How to Add a User to Google Analytics (Step by Step)

Struggling with how to add a user to Google Analytics?

If you need to share data or access with other users, Google Analytics includes a built-in feature to add new users and control exactly what data and functionality they can access.

👨‍🎓 In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to add a user to Google Analytics, along with:

  • Restricting that user’s access as needed. For example, you could only give them access to certain views.
  • Deleting users.
  • Creating user groups to organize users if you need to add a lot of accounts.

How to add user to Google Analytics

Adding a user to Google Analytics requires:

  1. A Google Analytics account (also, maybe a plugin to link to your website)
  2. Whatever properties and views necessary for your website

A quick note about user account permissions

We’ll show you how to change user permissions further in the tutorial, but you should know that the first step of adding a new user dictates some of its initial user roles; it all depends on where you add the user from:

For instance, adding a user in the Property Access Management section grants the user access to view or edit Properties and Views, but not Accounts. That’s because Accounts are higher in the hierarchy than Properties, and Views are the lowest.

accounts and properties and views for learning how to add user to Google Analytics

With that in mind, let’s get into how to add a user to Google Analytics. 😎

Step 1: Open the right access management section

In Google Analytics—from anywhere in your account—find and click on the Admin menu item in the bottom-left corner.

admin button

This brings up the Admin panel with options for the three levels:

  1. Account
  2. Property
  3. View

Each one has an “Access Management” choice. Select whichever one makes sense for this particular user.

the hierarchy

Step 2: Add emails for the new user(s)

In the Access Management module, you’ll see a list of all current users. Click the blue “+” button in the upper-right corner.

click the plus button for how to add user to Google Analytics

This displays a menu with two options:

  1. Add Users
  2. Add User Groups

Click Add Users.

how to add user to Google Analytics

Type in the email address for your prospective user in the Email Addresses field. You are welcome to add multiple emails in one batch.

Mark the box below to “Notify New Users By Email.”

type in email

Step 3: Set direct roles and data restrictions

Scroll down in the same module to find a section called “Direct Roles and Data Restrictions.”

Under Standard Roles, pick a role from the list to give that user.

Here are the options:

  • Administrator: Grants complete control over the Google Analytics dashboard, from the account, property, and view levels. Be very careful about who you give this to.
  • Editor: Allows the user to edit anything within the account, except for user settings. You should also be careful about who you give this to.
  • Analyst: Works like a Viewer role (below), but with the ability to make and edit shared items like dashboards.
  • Viewer: Can view all settings and data on an account, but can’t edit or share anything.
  • None: This is a role, but without any abilities, perhaps used for someone you intend to add in the future.
how to add user to Google Analytics and set roles

Step 4: Add data restrictions

Down a little further, there’s a section for Data Restrictions. These allow you to hide more sensitive data from some users, like:

  • Cost Metrics
  • Revenue Metrics

Note: Giving someone an Administrator role means they can come and change their own data restrictions.

data restrictions in Google Analytics

Step 5: Add the user to Google Analytics

Once you’re done with the roles and restrictions, click the Add button.

how to add user to Google Analytics

If you had the “Notify New Users By Email” box checked, each new user receives an email explaining the new role, with information about who granted the role and how to access the dashboard.

confirmation email

You’ll also see the new Google Analytics user in the Access Management panel, along with all other users with those roles.

list of Google Analytics users

The user can now access every part you allowed, whether that’s only “Read-only” reports as a Viewer, or everything in the dashboard as an Administrator.

How to give previously created users specific roles and permissions

We saw that it’s possible to designate roles during the user creation process, but what about editing those roles once it’s over? 🤔 Or getting more specific with the permissions?

Step 1: View user account details

To edit roles and permissions of a current user, go to Admin in Google Analytics. Then, select one of the Access Management options under Account, Property, or View.

admin button

This brings you to the list of current users. On the right-hand side, each user has a button with three vertical dots. Click on that to show a menu. Choose the option to View User’s Account Details.

view user account details button

Step 2: Adjust roles and permissions

You’re now looking at the specified roles for one user, but on three different levels:

  • The Account level
  • The Property level
  • The View level

Roles work with the standard organizational hierarchy in Google Analytics. So, a role granted at the Account level will also be available at the Property and View levels. However, you can’t go in reverse, like making a user an Admin for the Property level, but only a Viewer on the Account level.

Moving forward, click on each role you want to edit. Each of them has a Pencil icon and link for you to click.

change permissions for Google Analytics users

Go through the list of possible roles and select the one that makes the most sense for that user, and for the level (Account, Property, and View).

It’s also possible to click the View Permissions section to see a complete view of what that user is allowed to do in the account.

pick a role

Step 3: Save and view the new user roles

Once you save those roles, Google Analytics sends you back to the organizational hierarchy for that user. This allows you to see what has been saved.

As an example, we set this user to have Viewer capabilities, meaning they can only view the “Read-only” reports and settings throughout the entire account. But they do gain higher permissions for Editing on the Property and View levels.

change roles for Google Analytics users

How to delete users from Google Analytics

Deleting a user from Google Analytics is rather similar to adding one.

In Google Analytics, go to Admin, then select one of the Access Management options. Account Access Management is usually your best bet.

admin button

Look to the right of the user list to click the vertical dots button. Choose Remove Access from the dropdown menu.

remove access to Google Analytics user

That removes all previously configured access for the Google Analytics user. They get deleted from your account, and can’t log into your dashboard.

Furthermore, an email isn’t sent for Google Analytics user deletions, to not alert someone if you don’t want.

To re-add a user, simply go through the previous process again.

How to create user groups on Google Analytics

User groups make Google Analytics more organized by placing multiple users into one folder. That way, you only have to set user roles and permissions once, and all the users in that folder inherit the changes.

👉 Keep in mind that to create a user group, your Analytics account must belong to an Organization and have a Google Marketing Platform account. If those aren’t configured, be sure to set those up first.

Step 1: Go to the Access Management section

As with all user actions in Google Analytics, making a user group starts by clicking on the Admin menu item. Then, select whichever Access Management option you desire.

admin

Step 2: Add user group

To the upper right of your user list for that level, select the blue “+” button. You’ll see a dropdown menu appear. Pick the option to Add User Group.

add user groups to Google Analytics

As mentioned, you won’t be able to generate a user group unless you link the account to Google Marketing Platform and start an organization. There’s more information about that in the popup if you need to complete that process.

link to google marketing platform

Step 3: Create and save the group

Finally, click on the Add Group button. Find the “+” button and select that.

Fill in the Name and Description fields to recognize the user group when organizing it later.

Click the Create button. After that, you set the permissions like you would any other user, then click Add.

All user groups show up in the same list of users we’ve discussed a few times in this article.

Summary

By showing you how to add a user to Google Analytics, we’ve discussed:

  • 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 How to add a user to Google Analytics: understanding the Google Analytics organizational hierarchy, setting roles and data restrictions so that some people have more control than others.
  • 🔒️ How to change roles and permissions for users after they’ve been added to the account: including multiple roles for one user based on the Analytics level and how much you want to show a person.
  • 🚫 Deleting users with the click of a button
  • 🧑🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏻 How to add user groups in Google Analytics for improved organization and more globalized roles: how you must create an organization in Google Marketing Platform and link it to your Google Analytics account before creating a user group.

Do you still have any questions about how to add a user to Google Analytics? Let us know in the comments!

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