One of the options that we still miss about the old Universal Analytics is the possibility of inserting annotations in our reports, to help us remember and indicate relevant milestones that improve their reading. While we wait for Google Analytics 4 to incorporate this functionality, here we tell you about a solution that allows us to insert annotations, and also migrate UA annotations to our new GA4.
Install Crystal Ball
Using this Crystal Ball app we can achieve this. The first thing will be to create an account on that service, and then download its extension for Chrome.
Once this is done, we will go to the Accounts option to connect our Google account, and in this way have access to the GA properties associated with that account.
After this, we are ready to add a first annotation:
- Click on the button Add Annotation – Manual to add an annotation manually:
2. At Event Name we enter the GA4 event to which we want to associate the annotation.
3. At Category we choose a category for the annotation.
4. At Description we enter the annotation itself, trying to be brief and descriptive at the same time.
5. We can also associate a URL, and we must choose a timestamp for the annotation.
6. Finally we can associate the annotation to a specific GA property, or allow it to be associated to all the properties of our account. It is recommended to choose one property.
7. Click on the button Add button, and that’s it.
Thus, when reviewing the reports of the property we chose, an indicator will appear (red circle) that will display the annotation we added, on the date indicated:
You can also view all annotations entered by clicking on the Chrome extension icon at the top right of your browser:
Migrate annotations from UA to GA4
The Crystall Ball app also makes it easy for us to migrate old annotations that we have in our UA property, and be able to view them in GA4. It is worth noting that this option is indeed useful to apply with the annotations we made during the period of time in which UA and GA4 worked in parallel, i.e. from October 2020 to July 2023; and in particular from the date we created our GA4 property.
So, to migrate the annotations, the first step is to copy them from our UA account:
- Open your Google Analytics UA property.
- Click on the Admin option in the left side menu.
- Click on Annotations:
- Copy the list of annotations (select them with the mouse, and copy them with Ctrl+C):
- Next, we proceed to upload the annotations in GA4. First, log in to your Crystal Ball.
- On the annotations page, click on the “CSV Upload” button at the top right:
- Download the sample CSV file provided by Crystal Ball, to copy your annotations there:
- Paste your UA annotations (copied in step 4) into the sample CSV file:
- Choose the GA account associated with these annotations, and click “Upload and Preview”:
- Map the columns. If there is an error, you can correct the indicated fields:
- Click “Continue” to upload your annotations. They will now appear in your Crystal Ball account:
- If you haven’t already done so, download the Crystal Ball Chrome extensionand log in to your account.
- Log in to your GA4 account, and you will now see colored circles in the report graphs. These are your GA4 annotations!
