With Activity Log, you can quickly see who did what in a sheet—that is, you can get an audit trail of the edits and deletions of various elements on a sheet and get a better understanding of what your collaborators are taking action on in the sheet. You can also see who has viewed and made general edits to a report or Smartsheet Sight™.
In this article:
NOTE: This feature is included with Business and eligible Enterprise plans. For more information about plans and pricing, including which features are included with which plans, please see our Pricing page.
Jump to video demonstration: Activity Log
Actions Tracked in Activity Log
Use the Activity Log to track common actions such as:
- Who has viewed the sheet, report, or Sight.
- Who has been shared to or unshared from a sheet, report, or Sight.
- Sheets only: What type of changes were made and the specifics of the changes—for example, Sally Smart deleted Row 4.
- The name of the person that made the change.
- The time and date that the changes were made.
NOTE: Edits made to the data in cells and rows in a report will only appear on the Activity Log of the source sheets, not on the Activity Log of the report.
Who Can View the Activity Log
Access to the Activity Log depends on your sharing permission level. The earliest point in time that you can see tracked activities depends on when you were last shared to the sheet.
NOTE: Smartsheet Sights don't have an Editor sharing permission level. Only Admins and the Owner can view Activity Log for Sights.
| Sharing permission level | Can view Activity Log | See tracked activity starting at this date/time |
|---|---|---|
| Owner* | Yes | Creation of the item |
| Admin (Licensed)** | Yes | When you were last shared to the item |
| Admin (Unlicensed) | No | - |
| Editor (Licensed)** | Yes | When you were last shared to the item |
| Editor (Unlicensed) | No | - |
| Viewer (Licensed or Unlicensed | No | - |
*If you transfer ownership of a sheet, the new owner will see all of the Activity Log, starting from the time that the sheet was created.
**If you are upgraded to Admin (Licensed) or Editor (Licensed) sharing permissions, you will be able to see Activity Log entries starting from the time that you were first shared to the sheet. Check out our Sharing Permission Levels article for details on different sheet sharing permissions.
View Activity Log Entries
Open the Activity Log to view records of various sheet actions that have been performed by collaborators.
To see the Activity Log:
- Click Sheet Actions
in the left toolbar. - Select View Activity Log to display the View Activity Log window.
In the View Activity log window, you’ll have visibility to the various sheet actions, such as who deleted rows and when, or when a user viewed the sheet.
You can filter the Activity Log to more easily display the history you want.
Filter Activity Log Entries
You can use filters in the Activity Log to see only the entries you want. Apply a filter that shows you the activity for a specific date range, shows you a specific type of action, or the specific people that have been active on the sheet.
NOTE: When you close the Activity Log, your filters will be cleared automatically. Activity Log filters cannot be saved or shared with other collaborators on the sheet.
To apply filters to the Activity Log:
- Open the Activity Log and select Filters in the upper-left corner of the Activity Log window to expand the filter options.
- Select any of the following:
- Action—The type of activity. (For example, row was a deleted.)
- Collaborators—Who performed the activity.
- Date Range—The group of dates that you want to view the activity of.
- Select Apply.
If you need to clear the filters, click Clear Filters (next to the Apply button).
Understanding Activity Log Actions
Some actions listed in the Activity Log describe an overall change, but won't provide context on the details of that change. Below are a few actions that you might see and what they mean.
Card View: Card Reordered and Card View: Cards Reordered Indirectly
Card View: Cards Reordered means that you've manually dragged-and-dropped one or more cards from one position to another—either to a different lane, or to a different position in the same lane.
Card View: Cards Reordered Indirectly means that cards have been moved by any other means. For example, when you manually drag-and-drop one card to any position, either in the same lane or to a different lane, other cards are indirectly moved to higher or lower positions as a result. Cards can also be reordered indirectly when you make changes in the Grid and Gantt views, such as assigning a task to a different person or changing the Dropdown list option for a row.
Video Demo
For an instructional demonstration of Activity Log, check out the video below:
If you don't have access to YouTube, click here to watch the video.