Google Tag Manager: How to do a version rollback

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free tool that empowers marketers to track website actions using tags. A free and easy tool, GTM is simple and doesn’t require HTML or complex coding.

Every time you publish changes in GTM, a new version is created, and the current version is archived. The date related information of all the versions can be viewed under the versions tab. If you click on any of the versions, you will see all changes that took place in each version; hence, if you want to roll back to a previous version for any given reason, it can be achieved seamlessly.

Below are the two ways by which you can roll back to any previously published version of a GTM container.

Method 1: Direct Version Rollback

The following steps are a direct method and should be used if you know the version you want to roll back to.

1. Click on the Versions tab in the menu bar.

2. Click on the actions drop-down menu of the version you want to publish. Next, click Publish.

3. Click on Preview to confirm you selected the correct version. Finally, click the Publish Now button to complete the process.

If Method 1 Fails

This method should be used if you’re unable to roll back to a previous version using method one. There are several cases when method one may not be successful. For example, if you edit your current version by clicking Edit as New Version from the actions drop-down menu, your current version will be overwritten, and you’ll be unable to retrieve the lost content.

One of our eCommerce clients wanted to see whether disabling marketing pixels would improve their website performance as a measure to prepare for the holiday season. Instead of rolling back to the previously published version (method one), they clicked on the Edit as new version of the first version they had ever published.

This resulted in a deletion of all the tags we had created for them because the Edit as a new version option replaces the current container draft with the contents of the container version you’ve selected. This action doesn’t change the published container version. It also overwrites the contents of the current version. We were unable to roll back to the previous version and retrieve all of our previously implemented tags because they had been overwritten.

Method 2: Rollback Workaround

In case you ever come across such a situation when rollback to the previous version in GTM is not working, try the following steps for a workaround. 

1. Click on the Versions tab in the menu bar.

2. Click on the version you want to roll back to, and click export under the actions drop-down menu. For this example, we will use version 10.

3. The following dialogue box will appear. Click on Download and save the file.

4. Go to the admin section and under the container tab, click on Import.

5. Select the saved .json file by clicking on Choose container file.

6.  After selecting the file, select the Overwrite button and then click Continue.

7. The last step is to click Confirm. Now you are back to the version you always wanted!

Note: Using method two will result in removal of all the recent activity values in the overview section. 

In conclusion, if you are unable to retrieve your lost tags, the rollback workaround method will save your deleted tags. The direct rollback method will handle all other cases of reverting back to previous versions. I hope both the methods listed will be useful for you in retrieving GTM versions and publishing.