Next Inventory 6.1.0: App Manager, dark mode, and more Joomla 6.1 "Nyota" Is Here Building the Future of Joomla Extensions
NextSoftware
Smart Local Google Analytics — Documentation

Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to resolve them.

The consent dialog doesn't show up on the frontend.

  1. Plugin not enabled — Go to System > Manage > Plugins and verify the plugin status is Enabled
  2. Consent cookie already set — Clear your browser cookies (specifically slga-consent) and reload the page. If you've previously accepted or declined, the dialog won't appear again until the cookie expires
  3. Geo-detection filtering you out — If geo-detection is enabled and your browser language is not in a consent-required region, the dialog may be skipped. Temporarily disable geo-detection to test
  4. Admin pages excluded — The plugin only runs on the frontend. It does not show the consent dialog on Joomla administrator pages
  5. No GA scripts in legacy mode — In legacy mode (no tracking ID), the consent box only appears if the plugin detects existing GA/GTM scripts in the page HTML. If your template doesn't include GA code, the plugin has nothing to manage
  6. Caching — If your site uses page caching, the cached version may not include the consent box. Clear the Joomla cache and any third-party cache (CDN, server-side)

Analytics Not Loading After Accept

Visitors click Accept but Google Analytics data doesn't appear.

  1. Check your tracking ID — Verify the GA4 Measurement ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX) or GTM Container ID (GTM-XXXXXXX) is correct in the plugin settings
  2. Check Google Analytics — New data can take 24-48 hours to appear in GA4 reports. Check the Realtime report for immediate verification
  3. View page source — After accepting, view the page source and search for googletagmanager or gtag. The tracking script should be present in the <head>
  4. Browser extensions — Ad blockers and privacy extensions may block Google Analytics even after consent. Test in a browser with no extensions
  5. Legacy mode conflict — If you have a tracking ID configured but your template also adds GA code, you may get duplicate scripts. Either remove the template's GA code or clear the tracking ID to use legacy mode

Local Scripts Issues

Local script hosting isn't working.

  1. Directory not writable — Check that media/plg_system_smartlocalgoogleanalytics/js/local/ exists and is writable by the web server
  2. Outbound connections blocked — Your server needs to reach www.googletagmanager.com via HTTPS. Some hosting providers block outbound connections — contact your host
  3. Tracking ID required — Local script hosting only works in managed mode (tracking ID entered). It does not work with legacy mode
  4. Check cached scripts status — In the plugin settings, the Local Scripts tab shows a status table. If it says "No local scripts cached yet," the script hasn't been downloaded. Visit a frontend page after consenting to trigger the download
  5. Clear and re-download — Use the Clear Cached Scripts button in the admin panel, then visit a frontend page to trigger a fresh download

Geo-Detection Issues

Geo-detection isn't working as expected.

  1. Browser language vs location — Geo-detection uses browser language preferences, not IP geolocation. A visitor with a German browser in the US will be detected as EU. This is by design
  2. English browsers — The bare language code en does not trigger consent (to avoid flagging en-us visitors). Only en-gb and en-ie trigger consent when the UK region is enabled
  3. Test with browser settings — To test, change your browser's language preferences to a language from a consent-required region (e.g., de, fr)
  4. Missing Accept-Language header — If the header is missing (some bots, API clients), the plugin shows the consent dialog as a safe default

Custom Colors Not Applying

Custom theme colors don't appear on the frontend.

  1. Theme not set to Custom — The color pickers only appear and take effect when the Color Theme is set to Custom colors
  2. Dark mode mismatch — If you're testing in dark mode but only set light colors, or vice versa, the colors won't match. Set both light and dark custom colors when dark mode is Auto or Always dark
  3. Browser cache — Hard-refresh the page (Ctrl+Shift+R) to bypass cached CSS
  4. CSS specificity — If your template's CSS overrides the consent box styles, you may need to use more specific selectors. The plugin uses CSS custom properties (variables) which can be overridden

Joomla Update System

Updates are not found or downloads fail.

  1. Plugin must be enabled — The plugin identifies your site to the update server via the site_url parameter. If the plugin is disabled, this parameter is not sent and downloads will fail with "Failed to download package". Go to System > Manage > Plugins and make sure the plugin is Enabled
  2. Download key — If your update server requires a download key, enter it in System > Update > Update Sites. Click the update site name and add the key. The plugin appends site_url alongside the download key automatically
  3. Server unreachable — Ensure your server can reach the update server URL. Some hosting providers block outbound HTTP connections

Plugin Conflicts

The plugin conflicts with another extension.

  1. Duplicate GA/GTM code — If another extension also manages Google Analytics consent, disable one of them. Running two consent managers will cause conflicts
  2. JavaScript errors — Open the browser console (F12) and check for JavaScript errors. A JS error from another extension may prevent the consent box from working
  3. Plugin ordering — In System > Manage > Plugins, check the plugin ordering. Smart Local Google Analytics should generally run after template-related plugins but before caching plugins

All Extensions