# Difference between Source and Original Source

**URL:** <https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083>\
**Category:** Reporting & Analytics\
**Tags:** contacts-analytics\
**Created:** [April 15, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083 "2020-04-15T15:54:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![naris66](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/naris66/32/63860_2.png) [@naris66](https://community.hubspot.com/u/naris66)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083/1 "2020-04-15T15:54:25Z")

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What is the difference between Source and Original Source filters? I noticed that some contacts only have a value (e.g. Direct Traffic) for Original Source but nothing for Source. How can I interpret it?

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**Author:** ![Bryantworks](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/bryantworks/32/94963_2.png) [@Bryantworks](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Bryantworks)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083/2 "2020-04-15T16:10:34Z")

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Hey @naris66,

Source is a bit more direct as you’ve found, Direct, Social Media, Offline, etc. Original Source 1 and Original Source 2 help determine this a bit further.

For instance:

Source: Offline

Original Source 1: IMPORT

The above would be for an import into HubSpot. [Here’s a bit more reading on those.](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/reports/what-do-the-properties-original-source-data-1-and-2-mean)

Hope this helps!

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**Author:** ![naris66](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/naris66/32/63860_2.png) [@naris66](https://community.hubspot.com/u/naris66)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083/3 "2020-04-15T16:36:15Z")

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Thanks for your reply @Bryantworks

So this is what I am seeing on the property page of the user.

Source: (no value)

Original Source: Direct Traffic

Original Source drill-down 1: [www.ourwebsite.com](http://www.ourwebsite.com)

Original Source drill-down 2: (no value).

The problem is that we use our reports and dashboards based on ‘Source’ only and not ‘Original Source’. So when this user becomes an important customer, we can’t credit our webiste for it as we are only using the ‘Source’ filter. I am trying to understand why there are two different types of sources, ‘Source’ and ‘Original Source’ that make the reporting complicatd 😞

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**Author:** ![naris66](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/naris66/32/63860_2.png) [@naris66](https://community.hubspot.com/u/naris66)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083/4 "2020-04-16T13:41:08Z")

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I just heard from Hubspot that they use the term ‘Source’ on Traffic Analytics that are actually ‘Original Source’. That answered my question.

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**Author:** ![Bryantworks](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/bryantworks/32/94963_2.png) [@Bryantworks](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Bryantworks)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/difference-between-source-and-original-source/20083/5 "2020-04-16T14:01:27Z")

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Ah gotcha, sorry about that - I got the source properties confused and thought you were speaking to “Original Source”. Glad you got it resolved.
