Guide 60 · Reports · GA4 + Tag Manager
Customize a standard GA4 report: change its dimensions and metrics without breaking the original
Customizing a standard report means editing its dimensions, metrics, filters, and charts, then saving it as a new report so the original stays intact.
After step 6, the Library holds a saved copy of the report with your dimensions and metrics, the original standard report is unchanged, and you know which switch publishes it to navigation.
Download the report reference: the Customized Traffic acquisition (saved copy) reference (JSON) (1581 bytes, MD5 2e51c4de7d662f480a4e678ecaeaf288). It holds the report or exploration definition and the worked example with the recomputed figures shown on this page.
What you need
- Editor or Administrator role on the property. Viewers cannot customize reports; the Library option does not appear for them.
- The standard report you want to start from — for example, Traffic acquisition. Starting from the closest standard report beats starting blank.
- The dimension and metric you want added, named in advance. For example, Session source / medium as a dimension and Session key event rate as a metric.
The trace
- Open the standard report. Sign in, click Reports, then open the report you want to change — for example, Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. Read it once as it ships before you touch it.
- Open the customize panel. Click the pencil icon at the top right of the report. The Customize report panel opens on the right, with sections for dimensions, metrics, filters, charts, and summary cards.
- Change the dimensions. In the panel, open Dimensions and add the dimension you named — for example, Session source / medium — and set it as the default dimension if that is the view you want first. Apply the change and confirm the table re-groups.
- Change the metrics. In the panel, open Metrics and add the metric you named — for example, Session key event rate. Apply the change and confirm the new column appears with values, not blanks. A blank column means the metric does not apply to this report's scope.
- Save as a new report. Click Save, then Save as new report, and give it a name. Saving as new keeps the original standard report untouched. Saving changes to the current report overwrites the standard report for everyone, which is the choice to avoid unless you mean it.
- Publish it to navigation from the Library. Open Reports, then Library at the bottom left. Find your saved report in the Reports section, open or create a collection, drag the report under a topic, and publish the collection. Until you publish it, the saved report lives in the Library only and does not appear in the left navigation.
Dead ends
DEAD END — SAVING OVER THE STANDARD REPORT. Save changes to current report overwrites the pre-made report for every user of the property. Save as new report is the safe default; overwrite only when the whole team agreed.
DEAD END — CUSTOMIZING AS A VIEWER. Without the Editor or Administrator role, the Library option and the pencil icon do not appear. The fix is a role change from a property admin, not a different menu path.
DEAD END — SAVING WITHOUT PUBLISHING AND WONDERING WHERE IT WENT. Saving stores the report in the Library. It appears in the left navigation only after you add it to a collection and publish that collection.
End state
A customized standard report is a copy with your dimensions and metrics, saved under a new name. The worked example below is the arithmetic the new metric column performs — a rate recomputed from the stated sessions and key events, so you can check the column against your own division.
Worked example — stated inputs, recomputed results. The channels below are stated inputs for the example. Every rate in the table was recomputed from them.
| Row | Sessions | Engaged sessions | Engagement rate | Key events | Key event rate | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Search | 2,410 | 1,502 | 62.3% | 118 | 4.9% | $1,875.00 |
| 486 | 351 | 72.2% | 74 | 15.2% | $1,210.40 | |
| Paid Social | 1,123 | 402 | 35.8% | 29 | 2.6% | $315.60 |
| Total | 4,019 | 2,255 | 56.1% | 221 | 5.5% | $3,401.00 |
Revenue per session is $3,401.00 ÷ 4,019 sessions = $0.85. Engagement rate is 2,255 ÷ 4,019 = 56.1%.
Sources
- Analytics Help — [GA4] Create a detail report — create a detail report from the Library with the Customize report panel; Editor or Administrator role required
- Analytics Help — Report library — the report library manages and customizes reports and navigation; editors and administrators can access it from the bottom left of Reports
- Analytics Help — [GA4] Customize report navigation — a report appears in the left navigation only after it is added to a published collection
Checked 11 November 2026. The click paths above are the ones in Google's help pages, opened or read 11 November 2026 (the Explorations and detail-report pages were opened in full; the report, library, navigation and thresholds pages were read from Google's help results the same day, after the browser hit a rate limit). No step in this guide was run inside a live Analytics property, because that needs a Google sign-in and this site does not sign in as anyone. The worked-example figures on this page were recomputed in Python with decimal arithmetic, and the downloadable JSON file carries the same recomputed figures. Google moves menu items without warning; if a path on this page no longer matches, the linked help page is the current map.