InspireOne of the best things about GA4 is how relatively easy it is to get started with out of the box data tracking and reporting - as soon as your GA4 tag is live on your site or app, you get all the basics like page_views, etc. but along with this ease, we also have more capabilities for in-depth customisation and the Reports Workspace is no exception to this.
Before we get to customisation, let’s deal with the basics.
What is the GA4 Report Library?
The GA4 Report Library is a central hub within Google Analytics 4 that allows users to manage and customize reports and navigation. By default, it includes two main collections: Lifecycle and Users, which mirror the structure of Universal Analytics. These collections encompass reports on Acquisition (how users find your site or app), Engagement (user interactions with your content), Monetization (revenue-related data), and Retention (user loyalty and return behavior). The Report Library enables editors and administrators to tailor reports to better suit business needs, providing a dynamic workspace for organising and accessing analytics data.
How do you access the GA4 Report Library?
For those with lower levels of permissions, you will only see the published collections of reports within the Report Workspace. However, for those with Edit or Admin access, you will also notice the option at the bottom of this menu to navigate to Library.
From here, you can see all collections (whether they are visible to everyone using GA4 or not), use collection templates to create your own and customise the way these reports are presented in the left navigation.
Why should you customise your GA4 Report Library?
Just because you can customise your GA4 report library, does not mean you should. Most GA4 users are now accustomed to the default structure, so making changes just for the sake of it may cause more harm than good. However, it is indeed an opportunity to make sure that your stakeholders can understand the reports they’re viewing with ease, feel confident navigating around the interface and that collection content reflects what they need.
6 Easy ways to personalise your GA4 report library
1. Declutter your library
If there are reports that are blank within GA4 because they are not relevant to your business’ website or app features, you can simply get rid of them from view! For example, if you’re not an ecommerce business, all of the Monetisation reports are not needed and can be removed to spare your GA4 users some confusion. Like Marie Kondo says, if it doesn’t spark joy (or insight) then get rid of it (or something like that).
2. Rename your topics
You can also create new topic names in addition to the current topics or replace the existing topics entirely. For those who still long for the familiarity of Universal Analytics, perhaps you would like to change ‘Engagement’ to ‘Behaviour’ like it was in the good ol’ days as shown below where you first create new topic ‘Behaviour’, then drag in the appropriate reports and remove ‘Engagement’.
3. Restructure collections to suit your needs
You can move Detail reports to different categories or even make an entirely custom collection. This might be useful where you want the structure of the reporting to align with the structure and jargon your teams use instead of making sure everyone understands and adapts to GA4 definitions. Eg. Marketing, User Behaviour, Sales, etc.
4. Apply Filters by default
To further align reports for specific teams, you can apply filters (and of course rename the reports) so that your team don't have to do this every time they want this. Eg. Filtering just for events that occur for a certain page category (as in the below, filtered for just blog pages) or showing Acquisition reports that come from each data stream.
5. Create new reports
If filters aren't enough, you can completely create new reports to your liking, choosing exactly the format of an overview or detail report with which graphs, dimensions and metrics you would like to display. You still have the option to work from a template when you select this option, or start from a completely blank slate.
6. Publish Custom Funnels created in Explore
If the default purchase and checkout funnels do not apply to your event data, you can create your own custom funnel in Explore and export it to the Library to be published. This is the only type of Explore technique that allows you to do this.
Personalising your GA4 Report Library can be an opportunity to empower your team with the right data to make smarter, faster decisions. By decluttering reports, renaming topics, restructuring collections, and applying filters, you can align your analytics with your business goals and team workflows. Whether you're a seasoned analyst or a beginner, these simple customisations can transform your data into a tool that works for you, not the other way around.
I hope the above examples inspire you to give it a go and perhaps find other useful ways to tailor your reports! If you’re looking for more ideas on reporting in GA4 then why not join me on our Introduction to Google Analytics 4 Reporting course, or if you’re looking to take things to the next level, our GA4: Advanced Analysis training.
Chanté Matthews-Mohammed
