Use Google Analytics 4 — Universal Analytics is being closed down

Note that the older Universal Analytics from Google with the UA-xxxxxxx-x tracking IDs is now deprecated and is going to be completely closed down at the end of June 2023. Help+Manual 9 and Premium Pack 5 both have full support for the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with the new G-xxxxxxxxxx ID format, and you should switch to it immediately. Among other things, in the default configuration, Google claims that it is now compliant with the European Union's GDPR legislation. This is disputed by some parties, but it is definitely more compliant than Universal Analytics.

Help+Manual Professional and Floating have built-in support for Google Analytics

Please note that Google Analytics support is available in Help+Manual Professional and Floating only. This feature is not available in the Basic version of Help+Manual.

Sign up for Google Analytics and get a tracking ID

To use Google Analytics you must sign up for the service, configure it for the URL of your WebHelp and get a tracking ID. Then you just need to enter the ID in your Help+Manual project.

Activating Google Analytics in your project

You must activate Google Analytics in your project by entering either your Universal Analytics or your GA4 ID in Configuration > Publishing Options > WebHelp > Google Analytics. Everything else is automatic and is handled by the code in the skins used to publish your WebHelp output.

Important: This section is not included in skins

This section is not stored in HTML skins, it is project-only. Even if you are using a skin, you must still configure this in your project.

Use the correct Google Analytics ID

It is important that you really enter the tracking ID. This is a little confusing in the Google Analytics site – your account can also have another numeric identifier –and the ID is sometimes difficult to find. We can't post navigation examples here because Google also changes their site layout quite often. Here is how to know that you have the right ID.

If you find an ID that is only numbers without the prefixes shown below, it is not your tracking ID.

Old Universal Analytics

The tracking ID for the older Universal Analytics always starts with UA- and has the format UA-xxxxxxx-x, where the x characters are your specific ID.

New Google Analytics 4

The tracking ID for the new GA4 always starts with G- and has the format G-xxxxxxxxxx.

See also:

Profiling WebHelp with Google Analytics (Overview)

Full Text Search (Configuration Options)