# To access Google BigQuery with a service account, which service account file should I specify?

**URL:** <https://community.exploratory.io/t/to-access-google-bigquery-with-a-service-account-which-service-account-file-should-i-specify/3956>\
**Category:** HowTo\
**Created:** [July 3, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://community.exploratory.io/t/to-access-google-bigquery-with-a-service-account-which-service-account-file-should-i-specify/3956 "2025-07-03T00:02:57Z")\
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**Author:** ![Hide\_Kojima1](https://community.exploratory.io/user_avatar/community.exploratory.io/hide_kojima1/32/398_2.png) [@Hide\_Kojima1](https://community.exploratory.io/u/Hide_Kojima1)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://community.exploratory.io/t/to-access-google-bigquery-with-a-service-account-which-service-account-file-should-i-specify/3956/1 "2025-07-03T00:02:58Z")

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Starting with Exploratory Desktop v13.2, you can now connect to Google BigQuery using a service account. Here we’ll explain the service account file required for this connection.

For Google BigQuery, you need to specify a **service account JSON key file**. This file contains authentication credentials necessary for applications to access Google Cloud APIs.

## Steps to Obtain Service Account JSON File

### Step 1: Create a Service Account in Google Cloud Console

1. Access [Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/)
2. From the hamburger menu (☰) in the top left, select “ **IAM & Admin** ” → “ **Service Accounts** ”
3. Click the “ **+ CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT** ” button
4. Enter the following information:

- **Service account name** : Use a descriptive name (e.g., bigquery-service-account)
- **Service account ID** : Auto-generated
- **Description** : Describe the purpose (e.g., For BigQuery data access)

### Step 2: Grant Required Permissions

During creation or after creating the service account, grant the following permissions (roles):

**Required roles:**

- `BigQuery Data Editor` - Read/write data permissions
- `BigQuery Job User` - Query execution permissions

**If importing via Cloud Storage, the following additional role is required:**

- `Storage Admin` - For data transfer between BigQuery and Cloud Storage

### Step 3: Create and Download JSON Key File

1. Click on the created service account from the service account list
2. Select the “ **Keys** ” tab
3. Click “ **ADD KEY** ” → “ **Create new key** ”
4. Select “ **JSON** ” as the key type
5. Click the “ **CREATE** ” button
6. The JSON file will be automatically downloaded