How to Use Google Analytics 4 DebugView

Testing your Google Analytics 4 setup can feel like yelling into a void - you set up an event, perform the action, and then wait minutes (or longer) for data to maybe show up in the Realtime report. You can end that uncertainty for good by using GA4's DebugView. This guide will walk you through exactly how to enable and use DebugView to get a live, granular stream of your website's data so you can validate and troubleshoot your tracking with confidence.

What is GA4 DebugView?

Think of DebugView as a real-time diagnostics tool. While the standard GA4 Realtime report shows you aggregated user activity with a slight delay, DebugView shows you a raw, unfiltered stream of events from a specific browser or device that has debug mode enabled. It's designed for one purpose: to help you verify that your tags and custom events are configured correctly the moment you set them up.

Every small action, from a page load (page_view) to a custom-named form submission (generate_lead), appears instantly in the timeline. You can click on any event to inspect all the details associated with it, like the custom parameters, user properties, and e-commerce item data you've sent along with it. This makes it an essential tool for marketers, analysts, and developers who are setting up or auditing a GA4 implementation.

How to Enable GA4's Debug Mode

To see data in DebugView, you first need to "tell" Google Analytics that your browser is a testing device. You can do this in three primary ways. The first two methods are most common for marketers and analysts.

Method 1: Using Google Tag Manager's Preview Mode

This is the most common and robust way to activate debug mode. If you manage your GA4 tags through Google Tag Manager (GTM), this method is already part of your workflow.

• Step 1: Navigate to your GTM workspace and click the "Preview" button in the top right corner.
• Step 2: A new tab will open for the Tag Assistant. Enter the URL of your website and click "Connect".
• Step 3: Your website will open in another new tab with a "Tag Assistant Connected" badge in the corner. That's it! As you navigate your site and trigger events, GTM will automatically send a signal telling GA4 to show your activity in DebugView.

Method 2: Using the Google Analytics Debugger Chrome Extension

This is a quick and simple alternative, especially if you aren't using Google Tag Manager or just want to do a quick spot-check on a live site.

• Step 1: Install the free Google Analytics Debugger extension from the Chrome Web Store.
• Step 2: Go to your website and click the new GA Debugger icon in your browser's extension bar. A small "ON" label will appear over the icon.
• Step 3: Refresh your webpage. The extension is now active on this tab, and your activity will start appearing in DebugView. To turn it off, just click the icon again.

Method 3: Manually Sending the debug_mode Parameter

This method is more for developers who have a direct gtag.js implementation on their site. You can force debug mode by adding a parameter to your site's JavaScript code. This is useful for permanently enabling it on development or staging environments.

You can tell your global site tag to activate debug mode with this line of code:

gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX', { 'debug_mode': true }),

Navigating the DebugView Interface

Once you’ve enabled debug mode using one of the methods above, navigate to your Google Analytics property and go to Admin > (under Property settings) scroll down to > DebugView. You should see data arriving within seconds.

The interface can look a little busy, but it's organized logically. Here's a breakdown of what you're seeing:

• Device Selector: At the top left, you can select which debug-enabled device you want to observe. This is helpful if multiple team members are testing simultaneously.
• Minutes Stream (Middle Column): This is the main chronological timeline of your activity. Newer events appear at the top. Regular events are shown as blue icons, and conversion events are marked with green icons.
• Seconds Stream (Right Column): This shows a more granular, real-time log of the events that have just occurred in the last 60 seconds. You’ll see events appear here first before moving to the main timeline.

Inspecting Event Details

The real power of DebugView comes from inspecting the data attached to each event.

Click on any event in the main chronological stream. A panel will appear showing you all the parameters collected with that event. Click on a specific parameter to see its value. For example, if you click a page_view event, you’ll see parameters like page_location (the full URL) and page_title (the page's title tag).

You can also use the additional tabs in this detailed view:

• User Properties: This tab shows you all the user properties currently associated with your device, such as your location (geo) data or any custom user properties you've configured.
• Items: When inspecting an e-commerce event like add_to_cart or purchase, this tab shows you specific information about the products involved, like item_id, item_name, and price.

This level of detail lets you confirm not only that an event fired, but that it fired with all the correct contextual data you need for your analysis.

Practical Use Cases for DebugView

Knowing how to use DebugView is one thing, but knowing why is what makes it so valuable. Here are a few common scenarios where it shines.

Scenario 1: Validating a New "Request Demo" Form

You just created a special event in GTM to fire whenever someone submits your "Request a Demo" contact form. You want to make sure it's working and correctly capturing the form's name for your records.

1. Enable GTM's Preview mode and connect to your site. You are now in debug mode.
2. Navigate to the contact page and fill out and submit the demo request form.
3. In the DebugView window, watch for your custom event to appear. Let's say you named it request_demo.
4. Click on the request_demo event in the timeline.
5. In the details pane, look for the custom parameter you set up, for example, form_name, and verify it has the correct value, like "main_demo_form". If it doesn't show up or the value is wrong, you know you have a configuration issue to address in GTM.

Scenario 2: Troubleshooting an E-commerce Purchase Funnel

You notice in your reports that your view_item event count looks high, but your add_to_cart numbers seem low. You suspect the "Add to Cart" button's trigger might be broken for some products.

1. Enable debug mode (either with the Chrome extension or GTM Preview).
2. Start an e-commerce flow on your site. Navigate to a product page.
3. Watch DebugView. You should see the view_item event appear. Click it and check the Items tab to confirm the right product SKU and name were captured.
4. Now, click the "Add to Cart" button.
5. Back in DebugView, verify that the add_to_cart event fires immediately. If it doesn't, you've found a problem with your trigger or tag setup.
6. If it does fire, click on it. Inspect the Items tab again. Does it contain the correct product data? Is the value parameter correct? DebugView gives you the instant feedback you need to pinpoint where in the data collection process things are going wrong.

Proceed through begin_checkout and purchase events, inspecting the data at each step to ensure your entire funnel tracking is solid and passing data correctly from one stage to the next.

Scenario 3: Checking if a User Property is Being Set Correctly

Let's say you want to set a "member_status" user property to "gold" when a subscribed user logs into their account.

1. Enable debug mode.
2. Perform the login action on your website.
3. In DebugView, find the relevant event in the timeline (e.g., a login event).
4. Click on it, and then go to the User Properties tab in the detail view.
5. Look for your custom user property name (member_status) and confirm that its value has been correctly set to "gold."

Final Thoughts

Mastering DebugView is a real step up in taking control of your GA4 data quality. It gives you an X-ray view into your tracking implementation, transforming troubleshooting from a painful waiting game into an efficient, real-time process. Once you begin using it, you'll wonder how you ever managed your GA4 setup without it.

Getting your raw event data flowing correctly is a critical first step. The next is transforming that data into a clear picture of what’s actually happening across your business - from ad spend on Facebook to revenue in Shopify. Instead of wasting hours manually pulling different reports together, we built Graphed to do the heavy lifting for you. Simply connect your platforms like Google Analytics, and use plain English to ask for the dashboards and insights you need, and Graphed’s AI automatically builds them in seconds, giving you back your time to actually analyze performance instead of just trying to find it.