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Big news in the world of GA4 today -- Annotations are back! Annotations were a feature in Universal Analytics (the previous version of Google Analytics) that was not immediately carried over to GA4. The feature offered a way for GA4 users to create dated notes in GA4, similar to the Notes feature in Google Ads. Annotations are especially helpful for teams working with GA4 to communicate website changes, which may help decipher why certain metrics in GA4 increased or decreased.
You'll find the Annotations feature in the navigation for reports in the upper right corner, next to the share, insights and report customization icons.
When you click on the Annotations icon, the Annotations Viewer panel opens on the right and you can create annotations. Some enhancements over the Universal Analytics version have been added -- you can now color-code the annotation and provide a date range rather than a single date.
You can also quickly add an annotation by right clicking on the report chart on a specific date and selecting "Add annotation" from the popup window.
When you add the annotation, the panel will automatically close and return you to the report. However, you'll notice that a dot is added to the date/date range for the annotation in the color you selected. When you position the mouse over this dot/line, you'll see the annotation note you entered appear like a tool tip. If you click on the Annotations icon in the navigation, the Annotations Viewer will appear and list all of the annotations for the report's date range.
If you've been using a spreadsheet, like a Google Sheet, to keep track of your annotations since the sunsetting of Universal Analytics, you can now enter those annotations into GA4 directly, although you will have to enter them manually -- there does not appear to be a way to import annotations.
Thank you, Google, for bringing back this very useful feature!