Preserver ol GA Data

[ukgimp]

Saving old data in GA.

https://twitter.com/danbarker/status/997355871888867328?s=21

[keano]

I've been looking at this recently as well. What's the consensus on the time time frame to select?

[Chunkford]

<scratches head>
Surely there's only one option to choose there

[ergophobe]

I have struggled to understand which actual reports are affected. I think the easy rule of thumb is

aggregated data = canned reports = no threat
sampled data = custom reports = all affected

This is the most straightforward overview I've seen
https://www.jeffalytics.com/data-retention-controls-google-analytics/

[ergophobe]

The embedded video on that page is really simple and straightforward.

He says something like "This change takes away everything I love about Google Analytics." Somewhere around 5:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=303&v=hGgDk_GEVvs

[keano]

<scratches head>
Surely there's only one option to choose there

I thought so too but then I saw loads of chat on Twitter asking about the preferred setting so I wondered if I was missing something because it seems very obvious which setting to choose. Perhaps I shouldn't be following these people on Twitter 

[ergophobe]

I thought so too but then I saw loads of chat on Twitter asking about the preferred setting so I wondered if I was missing something

The article and video I posted above are by Jeff Sauer - original GA beta tester and pretty much full-time GA consultant. He encourages everyone to go in to every property and set it to "do not expire."

You can always change your mind to a shorter timespan later if you need to on advice of your legal team, but once you've gone for 12 months and decide "oops, I would like to grab YOY data," you're hosed (at least insofar as you are using advanced segments and custom reports - your pageviews and sessions and bounce rate and all that from the standard aggregated reports will all be intact no matter what you choose).

[ukgimp]

What hog shit. Leave max, it seems simple to me.

This privacy shit is getting out of hand, knee jerk reaction is crazy.