Why you should always have an unfiltered view and how to create one
In Google Analytics it is not possible to recover data lost by a misconfiguration, that why it is important to follow a few best practices in your views and protect your data.
Types of Views
Every Google Analytics property should have the following views:
- Master Views (for analysis, you may have more than one) - You will use this view(s) for the analysis of your data. Here you will configure the filters, goals, segments, etc.
- Unfiltered view (raw data) - this is your backup data; you can also use it to check the progress of the filters.
- (Optional) Test View - If you want to be extra cautious you can create a view for checking the filters before applying them to your Master View.
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I recommend leaving your default view, initially called "All website data" (or its correspondent translation), as a Master view, then make a copy of it for the Unfiltered View instead of creating a new one, that way you won't have to configure everything again.
Creating an Unfiltered View
An unfiltered view, as the name suggests, is just a view without any filter applied, like the one you initially had when you created the property.
How to create an unfiltered view
To create a view with no filters:
- Go to the Admin tab and click on View Settings in the last column.
- Rename the View to Master and at the bottom Save the changes.
- Once the view is correctly named, click on Copy View at the top.
- A pop up will show up. Enter Unfiltered as a name for the new view.
- Click Copy View
Data is not copied between views only some of the settings.
If you had any filter already created in the view you copied, make sure to remove them in the Raw data/Unfiltered view.
*Repeat if you want to create a Test View
That's it. Now your data will be protected from any misconfiguration
How to create a view from scratch.
