OAuth Token audit log

Track 3rd-party application usage and data access requests

As your organization's administrator,  you can use the OAuth Token audit log to track which users are using which third-party mobile or web applications in your domain. For example, when a user starts a Google Marketplace app, the Token log records the name of the app, and the person using it. 

The log also records each time a third-party application is authorized to access Google account data, such as Contacts, Calendar, and Drive files (G Suite only).

Step 1: Open the OAuth Token audit log

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

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

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Reports.

    To see Reports, you might have to click More controls at the bottom.

  3. On the left, under Audit, click Token.
  4. On the toolbar, click Select columns Select columns. Then select the data you want to show in your log.
  5. See below for how to interpret and customize log data.

Step 2: Understand Token audit log data

Data you can view

The Admin console bases its OAuth Token audit logs on the following user data:

Data Type Description
Event name Activity, Authorize, and Revoke events are logged.
  • Activity event descriptions include: 1) the name of the app making an API call, 2) the specific API method called, and 3) the user on whose behalf the call was made.
  • Authorize or Revoke event descriptions include: 1) user, 2) application granted access, and 3) API scope authorized.
Event description Summary of the event, such as "Super Admin David authorized access to Google Chrome for https://www.google.com/accounts/OAuthLogin scopes".
User Email address of the user for whom access was authorized or revoked.
Application name Application for which access was authorized or revoked.
Client ID OAuth client ID of the application for which access was authorized or revoked.
Scope Scopes to which access was authorized or revoked.
Date Date and time the event occurred (displayed in your browser's default time zone).
IP address Internet Protocol (IP) address of the user for whom access was authorized or revoked. This might reflect their physical location, but it can be something else like a proxy server or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) address.

Step 3: Customize and export your audit log data

Filter the audit log data by user or activity

You can narrow your audit log to show specific events or users. For example, find all log events for when users authorized or revoked access by a specified application, or find all OAuth token authorization activity for a particular user.

  1. Open your OAuth Token audit log as shown above.
  2. If you don't see the Filters section, click Filter Filter.
  3. Enter or select the criteria for your filter. You can filter on any combination of the data you can view in the log.
  4. Click Search.

Filter by organizational unit

You can filter by organizational unit to compare statistics between child organizations in a domain.

  1. Open your report as shown above.
  2. On the left, under Filters, select an organizational unit from the list.

You can only filter the current organization hierarchy, even when searching for older data. Data before December 20, 2018 will not appear in the filtered results.

Export your audit log data

You can export your audit log data to Google Sheets or download it to a CSV file.

  1. Open your audit log as shown above.
  2. (Optional) To change the data to include in your export:
    1. On the toolbar, click Select columns Select columns.
    2. Check the box next to the data you want to export and click Apply.
  3. On the toolbar, click Download Download.

You can export up to 210,000 cells. The maximum number of rows depends on the number of columns you select. Audit logs to Sheets are limited to 10,000 rows, while CSV exports can include up to 500,000 rows.

How old is the data I'm seeing?

For details on exactly when data becomes available and how long it's retained, see Data retention and lag times.

Step 4: Set up email alerts

You can easily track specific OAuth token activities by setting up alerts. For example, get an alert whenever someone authorizes or revokes access by a specified application.

  1. Open your OAuth Token audit log as shown above.
  2. If you don't see the Filters section, click Filter Filter.
  3. Enter or select the criteria for your filter. To set up an alert, you can filter on any combination of the data you can view in the log except date and time range.
  4. Click Set Alert.
  5. In the Set alert: Token box, enter a name for the alert.
  6. Check the box to deliver the alert to the account super administrators.
  7. Enter the email addresses of any other alert recipients.
  8. Click Save.

To edit your custom alerts, see Administrator email alerts.

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