> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wegive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Preserving Message Performance Data When Editing Journey Steps

> How to change a journey step's email template without losing your sent, delivered, opened, and clicked metrics. Use the in-place template swap instead of deleting and recreating the step.

# Preserving Message Performance Data When Editing Journey Steps

When you need to change the email template on a journey step, how you
make that change determines whether your engagement metrics (sent,
delivered, opened, clicked) are preserved or reset to zero.

## Swap the template in place (metrics preserved)

Open the journey step's message editor by clicking **Open Editor** on
the existing step. Choose or build your new template within the editor,
then save. This updates the step's email content directly — the step
itself stays the same, and all of its historical performance data
remains intact.

## Delete and recreate the step (metrics reset)

If you delete the journey step and add a new one in its place, the new
step starts with a fresh message record. All previous send and
engagement counts (sent, delivered, opened, clicked, errored) reset to
zero on the new step. The original data is not lost from the system
entirely — your journey-level totals still reflect the historical
sends — but the per-step metrics visible in the journey builder will
show zero.

## When to use each approach

| Scenario | Recommended approach |
| - | - |
| Changing the email design or content | Swap the template in place |
| Switching from one email template to another | Swap the template in place |
| Changing the step type (e.g., email to SMS) | Delete and recreate (type changes require a new step) |
| Restructuring the journey's branching logic | Delete and recreate (structural changes require a rebuild) |

## What to do if you already lost your metrics

If you have already deleted and recreated a step, the historical data
from the original step still exists in the system. Contact WeGive
support and we can help you retrieve the original performance numbers
for reporting purposes.


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