What is the Draft version in Matomo Tag Manager?
When you edit a container in Matomo Tag Manager (MTM), it opens as a working copy where you can safely add, edit, or delete tags, triggers, and variables. These changes are not automatically applied to your live site – you will need to manually publish them.
You can also continue modifying a container even if a different version is already published live. For example, if you import a new container configuration, it will overwrite your working copy, but not the live version. You can continue editing this new draft until it is ready to publish it. Once published, it will replace your live version.
When you enter the Matomo Tag Manager Preview and Debug mode, you will always see the Draft version label next to the container ID (e.g. Ot95hdS7). Drafts only work in Preview mode and must be versioned and published before they go live.
The Draft version label indicates you are debugging the working copy of the container and not the version published to the live site (regardless if the working copy is identical or different to the published version). To make your changes live, save the Draft as a new version and manually publish it.
- Go to Tag Manager > Preview / Debug.
- Enable Preview mode to test your changes.
- Once verified, save the draft as a new version and publish.
- Go to Tag Manager > Versions to check its published live.
Drafts are safe environments for testing and do not affect your site until it is saved as a version and published.