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
Creating an extracted data source also creates a data source export event for the data source being extracted.
For other services and activities, such as Google Drive and user activity, see the list of log events.
Note: The Looker Studio log events data source provides data for the previous 6 months. If you want to retain it for longer, you can export the log data.
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.
- (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.
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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 Looker Studio 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].
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. For more information, go to Filtering results by Google Group. To add a group to your filtering groups allowlist:
|
| Actor organizational unit | Organizational unit of the actor |
| Asset ID | ID of the asset where the logged action happened |
| Asset name | The name of the asset that was viewed or changed |
| Asset type | The type of asset where the logged action happened |
| Connector type | The type of connector used to fetch data for a data source asset |
| Current value |
If settings are changed, this field shows the current value of the settings—for example, Can edit, Can view, Private, Public on the web, or Current team workspace ID. Note: This attribute will replace New value. |
| Data export type | The type or format of the data export in Looker Studio. Enter one of the following values:
|
| Date | Date and time of the event (displayed in your browser's default time zone) |
| Distribution content ID | The ID of the schedule or alert |
| Distribution content name | The name of the schedule or alert |
| Distribution content owner email | The email address for the owner of the schedule or alert. The schedule owner is its most recent editor. The alert owner is the alert creator. |
| Distribution content type | The type of content being distributed like schedule or alert |
| Embedded in report ID | ID of the report where the data source is embedded |
| Event | The logged event action, such as Create, Data Export, or Restore |
| 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 | If settings are changed, this field shows the new value of the settings—for example, Can edit, Can view, Private, or Public on the web. |
| Old value | If settings are changed, this field shows is the old value of the settings—for example, Can edit, Can view, Private, or Public on the web. |
| Owner | The owner of the asset |
| Parent Workspace ID | The team workspace for the asset. |
| Previous Value |
If settings are changed, this field shows the previous value of the settings—for example, Can edit, Can view, Private, Public on the web, or Current team workspace ID. Note: This attribute will replace Old value. |
| Prior visibility | Visibility of the Looker Studio asset before the activity |
| Project ID | The Google Cloud project ID that is associated with the Gemini in Looker enablement. |
| Setting name | The name of the Gemini in Looker setting. Select one of the following values:
|
| Target | When changing user access, this field captures the target users or groups that this access change applies to |
| Target domain | If link visibility is changed, this field captures the domains that have access to the link. For example, enter the domain for your organization if the link is shared within your domain, or enter all if the link has public access. |
| Visibility | Visibility of the Looker Studio asset associated with the activity |
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].
Export Looker Studio log event data to BigQuery
If allowed, you can export Looker Studio log events data to Google BigQuery. To export, you'll need to:
Learn more about reporting logs and BigQuery.
Set up email alerts
You can easily track specific Looker Studio activities by setting up alerts. For example, get an alert whenever someone creates or deletes a report.
- Open the log events as described above in Open Looker Studio log event data.
- Click Add a filter.
- Enter or select the criteria for your filter and click Create Alert.
- Enter a name for the alert.
- (Optional) To send the alert to all super administrators, under Recipients, click Turn on.
- Enter the email addresses of alert recipients.
- Click Create.
To edit your custom alerts, go to Administrator email alerts.
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?
Take action based on search results
- You can set up alerts based on log event data using reporting rules. For instructions, see Create and manage reporting rules.
- 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
To help prevent, detect, and remediate security issues efficiently, you can automate actions in the security 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.
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
After you run a search in the security 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 tool to delete specific messages, send messages to quarantine, or send messages to users' inboxes. For more details, go to Take action based on search results.
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.
