The GA4 Events Report: How to Read and Customize It
The Events report lists every event your website or app sent to Google Analytics, how often each one fired and how many people fired it. This guide covers where to find it, what each metric counts, the detail page behind each event, marking key events and saving your own version of the report.
This guide is built from Google's Analytics Help article on the Events report, plus the Help pages on customizing reports, custom events and the (other) row linked below. Choosing and setting up key events is covered in our key events guide, and registering parameters in our custom dimensions guide. This page is about reading the report itself.
What the report shows
Google describes it as "a pre-made detail report that shows how many times each event is triggered and how many users trigger each event on your website or app." There is one row per event name: page_view, session_start, scroll, a form submission, a purchase, and anything else your tags send.
It includes every event "triggered and collected by Analytics within the specified date range," of four kinds:
- Automatically collected events, such as first_visit and session_start, which GA4 sends without any setup.
- Enhanced measurement events, such as scroll, click and file_download, switched on per web stream. Our enhanced measurement guide lists them.
- Recommended events, names Google defines for common actions, such as generate_lead or purchase.
- Custom events, names you choose yourself, usually sent from Google Tag Manager or code, or made in GA4 with Create event (see our modify and create events guide).
That makes it the quickest place to answer "is this event arriving at all, and how often?" before you build anything on top of it.
Where to find it
- Sign in to Google Analytics.
- From the left menu, select Reports.
- Click Engagement > Events.
If it is not there, Google says it "may have been removed or isn't in your default view," and Editors and above can add it back to the left navigation. Our Landing page report guide walks through the Library steps; they work the same way for this report.
When new events show up
Google's wording: "Data about an event appears in the report up to 24 hours from when the event was triggered." So an event you set up this morning may not be in the Events report until tomorrow. That delay is normal and is not a sign the tag is broken.
To check an event straight away, use the tools built for that:
- Realtime report. Its Event count by Event name card shows each event triggered "in the last 30 minutes," and Google's About events article says you "can click an event to see the event parameters that were sent with the event." Our Realtime report guide covers the cards.
- DebugView. It shows every event from one device in debug mode, with its parameters, which is the better test while you are still building. See our DebugView guide.
Event count, total users and the other metrics
The report has one dimension, Event name, and these metrics. Editors and Administrators can add or remove both.
| Metric | Google's definition, in short | Shown by default? |
|---|---|---|
| Event count | "The number of times users triggered an event" | Yes |
| Event count per active user | "The average number of events triggered per user" | Yes |
| Total users | "The number of unique users (or user IDs) who triggered at least one event" | Yes |
| Total revenue | Purchases, in-app purchases, subscriptions and ad revenue | Yes |
| Event value | "The sum of all 'value' parameters supplied with an event" | No, an Editor has to add it |
Event count vs total users
Event count counts every time the event fired. Total users counts each person once. If 40 people view 200 pages, page_view shows an event count of 200 and 40 total users. Read the two side by side:
- For actions that should happen once (a form submission, a sign-up), the two numbers should be close. An event count far above total users can mean people really repeat the action, or that the tag fires twice, for example once on the click and again on the thank-you page. DebugView will show which.
- For actions that repeat (page_view, scroll, click), a high count per user is expected. Event count per active user tells you how many times a typical user fires it.
Users vs sessions vs events is a common source of confusion; our users vs sessions guide explains how GA4 counts people.
Total revenue vs event value
Total revenue only comes from the purchase, in_app_purchase and app store subscription events, plus ad revenue from AdMob, Ad Manager or an ad_impression event. Google's note: "Only events about purchases, in-app purchases, subscriptions, and ad revenue can have total revenue."
For a value on any other event, such as a lead, add the Event value metric. Google says it "combines realized and unrealized values" and "isn't currency converted," so it is a sum of whatever numbers you sent, not a revenue figure. You populate it by sending a value parameter with the event.
The detail page for one event
Clicking an event name in the table opens a page about that one event. Google's custom events article says it includes "details about the parameters, demographics about the users who triggered the event, and how many users triggered each event (and the associated parameters) in realtime."
Parameters you sent but never registered do not become report dimensions. Google's custom dimensions article says event-scoped custom dimensions are what "enable you to report on custom event parameters," and that new ones take 24-48 hours before you can report on them. One registered dimension works for every event that sends the parameter. Older properties may still show names such as "custom_dimension_name [event_name]," left over from the earlier per-event parameter reporting. Registering, scopes and limits are in our custom dimensions guide.
Once a parameter is registered, you can also add it to the main Events report as a secondary dimension, for example form_id next to a form event, to split one event name into its variants.
Marking a key event from the report
You can mark an event as a key event without leaving the report. Google's steps:
- In the table in the second half of the Events report, find the event.
- Click the menu to the right of the event row.
- Select Mark as key event.
Google's key events article adds that marking "doesn't change historic data" and to "allow for up to 24 hours" before it shows in standard reports. Which events to mark, counting method, key event value and Google Ads imports are in our key events guide.
The (other) row
An (other) row appears when a table has more rows than its row limit. Google's (other) row article says Analytics then shows "only the most common dimension values" and groups the rest. The Events report with only Event name is rarely affected, because a site sends a limited number of event names: Google notes "a standard report with one dimension is rarely affected." It becomes more likely when you add a secondary dimension with many values, filters or comparisons. If (other) appears after you add a registered parameter such as a URL or a search term, that parameter is the cause. Cardinality and how to avoid it are in our custom dimensions guide.
Customizing and saving the report
To change the report for everyone, an Editor or Administrator customizes it. Google's customize detail reports article covers the options:
- Metrics: "up to 12 metrics" in the table, and a default sort metric. This is where you add Event value or Key events.
- Dimensions: extra dimensions in the picker above the table, and which one is the default.
- Report filter: a saved filter that appears under the report header, with up to 4 extra conditions joined by AND. Useful for a report that shows only your own custom events.
- Charts: change the chart types or hide one or both.
Changes are kept with Save > Save changes to current report, or saved as a new report. Google allows "up to 150 custom reports" per property. A report based on Google's template gets Google's later updates unless you unlink it; Google warns that unlinked reports "cannot be linked in the future." Our Landing page report guide shows the customize panel step by step.
How we use the report
This is our own practice, not Google guidance:
- After a new tag goes live, we confirm it in DebugView and Realtime the same day, then check the Events report the next day for the event name, spelling and a sensible count per user.
- We read a once-only event (a lead form, a booking) next to Total users. If the count is well above the number of people, we look for a double-firing tag before trusting any key event or Google Ads figure built on it.
- We scan the list for names nobody expects, such as a misspelled duplicate (form_submit next to formsubmit), and fix the tag or rename it with a modify rule.
- On client properties we save a version filtered to our custom events with Key events added, so the events that matter are not lost among page_view and scroll.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Events report in GA4?
Go to Reports, then Engagement > Events. If it is missing, an Editor or Administrator can add it back to the left navigation from the Library.
Why is my new event not in the Events report?
Google says event data appears in the report up to 24 hours after the event was triggered. To check sooner, look at the Event count by Event name card in the Realtime report, which covers the last 30 minutes, or use DebugView.
What is the difference between event count and total users?
Event count is how many times the event fired. Total users is how many unique users triggered it at least once. One person who fires an event five times adds five to event count and one to total users.
How do I see event parameters in the Events report?
Click the event name to open its detail page. To use a custom parameter as a dimension in reports, register it as an event-scoped custom dimension; Google says to allow 24-48 hours before it shows.
Can I mark a key event from the Events report?
Yes. Find the event in the table, click the menu at the end of its row and select Mark as key event. It applies from then on and does not change past data.
For more on measurement, see our guides to GA4 basics, the Pages and screens report, explorations, Google Tag Manager and monthly website reporting.