Raw Event Recording
How Appcues records background interaction data so new events include past activity.
Table of Contents
Appcues records UI interactions in your application in the background, so a Click to Track event you create today already includes past activity instead of starting from zero. Backfilled activity counts for reporting and for targeting.
Also known as: clickstream, clickstream data, track everything, CTT backfill, historical event data
What this gives you
Without background recording, an event only counts activity from the moment you create it. You would have to predict every behavior you might want to measure before you needed it.
With it, you can:
- Report on behavior that happened before the event existed.
- Target an experience at users who performed the behavior last week, using an event you create today.
- Set up tracking for a feature after you launch it, rather than racing to define events at install time.
How far back your history goes
Recording starts on the date raw event recording was enabled on your account, not on a single date shared by all accounts. Appcues enabled it in batches through July 2026.
If your account was created after July 1, 2026, recording starts on your Appcues install date.
The window of available history grows every day from that point forward.
To confirm the start date for your account, contact Appcues support.
What backfills and what doesn't
Background recording captures clicks, text input, page views, and form submissions. It does not capture hover, which changes what you get when you create each Click to Track event type:
| Event type | Includes past activity? |
|---|---|
| Click | Yes |
| Text Input | Yes |
| Hover | No. A Hover event counts only from the date you create it. |
If you need historical data for an interaction, define it as a Click or Text Input event where the behavior allows it.
When backfill runs
Backfill runs when you create an event, and again whenever you change that event's selector. Adding a second selector to an existing event or editing one it already has both trigger a new backfill for that event.
This means an event you created before recording was enabled on your account is not stuck without history. Edit its selector and Appcues backfills it against whatever raw data is available.
What Appcues captures
Appcues captures the interaction metadata needed to identify a UI element:
- The interaction type: click, text input, or page view
- Element details, including element type, CSS selector, and visible text label
- The page URL and session ID
- A hashed user identifier
Appcues does not capture what users type into forms or other field values, and does not capture hover.
Recording runs through the Appcues SDK you already have installed. There is no additional script to load.
Privacy and data handling
How identifiers are handled
Appcues hashes user identifiers in the background store.
Once a backfill runs, the matched activity becomes a standard Click to Track event. It appears on the user's profile under Activities, counts in your reports, and works for targeting and segmentation exactly like activity recorded after the event existed. Backfilled activity is not a separate or lesser class of data.
PII detection and redaction
Appcues runs automated PII detection and redaction before storing anything, including on values that appear in page URLs such as email addresses and phone numbers.
Where this data is stored
Background interaction data is stored separately from your account's regular event data. Appcues never surfaces it or uses it unless you define a Click to Track event that matches it.
Request deletion of recorded data
To have already-recorded background data deleted, contact Appcues support with your account ID.
Turn off raw event recording
Only admins can change this setting.
- Go to Settings > Accounts & Users in Studio.
- Scroll to the Raw Event Recording card, below Accounts & Users.
- Switch the toggle off.
Recording stops for your whole account. Any tracked event you create from that point records data only from its creation date. Events you already created keep the history they have.
If you switch recording back on, your existing events don't pick up the missed period automatically. Editing an event's selector triggers a fresh backfill against the data Appcues has available.
If you don't see the Raw Event Recording card, contact Appcues support and ask to be opted out.
Availability
Raw event recording is available on web through the Appcues Web SDK. It is not available for mobile as of August 2026.