The activity log

What CommonLynk records automatically, how to filter and export it, and the rule that keeps the contents of your records out of the log.

Settings, then Activity log, shows what has happened in your workspace. You need the Settings edit permission to open it.

Reading the log

The table has columns for When, User, Action, Record, Details and IP address, fifty entries to a page.

The page itself states that entries are recorded automatically and cannot be edited or removed, and that holds at every level: an entry cannot be changed after it is written, and neither a single entry nor a whole selection can be deleted through the platform.

Screenshot: the activity log with the date filters and the action list open.

Filtering

Three filters sit above the table: a from date and a to date, which default to the last thirty days, a user, and an action.

The action list is built from the actions your own workspace has actually recorded, so it never offers you a verb you have never produced. There is no filter by record type.

Exporting

The same screen exports the filtered range as a CSV file, named: activity-log_<from>_<to>.csv

It carries the columns Timestamp (UTC), User, Action, Record type, Record ID, Record, Details and IP address. Values are neutralised so that a crafted entry cannot run as a formula when the file is opened in a spreadsheet.

Exporting is itself logged, and the entry records how many entries were exported.

What is recorded

CommonLynk records creating, updating and deleting records, signing in and out, exporting, and refusals such as a permission change that was blocked.

The log records which fields changed, never the values. An entry reads that three fields changed and names them; it never carries the old or the new content. A person's name, national identifier, telephone number and address are never written into the log.

There is one exception. When a record is deleted, a short description of it is kept, because once the deletion is done nothing else knows what was destroyed.

Because an entry names the fields that changed but not their contents, the log tells you what to go and look at rather than telling you the answer. To see the values you open the record itself.

Recording who reads a record

Who changes a record is always recorded. Who reads one is recorded only if per record read logging is switched on for your workspace, and it is off by default. Settings, then Security, shows whether it is on.

When it is on it covers opening an individual, household or establishment record, and the data exports. It deliberately does not cover list pages, searches, dashboards, or a name appearing on an attendance sheet. Those entries are kept for one hundred and eighty days, and they do not appear on the activity log page.

How long entries are kept

Activity log entries are kept for a set period, twenty four months by default. The period can be configured for a deployment, including keeping entries indefinitely, so check what yours is set to rather than assuming the default.

Ageing entries out is an operator task, and an archive is written before anything is removed. There is no button in your workspace that clears the log, by design.