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Import historical data

Switching analytics tools should not mean losing your history. Clickport imports your old traffic data from CSV files, either report exports from Google Analytics 4 or the export ZIP from your former analytics tool, and shows it on the dashboard next to the data Clickport measures itself.

Open /<domain>/settings/imports-exports to find it. Drop your files, check the preview, click Import.

Planning a full switch from Google Analytics? The migration guide walks through all six steps; this page covers the import itself.

What it looks like

Imported history appears on your dashboard chart with a slightly darker background and two vertical marker lines showing where the imported window begins and ends. Hovering any bucket in that region tags it as imported data in the tooltip.

Imported data · 1 Jan – 15 May 2025 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Left of the second marker line is your imported history. Right of it, Clickport's own measurements. The boundary sits at the exact day your import ends, even mid-week or mid-month, so nothing is ever counted twice.

What you can import

Two formats, auto-detected per file. You can mix them in one upload.

Google Analytics 4 report exports

CSV files exported from the GA4 web interface. Four reports are supported:

  • Traffic acquisition (session source/medium) becomes your Sources and Channels history.
  • Pages and screens becomes your Pages history.
  • Demographic details: Country becomes your Locations history.
  • A date-only report with totals becomes your daily visitors series.

One requirement: every report needs Date as the secondary dimension before you export, because GA4's default export carries totals without dates and daily history cannot be rebuilt from totals. Exports in other interface languages work; we recognize the localized column headers.

The export ZIP from your former analytics tool

Many privacy-focused analytics tools export your data as a ZIP of CSV files named imported_visitors_<start>_<end>.csv, imported_sources_..., and so on. Drop the whole ZIP on the import box: it is unpacked in your browser and only the useful files are uploaded. We import the visitors, sources, pages, and locations tables; other files in the ZIP (devices, browsers, entry pages, custom events) are recognized and skipped with a note, not treated as errors.

How to export from GA4

  1. Open the report, for example Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition.
  2. Set the date range to your full history.
  3. Click the + next to the primary dimension and add Date as the secondary dimension.
  4. Set the row limit to the maximum so no rows are cut off.
  5. Share → Download file → Download CSV.
  6. Repeat for the other reports you want to bring over.

The preview

Nothing is written until you confirm. After you drop files, each one shows what was recognized, how many rows will be imported, and what will be skipped:

✓ imported_visitors_20210101_20240315.csv Analytics export (visitors) · 1,170 rows
✓ imported_sources_20210101_20240315.csv Analytics export (sources) · 17,268 rows
– imported_devices_20210101_20240315.csv devices file recognized: skipped
✕ ga4-pages.csv 212 rows have no Date value. Add "Date" as the secondary dimension.
Import Jan 1, 2021 – Mar 15, 2024

Rows dated on or after the day Clickport started tracking your site are skipped and counted in the preview. That cutoff is what makes double counting impossible: imported history always ends before Clickport's own data begins.

One import per site

A site has at most one active import. Importing again replaces the previous one entirely, which also means a botched upload is never a problem: fix the files and import again. Deleting the import removes every imported row and touches nothing Clickport measured itself.

Import data
✓ Google Analytics (CSV) Jan 1, 2021 – Mar 15, 2024 182,340 rows Delete
Drop CSV files or an export ZIP here, or click to choose
GA4 report exports (with Date as secondary dimension), or the export ZIP from your former analytics tool

What imported data can and cannot show

Imports are daily aggregates, not raw events, so they carry less detail than Clickport's own measurements:

  • Always on the chart. Any date range that reaches into the imported window shows it on the main chart, shaded and marked as above.
  • Full panels for fully-imported ranges. Pick a range that ends before Clickport tracking began and the visitor KPIs plus the Channels, Sources, Pages, Countries, Regions, and Cities panels are served from your import.
  • Clickport-only numbers for mixed ranges. On a range spanning both eras (like All Time), KPIs and panels show what Clickport measured. Imported daily aggregates cannot be deduplicated against Clickport visitors, and we do not mix two measurement systems inside one number.
  • Not part of imports: sessions, goals and conversions, journeys, device and browser data, scroll depth, custom events, and hourly resolution. A single imported day shows daily totals with a note instead of an hourly chart.
  • Filters do not apply to imported data. With an active filter, pre-tracking ranges show Clickport data only.

City-level rows deserve a note: former-tool exports reference cities by GeoNames ID rather than name. We resolve those IDs against the GeoNames database during queries, so your imported city breakdown shows real city names.

Limits

  • Up to 16 files per upload, 12 MB per file. ZIPs are unpacked in the browser, so only the CSVs inside count.
  • At most 5 million rows per import. Regular report exports are far below this; if you hit it, export a shorter date range.
  • Imports are rate-limited per account to a handful per hour.
  • Owners, admins, and editors can import; viewers cannot.
  • Imported data never counts toward your plan's pageview limit. Billing only ever counts what Clickport measures.

Troubleshooting

"Recognized as sources but N rows have no Date value"

The GA4 export was made without the Date secondary dimension, so the rows are totals, not daily history. Add Date as the secondary dimension in the report and export again.

"All rows fall on or after the day Clickport started tracking"

Your export only covers the period Clickport has already measured, so there is nothing to add. Export an earlier date range if your old tool has more history.

My numbers differ from what Google Analytics showed

They will, modestly. The imported rows are exactly what your old tool recorded, but the two eras were measured by different systems: consent banners, ad blockers, and bot filtering all affect tools differently. Expect a visible seam in levels at the boundary line; that seam is honest.

Can I import after Clickport has been tracking for months?

Yes, any time. Only the days before your first Clickport pageview are taken from the import, so the order of operations never matters.

Previous Export Data (full ZIP)