Magento 2 Cookie Consent Extension

Magento 2 Cookie Consent Extension FAQ

• How to Identify & Describe Cookies

  The Magento 2 Cookie Consent Extension is not only a tool that makes your website compliant with the cookie consent requirements. Moreover, it offers great features for a website admin to make a list of all cookies used, specify cookie types, categories, duration, and much more.

  In order to comply with Data Protection Regulations and Cookie Law requirements, you need to identify and describe all cookies your website sets in browsers. Besides the Magento platform, cookie files can also be set by the services, tools, or extensions integrated with your website. Therefore, you need to identify all cookies and describe them in order to comply with the following Cookie Law requirements:

  • Inform your visitors about any cookies your website uses
  • Explain clearly how cookies work and what you use them for
  • Obtain consent prior to the storing of cookies on the user's device

  How to Identify Cookies Set by My Website

  There are two possible ways to identify the cookies your website sets in users’ browsers:

  1. Ask the vendors of the third-party extensions you use for a complete list of cookies. If you use services, you can ask the service support or check their documentation to find out the complete list of used cookies.
  2. Check your browser for the list of websites and cookies set by them:
  • Use the Inspect option from the context menu
  • Go to the Application tab -> Storage section -> Cookies
  • Select the website you need to check for cookie
    
    

  How to Add and Describe Cookies in Magento 2 Cookie Consent Extension

  In the main Magento menu, go to the Plumrocket tab > Cookie Consent extension > navigate to the Cookies section.

  The Manage Cookies grid you will see on this page allows you to keep track of all used cookies, add, manage, and edit them. Moreover, all cookies used by the Magento platform are already added and described in the extension.

  In order to add and describe a new cookie, click the Add Cookie button and fill out the required fields:

  1. Specify the name of the cookie
  2. Set the cookie type: first-party cookies are used by your Magento store; however, third-party cookies are set by a third-party service or extension you use or set via code loaded on your website
  3. Set the period when the cookie should expire. You can ask the developers of the service or extension about the cookie duration they use. Also, you can check the cookie duration manually:
  • Clear all cookies and refresh the page
  • Right-click anywhere on the page and select Inspect option
  • Go to Application -> Storage -> Cookies -> select the needed domain
  • Find the needed cookie and check the Expires / Max-Age column for the date and time when the cookie will expire
    
    
  4. Describe the cookie in a clear manner so that the visitors of your website can understand the purpose of its use
  5. Specify the category of the added cookie
  6. Click the Save button to apply changes

  After adding a new cookie, it will be displayed in the Manage Cookies grid. Also, users can access the Cookie Settings from the Cookie Consent banner and read the each category and cookie description.

  Feel free to contact us if you need more information. Our support managers are always willing to help!

• How to Block Unknown Cookies

  With the help of the Magento Cookie Consent extension by Plumrocket, you can effectively block unknown cookies using different options:

  • Block Unknown Cookies option in the admin panel
  • Google Tag Manager functionality
  • Cookie Category script
  • The prCookieRestriction JS model

  Why Do I Need to Block Unknown Cookies

  The proper compliance with the Cookie Consent policy requires all cookies to be blocked before a customer gives consent. The Magento 2 Cookie Consent Extension allows merchants to specify all cookies used and prevent all unknown cookies from being set directly from the Magento admin panel.

  How to Block Unknown Cookies With Cookie Consent Extension

  1. Use the Block Unknown Cookies option

     In order to block unknown cookies, you should set the Block Unknown Cookies option to Yes in the configuration of the Magento Cookie Consent extension:

     1. Open your website backend and go to the Plumrocket tab
     2. Choose Configuration under Cookie Consent extension
     3. Expand the Main Settings section
     4. Set the Block Unknown Cookies option to Yes
     5. Click Save Config in the upper right corner to apply the changes

      
      

     However, since Javascript has limited control over the cookie setting, the Block Unknown Cookies option control setting cookies by JS libraries (jQuery.cookie and jQuery.mage.cookie) that are integrated into the Cookie Consent extension.

     Also, most third-party cookies are passed by Javascript due to the use of JS code (e.g., document.cookie = "name=value";). Since it is impossible to automatically check and stop the running code, the extension cannot prevent cookies from being set by document.cookie, and the blocking is performed by deleting these set cookies.

     All things considered, we recommend the most effective way to control setting cookies by integrating analytics, custom extension functionality, etc. with the Cookie Consent extension. The extension provides you with built-in tools for this purpose:

     2. Google Tag Manager

     You can use the functionality of the Cookie Consent extension to assign Google Tag Manager Script to a specific Cookie Category. This allows enabling/disabling Google Tag Manager when a visitor enables/disables the corresponding cookie category. In case you already use the Google Tag Manager, make sure it is executed only by Cookie Consent Google Tag Manager functionality. Go to the extension’s backend -> Configuration -> Google Tag Manager Settings to configure it.

     3. Cookie Category script

     Cookie Category allows adding JS code that will be executed depending on whether a customer allowed or declined this cookie category. In order to add the JS code, use the Head Scripts and  Footer Miscellaneous HTML fields in the Edit Cookie Category page.

     4. The prCookieRestriction JS model

     The prCookieRestriction JS model can be used to find out whether a particular category is allowed by a customer or not. Hence, cookies set by Javascript might be completely blocked by wrapping the code as in the example below: 

     ‘marketing’ is the key identifier of the Marketing category set in the Manage Cookie Categories grid in the Cookie Consent extension. The script will be executed if a customer allows the marketing category.

     To find out more about the prCookieRestriction JS model, go to the following file:

     Plumrocket/CookieConsent/view/frontend/web/js/model/restriction.js

     If you have any difficulties blocking the unknown cookies, you are always welcome to contact our support team. They will be more than happy to help you!