Check exceptions and custom dimensions and metrics

This page describes how to use Google Tag Assistant to inspect exceptions and to inspect the values of custom dimensions and metrics as they are sent to Google Analytics.

Install Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension

  1. Open Google Tag Assistant in Chrome Web Store.

  2. Click Add to Chrome.

  3. Click Add extension.

  4. Click the Google Tag Assistant icon Tag Assistant icon on the extension bar.

  5. Select Google Analytics and click Done.

Check exceptions

If your web page sends an exception to Google Analytics, follow these steps to check the exception in Google Tag Assistant:

  1. Open your web page in a Chrome browser.

  2. Click the Google Tag Assistant icon Tag Assistant icon on the extension bar.

  3. Click Enable.

  4. Refresh your web page.

  5. Click the Google Tag Assistant icon.

  6. Click the property ID under Result of Tag Assistant.

  7. Click Exceptions.

  8. Click the Metadata tab to review the exception description, whether the exception is fatal, and the web page's title.

For example, if a web page titled Test exceptions sends the following exception to Google Analytics:

gtag('event', 'exception', {
  'description': 'Division by zero',
  'fatal': false
});

Google Tag Assistant shows the following:

division by zero exception

Check custom dimensions and metrics

If your web page sends custom dimensions and metrics to Google Analytics, follow these steps to check their values in Google Tag Assistant:

  1. Open your web page in a Chrome browser.

  2. Click the Google Tag Assistant icon Tag Assistant icon on the extension bar.

  3. Click Enable.

  4. Refresh your web page.

  5. Click the Google Tag Assistant icon.

  6. Click the property ID under Result of Tag Assistant.

  7. Click Events.

  8. Click the Custom Metrics tab to review the values of the custom dimensions and metrics.

For example, if a web page sends the following custom dimension and metric to Google Analytics:

gtag('config', 'GA_MEASUREMENT_ID', {
  'custom_map': {
     'dimension1': 'age',
     'metric1': 'avg_page_load_time'
}});

gtag('event', 'foo', {'age': 12, 'avg_page_load_time': 1});

Google Tag Assistant shows the following:

custom dimension and metric