FAQ

Our ambition is to fill this page with questions and answers. You may also find instructions on the install, upgrade, and use page. There is even an instructional video. You may also want to read this blog post.

Note! When using the current version, be aware that the segment “all visits” can’t be combined with the visitors metric or with AdWords data. The equivalent to no segment is “——-”. When in doubt, always opt for “———” or (blank). You do get all visits if you do not select a segment. This is a quirk in the API that we will be addressing later.

Do you have any examples of Excel dashboards?
Sure, look here.
[Added: Otcober 5, 2011]

Is it really free?
The short answer is: yes. The long answer is: yes, yes, yes!
[Added: September 23, 2009]

Why is it distributed as a .zip file? I was expecting an .exe file.
It’s compressed. You can use something like 7-Zip to uncompress it.
[Updated: December 9, 2009]

Why can’t I install it?
Make sure you’re using Windows XP, Vista or 7 as well as Excel 2007 or 2010 and have installed Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. See the requirements page and the read me file included in your download. Also make sure that you have installed ALL updates to Windows and Excel, check Windows Update!
[Updated: August 16, 2011]

Why can’t I log in?
If your login fails, please check the Google help section. If you have made too many attempts to log in you’ll have to enter the letters in the captcha image on the Google Analytics website, or request a new password. A very small number of Google Analytics accounts may also include a profile that messes up the login to the API. If you’re one of those extremely few users, then you have to wait for Google to update the API. You can find out if you’re affected by checking if you can log in to Google’s query explorer.
[Updated: August 16, 2011]

How are you using my password?
Your username and password is only being sent to Google so that you can login and access your Google Analytics data. If you want to, you can opt in to save the login information on your harddrive. We do not store or otherwise use your login information on our end. Excellent Analytics uses the Google Analytics API to fetch data for you. We do not store or use your data. Excellent Analytics is provided as an open source product under the MIT license. It’s provided “as is”. You can examine the full source code.
[Added: September 23, 2009]

The Excellent Analytics menu is gone from Excel. What happened?
If Excel didn’t run properly it may have disabled Excellent Analytics. To enable it again, right click on the Excel menu and select “Customize Quick Access Toolbar.” In the window that opens, select “Add-Ins”, in the drop down menu select “Disabled Items”, and click “Go…” In the dialog that opens select Excellent Analytics, and click “Enable.” Restart Excel.

If that does not work, try:

1.) Uninstall Excellent Analytics from the Control Panel
2.) If possible, empty your temporary files folder
3.) Install Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (see requirements)
4.) Install Excellent Analytics again

[Updated: March 9, 2012]

I get data that seems to be wrong. Why?
Excellent Analytics grabs data using the GA API, and does not manipulate the output. If we get proper data from the GA API, then you should really get the same using EA. One thing to keep in mind however, is the fact that the “all visits” segment can’t be combined with the visitors metric. When in doubt, use “——-” as the selected segment. That is the equivalent to no segment, i.e. to looking at the entire data set.
[Added: April 13, 2011]

Can you give an example of how to use it?
Sure, just have a look at our video or read these two examples: 1 and 2.
[Added: September 25, 2009]

Why doesn’t anything happen when I run a query?
Have you made sure to only select valid combinations of dimensions and metrics? Not all combinations are valid. We will add functionality to help you only select valid combinations in a future release, but for now you need to know what you can select. Use this document as your guide.
[Added: September 23, 2009]

How can I refresh a query?
If you’d like to adjust and run your query again, simply mark the top row of the table generated by the query, and click “Update Query.” Please note that a spreadsheet may contain multiple queries and that you need to mark the heading of the particular table you wish to update. It contains the name of the selected Google Analytics profile and the selected date range.
[Added: October 20, 2009]

What’s start index good for?
You can use start index to fetch more than 10,000 rows. Just set start index to begin from the row # after the last row # in your previous query. Note that you can’t fetch more than 10,000 rows in a single query. That’s the limit in the Google Analytics API. You have to make multiple queries to fetch more than 10,000 rows.
[Added: October 25, 2009]

What’s max results good for?
You can use max results to limit the number of rows in a query. Adjust if you want to fetch fewer than 10,000.
[Added: October 25, 2009]

I can’t find the Excellent Analytics menu in Excel 2007 in Windows 7, what should I do?
In Excel 2007, right-click on the menu area, select “Customize the Quick Access Toolbar”. From the window that pops up, select “Add-ins” in the left menu, then at the bottom of the window select “Managed COM Add-Ins” and hit “GO”. Excellent Analytics shows up in the next window, click the checkbox next to it and then press OK.
[Added: October 20, 2009]

Are there any plans for an Excel 2003, OpenOffice, Google Docs, or Mac version?
We won’t be making a version for Excel 2003 since we expect that users will have to upgrade to 2007 or 2010 for other reasons anyhow. There are no plans for an OpenOffice or Google Docs version right now either. We might make a version for Mac, but it would require recoding it from scratch due to differences in architecture so it’s not prioritized. Mac users can use Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop or WMware Fusion to use Excellent Analytics.

Excellent Analytics on a Mac:

[Updated: March 23, 2012]

Who made Excellent Analytics?
See the about page.
[Added: September 27, 2009]

Do you accept donations?
Money? No. Help with providing service or help with development? Sure. In other words, cash is not what we need. More hands and brains is always a good thing though.
[Added: September 21, 2010]

Can I help develop Excellent Analytics?
Yes, we’re always interested in finding more developers willing to contribute to this open source project. Use our application form if you’re interested.
[Added: September 23, 2009]

I can’t connect to my Google Analytics account? Why?
Try to go to LAN settings on your computer and unselect the checkbox by “Use a proxy server..”
[Added: April 25, 2010]

How can I upgrade Excellent Analytics?
Read the instructions here.
[Added: October 21, 2009]

I just get a bunch of numbers for time on site/time on page. What is it?
Google Analytics returns time on site and time on page in seconds. If you want to convert seconds into minutes and seconds divide your cell with 86400. Then right click your new cell and select Format Cells. Under the Numbers tab, select Custom and Type mm:ss. If you want hours, minutes and seconds, format as hh:mm:ss. Note that the format you need to select may be different if you are not using Excel in English.
[Added: April 25, 2010]

How can I run the same query for multiple profiles?
What you can do is the following:
1) Create the query you want and run it.
2) Copy the single cell that begins with the profile name that you used.
3) Paste it into a different cell and make sure that cell is marked.
4) Click update query. Now all settings are there and you can just change profile name before running it.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 as many times as you need (once per query/profile).
[Added: May 6, 2010]

How do I use filters?
Check the filter guide.
[Added: May 11, 2010]

I can’t update my old query, why?
Actually, you can. It’s just a bit tricky. If you mark the very first cell in your query (the one beginning with the name of the website you’re running the query for, for instance yoursite.com) and then edit the query string in it you can make it work.

See the changes you need to make in the example below. Changes/additions highlighted in red:

excellentanalytics.com [ 2010-04-29 -> 2010-05-11 ]queryInfo[queryString=https://www.google.com/analytics/feeds/data?ids=ga:********&dimensions=ga:browser&metrics=ga:bounces&sort=ga:bounces&start-date=2010-04-29&end-date=2010-05-11&max-results=10000;rows=12;columns=2;timePeriod=PeriodNotSpecified]

News: rows, columns, queryInfo[queryString=] and timePeriod.

Note that if you’e changing queries from old versions of Excellent Analytics you should always set timePeriod to PeriodNotSpecified. This has to do with whether your query is using a fixed time period or a custom time period.

Once you have changed your query like this you should be able to use the update query button for your old query again.
[Added: May 11, 2010]