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Analytics & GTM Developer

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Category | Google Analytics
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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.

Need help setting up a robust and reliable Google Analytics reporting for your website/business?

  • Filters for data quality 
  • User interaction tracking (events, goals)
  • E-commerce tracking
  • GDPR compliance
  • Google Tag Manager implementation
  • Integrations (Google Ads, Search Console, etc)
  • Custom reports (Dashboards, Data studio)
  • Monthly reporting and more...

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:

  1. Go to the Admin tab and click on View Settings in the last column.
  2. Rename the View to Master and at the bottom Save the changes.
  3. Once the view is correctly named, click on Copy View at the top.
    How to copy a view Google Analytics
  4. A pop up will show up. Enter Unfiltered as a name for the new view.
    How to create an unfiltered view Google Analytics
  5. 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.