I'm trying to follow this guide:

It says that you can use gtag('set', {key: value}) to add a set of values to the next gtag calls. However, it doesn't work.

So, this is the setup I used in order to have gtag available on the app:

window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('set', 'anonymizeIp', true);
gtag('config', 'my_ga_tracking_id', {
  send_page_view: false,
  custom_map: {
    dimension1: 'a_dimension' 
  }
});

And then this code once the app is loaded:

gtag('set', { a_dimension: 'test' });
gtag('event', 'an_event');

I expected to see the a_dimension attached to the event an_event sent to GA but I can't find it.

What am I missing?

I'm trying to follow this guide: https://developers.google./gtagjs/reference/api#set

It says that you can use gtag('set', {key: value}) to add a set of values to the next gtag calls. However, it doesn't work.

So, this is the setup I used in order to have gtag available on the app:

window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('set', 'anonymizeIp', true);
gtag('config', 'my_ga_tracking_id', {
  send_page_view: false,
  custom_map: {
    dimension1: 'a_dimension' 
  }
});

And then this code once the app is loaded:

gtag('set', { a_dimension: 'test' });
gtag('event', 'an_event');

I expected to see the a_dimension attached to the event an_event sent to GA but I can't find it.

What am I missing?

• javascript
• google-analytics

• 1 have you set this variable in Tag manager itself? – Chris Townsend Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 10:42
• No. Is that required? – Wilk Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 11:43
• So as far as I know yes. I recently did some Gtag stuff and to get it to pass into GA, I had to create the variable, and pass it in to an event trigger – Chris Townsend Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 12:14
• Actually, I defined a dimension, not a tag, on GA. Does it count? – Wilk Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 14:33

3 Answers 3

I solved by using gtag('config') where I needed to set mon dimensions instead of gtag('set').

The only think I dislike in this solution is that I need to have those mon values always available at that level.

In short: don't use set. It's meant for GTM. gtag documentation is misleading in this regard. We went more thoroughly through it here: Google Analytics custom dimension not working: gtag set() method issues

to add properties you need to use 'set' together with 'event'. And also configure Special definitions in GA.

For example

const handleUserPropertiesNePetro = () => {
    gtag('set', 'user_properties', {
      custom_client_character: 'Halerik'
    });
    gtag('event', 'user_properties');
  };