How to Delete a Property in Google Analytics: A Step-by-Step Guide

How do you delete a property in Google Analytics?

You delete a property in Google Analytics 4 by going to Admin, opening the property’s settings, and choosing Move to Trash Can, which requires the Administrator role on that property. The deleted property isn’t gone immediately: GA4 keeps it in a trash can for 35 days before permanently deleting it, so you have a window to restore it if you change your mind (Google). This guide walks through the full process, what to check first, and how to recover a property you deleted by mistake.

Key Takeaways

• Delete a GA4 property in Admin, via the property’s settings, using Move to Trash Can (Google).
• You need the Administrator role on the property to delete it.
• Deleted properties stay in the trash can for 35 days, then are permanently removed.
• You can restore a property from the trash within that 35-day window.
• This applies to Google Analytics 4; Universal Analytics was discontinued in 2023 (Google).

If you’re tidying up your account, it helps to first understand what each property does, covered in our guide to the benefits of Google Analytics.

What do you need before you delete a property?

Before deleting, you need the Administrator role on the property and a clear understanding of what you’ll lose, because deletion removes the property’s data after the trash-can period (Google). Only users with Administrator access can delete a property, so if you don’t have it, you’ll need someone who does.

A few checks are worth doing first. Confirm you’re deleting the right property, since accounts can contain several and the names can look similar. Export or back up any data you might need later, because once a property is permanently deleted, its historical data goes with it. Make sure no live website or app is still sending data to the property you’re removing, or you’ll lose tracking on something that’s still active. And understand the hierarchy: in GA4 an account can hold multiple properties, and each property can have multiple data streams, so deleting a property is different from deleting an account or a single data stream. The table below clarifies the levels.

How do you delete a GA4 property step by step?

Deleting a property takes a few clicks in the Admin area, provided you have Administrator access (Google). The steps are straightforward once you’re in the right place.

1. Sign in to Google Analytics and select the account and property you want to delete.
2. Click Admin, the gear or settings icon, usually at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
3. Open the property’s settings in the Property column (Property details or Property Settings).
4. Choose Move to Trash Can, the delete option for the property.
5. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Once confirmed, the property moves to the trash can and stops appearing in your normal property list. Nothing is permanently erased yet, the 35-day countdown begins, which is your safety net if you realise you’ve deleted the wrong one.

What happens after you delete a property?

After you delete a property, it moves to the trash can and is scheduled for permanent deletion 35 days later, during which it stops collecting and showing data (Google). The trash can is GA4’s protection against accidental deletion.

During those 35 days, the property is effectively inactive: it no longer appears in your active properties, its reports aren’t accessible in the normal view, and any tracking code still pointing to it stops feeding usable data. At the end of the 35 days, Google permanently deletes the property and all its data, and at that point it can’t be recovered. This is why backing up important data beforehand matters, and why the trash-can window is worth using as a final review period rather than rushing to empty it. If the property was genuinely unwanted, you can simply let the 35 days run out.

How do you restore a deleted property?

You restore a deleted property from the trash can within the 35-day window, in the Admin area, by selecting it and choosing to restore (Google). As long as the property is still in the trash and the window hasn’t expired, recovery is quick.

To do it, go to Admin, open the Trash Can (available at the account or property level), find the property you deleted, and choose the restore option. The property returns to your active list with its data intact, as it was before deletion. The one hard limit is time: after 35 days the property is permanently gone and can’t be restored by you or by Google, so if you realise you’ve made a mistake, act within the window. This recoverability is exactly why GA4 uses a trash can rather than deleting immediately, it turns a potentially irreversible action into a reversible one for over a month.

Should you delete a property or just stop using it?

Often it’s better to leave a property in place than to delete it, because its historical data may be useful later and an unused property does no harm (Google). Deletion is best reserved for properties you’re certain you’ll never need.

Good reasons to delete include removing test or duplicate properties created during setup, cleaning up properties for sites you no longer own, or tidying an account that’s become cluttered. But if a property holds historical data you might want to reference, comparing this year to last, for instance, keeping it costs nothing and preserves that record. An alternative to deleting is simply to stop sending data to it and leave it dormant, or to restrict access so it’s out of the way. Weigh the value of the historical data against the benefit of a tidier account; when in doubt, the trash can’s 35-day window gives you time to be sure. For ongoing account hygiene, pair this with understanding your core metrics in our guide to users versus new users in GA4.