users with develop privileges can navigate to and obtain the URL for a Markdown document by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the project.
2. Select the name of the document (or create a new document).
3. From the document menu, select View Document.
4. From the new browser window, copy the URL for the document.
5. Paste the Markdown file URL into the Link field of a sidebar card.

Now, users can click that sidebar card and Looker will open the document in a new browser tab.