Depending on your Google Workspace edition, you might have access to the security investigation tool, which has more advanced features. For example, super admins can identify, triage, and take action on security and privacy issues. Learn more
To use this feature, you must have a Vault add-on license. For details, go to Buy Vault licenses for your organization.
As your organization's administrator, you can run searches and take action on Vault log events. For example, you can view a record of actions performed in the Vault console, such as which users edited retention rules or downloaded export files.
Run a search for 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.
To run a search for log events, first choose a data source. Then, choose one or more filters for your search.
-
Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
Reporting
Audit and investigation
- Click Add a filter, and then select an attribute.
- In the pop-up window, select an operator
- (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.
- 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.
To run a search in the security 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.
-
Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
Security
- Click Data source and select Vault log events.
- 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. - Click Attribute
For a complete list of attributes, go to the Attribute descriptions section (later on this page). - Select an operator.
- Enter a value or select a value from the list.
- (Optional) To add more search conditions, repeat steps 4–7.
- Click Search.
You can review the search results from the investigation tool in a table at the bottom of the page. - (Optional) To save your investigation, click 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 [email protected] to [email protected], you will not see results for events related to [email protected].
Run a search in the Vault console
Expand section | Collapse all & go to top
Run a search for Vault log events- Sign in to vault.google.com.
- Click Reports.
- (Optional) Select a date range.
- (Optional) Enter the email addresses of the Vault users whose actions that you want to audit. To audit the actions of all Vault users, leave the field empty.
- Select what types of Vault user actions that you want to audit:
- To audit all actions, click Select All.
- To audit only some actions, check the box next to each action.
- Click Download CSV.
A CSV file that contains audit information is downloaded to your computer. If you have run a search for many users, you might get multiple logs.
- Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet app, such as Google Sheets. For definitions of the values in the CSV, go to Attribute descriptions (later on this page).
- Sign in to vault.google.com.
- Click Matters.
- In the list of matters, click the matter you want to audit.
- Click Audit.
Note: To view the matter's audit logs in the Google Admin console, click Try it out now. The ID of the matter you selected is automatically loaded into the Audit and investigation page. Alternatively, you can copy the matter's ID in the URL:
- (Optional) Select a date range.
- (Optional) Enter the email addresses of the Vault users whose actions that you want to audit. To audit the actions of all Vault users, leave the field empty.
- Select what types of Vault user actions that you want to audit:
- To audit all actions, click Select All.
- To audit only some actions, check the box next to each action.
Note: No retention rule-related actions are reported for matter-specific audits because retention rules are managed outside matters.
- Click Download CSV.
A CSV file that contains audit information is downloaded to your computer. If you have run an audit for many users, you might get multiple logs.
- Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet app, such as Google Sheets. For definitions of the values in the CSV, go to Attribute descriptions (later on this page).
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 |
| Additional details | Contains additional payload details such as retention period and conditions |
| Date | Date and time the event occurred (displayed in your browser's default time zone) |
| Event | The logged event action, such as View Investigation, View External Document, or Add Collaborator Begin |
| Matter ID |
ID of the matter. This ID is not available for all events, but instead events that pertain to a matter. |
| Organizational unit name | The name of the organizational unit to which the action applies |
| Query |
The search parameters the user entered for a specific search |
| Resource name | The resource name of the action, such as hold name or saved query name |
| Resource URL | The URL of a document that the user viewed |
| Target user |
Email address of the targeted user, such as a user who was put on hold |
Note: 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 [email protected] to [email protected], you will not see results for events related to [email protected].
Manage log event data
Manage search results column data
You can control which data columns appear in your search results.
- At the top-right of the search results table, click Manage columns
.
- (Optional) To remove current columns, click Remove
.
- (Optional) To add columns, next to Add new column, click the Down arrow
and select the data column.
Repeat as needed. - (Optional) To change the order of the columns, drag the data column names.
- Click Save.
Export search result data
You can export search results to Google Sheets or to a CSV file.
- At the top of the search results table, click Export all.
- Enter a name
The export displays below the search results table under Export action results. - To view the data, click the name of your export.
The export opens in Google Sheets.
Export limits vary:
- The total results of the export are limited to 100,000 rows (except for Gmail message searches, which are limited to 10,000 rows).
- Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
If you have the security investigation tool, the total results of the export are limited to 30 million 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?
Manage your investigations
Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
View your list of investigationsTo 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.
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.
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.
