Update time: January 14, 2025
If you’ve ever built a solid GTM setup — tags, triggers, variables, the whole thing — and thought, “I wish I could just copy this to another container,” you’re in luck. GTM lets you export your entire container configuration as a JSON file and import it into another container.
This is incredibly useful when you’re setting up multiple properties with the same tracking setup, or when you want to study how other people configure their GTM containers. Let me walk you through how it works.
Exporting a GTM Container
In the GTM, click 「Admin」—— 「Export Container」——「Default Workspace」, select what to include,::
Click「Export」 and download your JSON file.
The configuration is in this json format file.
Importing a GTM Container
In GTM，click 「Admin」—— 「Import Container」,then you can see the following picture:
- Choose container file: Choose your JSON file
- Choose Workspace: pick a workspace (existing recommended)
- Choose an import option: Overwrite and merge, the overlay is the new replacement for the old one, the merge is the new import, and the general selection is overwrite.
Review the import summary：
Just click Confirm to import.
Overwrite vs Merge: Which One Should You Use?
- Overwrite replaces everything — use for a clean replacement.
- Merge adds to what’s already there — use when adding new tracking to an existing container.
I recommend Overwrite in most cases.
Final Words
Export and import are simple once you know where the buttons are, but the Overwrite/Merge choice can trip people up. If you’ve ever imported a container and ended up with unexpected results, drop a comment.