Calendar log events

As your organization's administrator, you can run searches and take action on security issues related to Calendar log events. For example, you can view a record of actions to track changes to calendars, events, and subscriptions. You can also track the email notifications associated with these actions. This information is helpful when you troubleshoot issues or when your users notice discrepancies or unexpected changes to their calendars, shared calendars, or specific calendar events. Log entries usually appear within one half-hour of the user action.

Your access to log events

• Your ability to run a search depends on your Google edition, your administrative privileges, and the data source. You can run a search on all users, regardless of their Google Workspace edition.
• Your Workspace subscription provides access to the log events using either the Audit & investigation tool or the Security center. 
  • Premium Google Workspace editions (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus) provide access to the Security Center and the more advanced features of the security investigation tool. The investigation tool enables super admins to identify, triage, and take action on security and privacy issues. For details, see About the security investigation tool.
  • All other Google Workspace editions can access the logs using the Audit and Investigation tool. For details, see About 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.

Run a search for Calendar log events

Audit and investigation tool

To run a search for log events, first choose a data source. Then choose one or more filters for your search.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

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

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  ReportingAudit and investigationCalendar log events.
3. Click Add a filter, and then select an attribute.
4. In the pop-up window, select an operatorselect a valueclick Apply.
   (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.
   • (Optional) To create multiple filters for your search, repeat this step.
   • (Optional) To add a search operator, above Add a filter, select AND or OR
5. Click Search.

6. 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.

Security investigation tool

Requires a premium Google Workspace edition (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)

To run a search in the investigation tool, first choose a data source. Then choose one or more conditions for your search. For each condition, choose an attribute, an operator, and a value. 

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

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

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  SecuritySecurity centerInvestigation tool.
3. Click Data source and select Calendar log events.
4. Click Add Condition.
   Tip: You can include one or more conditions in your search or customize your search with nested queries. For details, go to Customize your search with nested queries.
5. Click Attributeselect an option.
   For a complete list of attributes, go to the Attribute descriptions section (later on this page).
6. Click Containsselect an operator.
7. Enter a value or select a value from the list.
8. (Optional) To add more search conditions, repeat steps 4–7.
9. Click Search.
   You can review the search results from the investigation tool in a table at the bottom of the page.
10. (Optional) To save your investigation, click Saveenter a title and descriptionclick Save.

Notes

• In the Condition builder tab, filters are represented as conditions with AND/OR operators. You can also use the Filter tab to include simple parameter and value pairs to filter the search results.
• If you gave a user a new name, you will not see query results with the user's old name. For example, if you rename [e-mail] to [e-mail], you will not see results for events related to [e-mail].

Attribute descriptions

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

Attribute	Description
Access level	Access level of the calendar or event (in other words, what others can access). Enter one of the following values: Editor—For a calendar, full owner access except that the access control settings can't be modified. For an event, the user may edit the event. Freebusy—Can only see if the time slot is free or busy Owner—Full access to calendar properties, access control, and events Read—Read access to calendar properties, access control, and events Root—Full owner privileges, plus access to preferences. Used for domain admins. None—Calendar or event is not visible
Actor	Email address of the user who performed the action
Actor group name	Group name of the actor. For more information, go to Filtering results by Google Group. To add a group to your filtering groups allowlist: Select Actor group name. Click Filtering groups. The Filtering groups page displays. Click Add Groups. Search for a group by entering the first few characters of its name or email address. When you see the group you want, select it. (Optional) To add another group, search for and select the group. When you finish selecting groups, click Add. (Optional) To remove a group, click Remove group . Click Save.
Actor organizational unit	Organizational unit of the actor
API kind	API through which the logged action was made. Options include: Android (first- and third-party calendar applications) CalDAV (usually Apple devices) Calendar API Calendar for iOS Calendar Web Gmail ICS Parser (event emails from other calendar systems) Events from Gmail EWS (used by Calendar Interop)
Appointment schedule title	Title of the appointment schedule
Calendar ID	ID of the calendar where the logged action happened—for example, the calendar in which an event is taking place, or a calendar that users can subscribe to. The value for this attribute is often a user's email address such as [e-mail].
Client-side encrypted	Specifies if a calendar event is client-side encrypted or not
Date	Date and time the event occurred (displayed in your browser's default time zone)
Event	The logged event action, such as Event deleted, Calendar title changed, or Event guest removed
Event end time*	Time the event ended
Event ID	ID of the calendar event
Event start time*	Time the event started
Event title	Title of the calendar event
Guest response status	Guest's response to a calendar invite—for example, Accepted, Declined, or Maybe
Interop error code	Error code associated with an unsuccessful request. Available only when Calendar Interop is turned on.
IP address	Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the logged action. Usually reflects the user's physical location, but could be a proxy server or a virtual private network (VPN) address.
New value*	New value of an attribute. For example, enter the title for a new calendar, the description for a new calendar, or the new location.
Notification message ID	ID of the email notification
Notification method	The medium by which the notification was sent. Select one of the following values: Alert - Notification by popup window or alarm Default - Calendar default notification mechanism Email SMS
Notification type	Type of notification set, such as Calendar access granted, Canceled event, or New event
Old event title	If the title of a calendar event has been changed, this is the previous title of the event.
Organizer calendar ID	Calendar ID of this event's organizer
Recurring	The calendar event is a recurring event.
Remote exchange server URL*	The URL of the Exchange Web Services (EWS) endpoint. This is available only when Calendar Interop is turned on.
Requested period end time*	If the logged action is associated with a time window, this field contains the end of the time window. For example, the end time of an availability lookup in Calendar Interop.
Requested period start time*	If the logged action is associated with a time window, this field contains the start of the time window. For example, the start time of an availability lookup in Calendar Interop.
Subscriber calendar ID	If a user subscribed to a calendar, then this field captures the user's calendar ID.
Target*	This can be a guest email or grantee email in case there's a change of access or change of recipient email.
User agent	User agent software associated with the calendar event

* You cannot create reporting rules with these filters. Learn more about reporting rules versus activity rules.

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 arrow  and 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

You can export search results in the investigation tool to Google Sheets or to a CSV file.

1. At the top of the search results table, click Export all.
2. Enter a name  click 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.

Export limits vary depending on your Google Workspace edition:

• Premium edition (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)—The total results of the export are limited to 30 million rows (except for Gmail message searches, which are limited to 10,000 rows).
• All other Google Workspace editions—The total results of the export are limited to 100,000 rows (except for Gmail message searches, which are limited to 10,000 rows).

For more information, see Export search results.

When and how long is data available?

Go to Data retention and lag times.

 

Take action based on search results

Create activity rules & set up alerts

Rules and alert features vary depending on your Google Workspace edition:

Premium editions (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)—To help prevent, detect, and remediate security issues efficiently, you can automate actions in the investigation tool and set up alerts by creating activity rules. To set up a rule, set up conditions for the rule, and then specify what actions to perform when the conditions are met. For details and instructions, see Create and manage activity rules.

All other Google Workspace editions—You can set up alerts based on log event data using reporting rules. For instructions, see Create and manage reporting rules.

Take action based on search results

 Requires a premium Google Workspace edition (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)

After you run a search in the investigation tool, you can act on your search results. For example, you can run a search based on Gmail log events, and then use the investigation tool to delete specific messages, send messages to quarantine, or send messages to users' inboxes. For more details about actions in the investigation tool, go to Take action based on search results.

 

Manage your investigations

 Requires a premium Google Workspace edition (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)

View your list of investigations

To view a list of the investigations that you own and that were shared with you, click View investigations. The investigation list includes the names, descriptions, and owners of the investigations, and the date last modified. 

From this list, you can take action on any investigations that you own—for example, to delete an investigation. Check the box for an investigation, and then click Actions.

Note: Directly above your list of investigations, under Quick access, you can view recently saved investigations.

Configure settings for your investigations

As a super administrator, click Settings to :

• Change the time zone for your investigations. The time zone applies to search conditions and results.
• Turn on or off Require reviewer. For more details, go to Require reviewers for bulk actions.
• Turn on or off View content. This setting allows admins with the appropriate privileges to view content.
• Turn on or off Enable action justification.

For instructions and details, go to Configure settings for your investigations.

Share, delete, and duplicate investigations

To save your search criteria or share it with others, you can create and save an investigation, and then share, duplicate, or delete it.

For details, go to Save, share, delete, and duplicate investigations.

Related topics for security center

The following features require a  premium Google Workspace edition (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, or Education Plus)

• Start an investigation based on a dashboard chart
• Create a custom chart based on an investigation
• Start an investigation from the alert center
• Investigate reports of malicious emails
• Investigate file sharing
• Investigate a user across data sources