Instructions

Using GA Data Grabber is very simple - you can quickly find out how it works by just trying it for a few minutes. This page contains a short introduction to the tool and answers to some frequently asked questions. 

In case you can't find an answer to your question here, please visit the our help forum. If you need to send us sensitive information that you don't want to post to a public forum, you can also contact us by email at info@automateanalytics.com.

Getting started

When opening the tool for the first time, press the button to log in to Google Analytics. The tool will fetch a list of your Google Analytics accounts and profiles. 
  


To run your first report, follow these three steps (shown in the image above):
    1. Choose some profiles for your report by clicking the profile name, or by typing anything to the column to the left of the account name. The selected profiles will change their colour.
    2. Choose one or more metrics using the drop down menus. You can also select dimensions, if you want to split the data rather than just fetch the aggregate figures.
    3. Press the "Run the report" button. The tool will then run the query and display the results in a new sheet.

For example, to get visits on monthly level split by traffic source:
    1. Select the profile(s) that you wish to include in the report
    2. In the "Choose metrics" dropdown menu, select "Visits"
    3. In the upper "Split by" dropdown menu, Select "Source" (under "TRAFFIC SOURCE")
    4. In the lower "Split by" dropdown menu, Select "Month"
    5. Press run report

Once the report is ready, you should see something like this:


This is just a very simple example. The power of GA Data Grabber is in its flexibility: you can freely select which metrics you wish to see in your reports, and how to split them. You are not restricted to a set of predefined dashboards. You can create a set of reports, each in its own worksheet, and update them for example every week or month, or even daily - this can greatly reduce the amount of time needed for regular reporting.

You can see many example reports being created in this video:




Frequently asked questions


Why doesn't anything happen when I press the "Log into Google Analytics" button?

To use GA Data Grabber, you need to allow the execution of VBA macros in Excel. If the login buttons don't work, this indicates that you need to change Excel's settings. How to do this depends on your Excel version:
  • In Windows Excel 2007 and later, when opening the file, check if you see this kind of warning:


    If so, click the "Options" button, and select either of the two lower options from the dialog that pops up:

    The login buttons should now work.
    You can also enable macros by going to Excel Options: Trust Center: Trust Center Settings: Macro Settings. Then select the last or the second last option, and restart Excel. When reopening GA Data Grabber, accept certificate by MT Analytics if prompted. Screenshots below, click to enlarge:







  • In Windows Excel 2003, go to Tools: Macros: Security. Select "High", "Medium" or "Low". Restart Excel. Click "Enable macros" if prompted.
  • In Mac Excel 2011, you need to click "Enable macros" when opening the workbook
Note that GA Data Grabber does not work in Mac Excel versions older than 2011, or Windows Excel versions older than 2003.

How do I refresh a report to cover a new date range?

Reports that have been created with a dynamic date range (eg. last 7 days, year to date) automatically update the date range every time they are refreshed. 
 
To refresh a report that has been created with a fixed date range, go to the report sheet, change the date range, and press the Refresh button (see image below).




What are the definitions of the metrics and dimensions that GA Data Grabber makes available?

You can find the definitions here:

In addition, there are some metrics that we calculate in GA Data Grabber that are not listed in the API specifications. You can find many of those described here: http://www.automateanalytics.com/2011/09/8-new-metrics-available-in-ga-data.html

For the Facebook Module, the tool displays a definition of each metric that is selected. While Facebook's own documentation is not very good, you can find some articles explaining the metrics in more detail (eg. http://www.gilliganondata.com/index.php/2011/12/15/understanding-facebook-insights-terminology-redux/)

How can I get separate metrics for paid and organic search traffic?

You should select "Medium" from the "Split by" dropdown menus (it's there under Traffic Source).

How do I use filters?

Filters are a powerful way to target your reports to include just a certain part of your data. In the latest versions of GA Data Grabber, there's a button for managing filters below the "Select report fields" section of the Analytics, AdWords and adCenter sheets (the Facebook module does not support filtering).

In older versions of GA Data Grabber, you can find a place under "Report options" for typing a filter string. Google's instructions on how to type filters can be found here: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gdata/gdataReferenceDataFeed.html#filters. 

Can I include several advanced segments in the same report?

Not yet, but this is a commonly requested feature that we will certainly be adding soon.

I see the option for comparing against the same period a year earlier, and against the previous period of the same length. What if I want to compare against some other date range?

This can done following these instructions:
  1. Select the report fields and set comparison to previous period of same length.
  2. Run the report.
  3. Unhide a worksheet called "querystorage". There you'll see the parameters for each of your existing reports. Find the column that contains the report you just ran.
  4. In the the querystorage sheet, in the row labeled "Comparison", you should see the value "previous". Change this value to "custom", and in the two rows below labeled "Comparison start date" and "Comparison end date", type the date range you wish to compare against. See image below:



  5. Go to the report and press the Refresh button. The figures will now be compared against the custom date range.

Can I modify the formatting of the charts created by GA Data Grabber?

Yes, the charts in the reports can be modified, and the modifications will remain when you refresh the reports. 
 
You can also modify the templates that GA Data Grabber uses to make the charts. To do this, unhide a worksheet called "charttemplates" and modify the charts found there. These modifications will then appear in all new reports you create.

Is it possible to create or modify reports en masse?

Yes, unhide a worksheet called "querystorage". There you will find the parameters for all your existing reports. You can modify these parameters, and when you refresh the reports, they will be updated accordingly. You can also add new report definitions to the querystorage sheet, and create reports based on these using the buttons on that sheet.

Can I combine several reports into a single PowerPoint presentation?

Yes, after you have logged in, you can see a button on the Modules sheet for exporting all reports. After pressing this button, you can choose to export all reports into a single PPT.

How can I export reports to PDF?

PDF exporting is only available when using the tool with Windows Excel 2007 or newer. You can find it in when you press the "Export all reports" button. 

Why do I see discrepancies between GA Data Grabber and the Google Analytics web interface?

While most of the time, GA Data Grabber matches exactly the figures that the Google Analytics web interface displays, sometimes there are discrepancies. There are two common reasons for these discrepancies:
  1. Google samples the results it delivers to GA Data Grabber. In some cases, Google uses sampling to calculate the results of queries, which can cause differences between GA Data Grabber and Analytics. The magnitude of the discrepancies is usually in the range of 1-4 %. GA Data Grabber displays a note in the reports where it sees that Google has used sampling. Sampling occurs most often in queries that include an advanced segment, or where the data is split by multiple dimensions.
  2. The Google Analytics API and the Google Analytics web interface are not always totally in sync. GA Data Grabber relies on the Google Analytics API, which may in some cases deliver figures which differ from the Analytics web interface. Small differences can be seen every now and then, but sometimes bugs in Google's end cause major discrepancies. From our experience, bugs like this happen a few times a year. If you suspect something like this may be affecting your reports, there are a few places where you can investigate the issue:

When you see a discrepancy, before notifying us of the issue, please follow these steps:
  1. Check if the report includes a note such as this: "This report contains sampled data (sampling done by Google)". If this is the case, and the discrepancy is just a few percent, then it's very likely caused by the data sampling, and we can't unfortunately do anything about the issue.
  2. Try to fetch the same data with Google's own API tool (http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gdata/gdataExplorer.html). If the results match GA Data Grabber's, then the issue is in Google's end and we can't fix it.
  3. Download the latest GA Data Grabber version. If the discrepancy is caused by a bug in GA Data Grabber, it may have been fixed already in the latest version.

How can I refresh the profile/client list to include new profiles/clients that my user account has access rights to?

Currently, to refresh the profile or client list, you need to log out and then log in again. Logging out will not affect your existing reports. In the future, we will add a button for refreshing the profile/client list without needing to log out.

Why don't the dropdown menus work when I use GA Data Grabber on my Mac? They close so quickly I can't select anything.

In Mac Excel, to use the dropdown menus you need to hold down the mouse button, not just click it like usual. Also, due to a bug in Mac Excel, using the scroll bars in dropdown menus does not work properly.

Why does GA Data Grabber randomly crash on my Mac?

Unfortunately, Mac Excel 2011 is quite buggy, and running macros often results in crashes. We have tried to address this issue, but due to the inherent instability of the platform, we can not fully resolve it. Microsoft will hopefully address the issue in future patches. Meanwhile, we suggest you save the file often, or if possible, use the tool on a PC, as it's very stable on Windows and faster too.
Often, the errors appear randomly and are not related to the type of report you run. In these cases, restarting Excel usually helps.

Why does Excel repeatedly ask for a VBA password when I close GA Data Grabber?

The most likely reason is that you have Google Desktop installed on your machine, as a bug in Google Desktop is known to cause this behaviour. Unfortunately, the only solution to this seems to be to uninstall Google Desktop. See http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2004/12/11/google-desktop/

I have many computers where I would like to use GA Data Grabber. Do I need to buy several GA Data Grabber licenses?

No, you need just one license. Even if you buy just one license for GA Data Grabber, you can still use it on multiple machines. It can even be used on more than one machine simultaneously. The only restriction is for the Google Account you use when logging into the tool: with one license, you can only specify one Google Account to be used with the tool.

Do you access or use our data in any way?

No. When GA Data Grabber fetches data, the queries go through our servers, which do some data processing work on the raw numbers that Google provides. The results are forwarded to your machine, and nothing is stored on our servers. We don't access your data or make use of it in any way. You can see our privacy policy here.

What if I accidentally send my GA Data Grabber workbook to the wrong person, will they have access to my data?

To prevent situations like this, it's a good idea to protect the workbook with a password. If you have not protected the workbook and send it to the wrong person, what you should do depends on the modules you are using:
  • Analytics Module: Go to your Google Account dashboard and remove GA Data Grabber's access rights to your data. You can then log in again to GA Data Grabber and reauthorize the app.
  • Facebook Module: Go to your Facebook settings and remove GA Data Grabber's access rights to your data. You can then log in again to GA Data Grabber and reauthorize the app.
  • AdWords/adCenter Module: change your AdWords/adCenter password.
If you have any questions, contact us at info@automateanalytics.com.

How can I cancel my GA Data Grabber subscription?

When you make the purchase via PayPal, a recurring payment is added to your PayPal account. You can cancel this payment at any time by logging into your PayPal account. If you cancel the recurring payment, when your GA Data Grabber license expires, PayPal won't automatically make a new license payment, and we will end your access to the tool. 
 
You don't need to inform us when cancelling the subscription, simply remove the payment from PayPal. But of course, we would be interested in hearing the reasons why you are cancelling, so we can take these into consideration when we develop the tool further.

If you have any questions not addressed here, please visit the our help forum. You can also contact us at info@automateanalytics.com.