Step-by-step guide to deleting a GTM container

Whether you're retiring an old setup or switching to a new one, knowing how to properly remove a GTM container keeps your tracking clean and your website conflict-free.

Note: before you begin, we recommend you to export your container as a JSON backup file in case you need it later.

Overall, deleting a GTM container is pretty straightforward:

1. 1.
   Log in to Google Tag Manager and select the appropriate account.
2. 2.
   Click the Admin tab and select the container you want to delete.
3. 3.
   Go to Container Settings → three-dot menu → Delete, then confirm.
4. 4.
   Remove the GTM code snippets from your website's head and body sections (or deactivate the GTM plugin if you used one).
5. 5.
   Clear your site's cache and verify the snippet is gone by checking the page source.

The full detailed guide with step-by-step instructions and screenshots is available further in this article.

Before deleting the GTM container, it is worth exporting its current version. This will be helpful if you decide to recover it or use the previous configurations as a reference for a new container.

To export the container, choose the container you want to delete (steps 1 and 2 below show how to do this), click Export Container → choose a container workspace or version to export.

Click Export in the upper right corner. The file in JSON format will be downloaded to your computer. Keep the file in a secure location so you can access it later if necessary.

Navigate to GTM → choose an account (in case you have a few) that has the container you want to delete.

Click on the Admin tab, and in the column on the right side, choose the container you want to delete if you have a few containers.

To delete the container, click on Container Settings → three dots in the upper right corner → select Delete. This action will trigger a confirmation dialog to ensure the user is certain about the deletion.

Removing the GTM code snippet depends on how you added it to the website - manually or using plugins for CMS.

1. 1.
   Open your website’s source code.
2. 2.
   Locate the GTM container code, which is typically found in two places:

The <head> section:

And <body> section:

You should delete both of these snippets and save the changes.

If you have used the plugin to add the GTM snippet code, you can deactivate or remove the plugin.

Clear your website’s cache and open your site in an incognito window. Check the source code (right-click → "View Page Source") and search “gtm.js” to make sure that the GTM snippet is gone.

1. 1.
   Open your GTM account and navigate to the Admin tab.
2. 2.
   Under the Account column, select Account Settings.
3. 3.
   Click the three-dot menu in the upper right corner and choose Delete.
4. 4.
   Confirm the action by clicking the checkbox and then Delete.

• On the Tag Manager Accounts screen, click on the Google tags tab.
• Select the Google tag you’d like to delete.
• Go to the Admin tab.
• In the Manage Google tag section, select Delete from the three-dot menu.
• Click the checkbox to confirm you understand, then click Delete.

Managing your Google Tag Manager account requires careful consideration and attention to detail. Deleting or restoring containers is a part of GTM account management. Before deleting a container, it is worth exporting a file with container configuration if you need it in the future. After deleting a container, update the code snippets on your website to avoid conflicts and ensure precise data collection.