What Is Draft Tags / Preview Mode?

Draft tags and preview mode are features of a Tag Management System that let a team test a new or edited tag configuration in a staged or pre-published configuration before it goes live to real site visitors. Reviewing tag changes in preview mode catches broken or unintended firing before the container is published.

Preview mode is the first line of defense against tag mistakes: it’s how a marketer can see, screen by screen, whether a new tag fires when and where expected before flipping it live. Its limitation is that it’s manual and doesn’t scale past a handful of pages, and it doesn’t catch issues that only show up under specific consent states. Google Tag Manager’s version of this is GTM Preview Mode specifically.