User log events

The audit log page has been replaced with a new audit and investigation page. For information about this change, go to Improved audit and investigation experience: What's new in Google Workspace.

You can use the audit and investigation page to run searches related to User log events. There you can check critical actions carried out by users on their own accounts. These actions include changes to passwords, account recovery details (telephone numbers, email addresses), and 2-Step Verification enrollment. If a user signs in from an email client or a non-browser application, you can also review reports of suspicious attempts.

Note: 

• During a recent launch, the old Login audit log and User accounts audit log were combined into the User log events data source. For more details, see What's new: Improved audit and investigation experience.
• If there’s no data for user log events during the previous 6 months, User log events might not be displayed in the left navigation menu.

For a full list of services and activities that you can investigate, such as Google Drive or user activity, read through the data sources for the audit and investigation page.

Forward log event data to Google Cloud

You can opt in to share the log event data with Google Cloud. If you turn on sharing, data is forwarded to Cloud Logging, where you can query and view your logs, and control how you route and store your logs.

Open the audit and investigation page

Access User log event data

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. On the left, click ReportingAudit and investigationUser log events.

Filter the data

1. Open the log events as described above in Access User log event data.
2. Click Add a filter, and then select an attribute.
3. In the pop-up window, select an operatorselect a valueclick Apply.
4. (Optional) To create multiple filters for your search:

   1. Click Add a filter and repeat step 3.
   2. (Optional) To add a search operator, above Add a filter, select AND or OR.
5. Click Search.

Note: Using the Filter tab, you can include simple parameter and value pairs to filter the search results. You can also use the Condition builder tab, where the filters are represented as conditions with AND/OR operators.

Attribute descriptions

For this data source, you can use the following attributes when searching log event data:

Attribute	Description
Actor	Email address of the user who performed the action
Actor group name	Group name of the actor
Actor organizational unit	Organizational unit of the actor
Affected user	Email address of the affected user
Challenge type	The type of challenge used to verify the user, such as Password or Security Key.
Date	Date and time of the event (displayed in your browser's default time zone)
Domain	The domain where the action occurred
Email forwarding address	Email address to forward the Gmail messages to
Event	The logged event action, such as 2-step verification enroll or Suspicious login
IP address	IP address that the user used to sign in. Usually the address is the user's physical location, but it can be a proxy server or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) address.
Is second factor	True if the user signed in with 2-factor authentication. False if the user didn't sign in with 2-factor authentication.
Is suspicious	True if the sign-in attempt was suspicious, otherwise false. Applicable only to the login_success event
Login time	Date and time the user signed in
Login type	Authentication method the user used: Exchange—When a user is authenticated by token exchange, such as via an OAuth login. It might also indicate the user was already signed in to a session when they signed in to another, and the 2 sessions were merged Google Password—Used a Google password. Includes sign-ins to less secure apps (if allowed) Reauth—User authenticated with a password re-authentication request SAML—Authentication by single sign-on Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Unknown—User signed in using an unknown method
User	Email address of the user who performed the action

Manage log event data

Manage search results column data

You can control which data columns appear in your search results. 

1. At the top-right of the search results table, click Manage columns.
2. (Optional) To remove current columns, click Remove.
3. (Optional) To add columns, next to Add new column, click the Down arrowand select the data column.
   Repeat as needed.
4. (Optional) To change the order of the columns, drag the data column names.
5. Click Save.

Export search result data

1. At the top of the search results table, click Export all.
2. Enter a nameclick Export.
   The export displays below the search results table under Export action results.
3. To view the data, click the name of your export.
   The export opens in Google Sheets.

Create reporting rules

Go to Create and manage reporting rules.

When and how long is data available?

Go to Data retention and lag times.

Related topics

• Data sources for the audit and investigation page