Audit logs are documents containing an entry or entity's archive history and include all the information necessary to understand how an item has changed over time. You can download audit logs as .csv or .pdf files. This article covers:
Note: Audit logs are only available to tenants on Enterprise or Industry plans.
Download an audit log
You can view the archive history of an entity or entry by exporting its audit log.
To export an audit log:
In the expanded view, select the entities or entries you want to audit.
Click Export, then click Export Audit Logs.
In the drop-down menu, select the audit log format. You can choose to export the file as a .csv or .pdf.
Click Export to generate an audit log, including archive information.
View an audit log
Audit logs render in an intuitive format that includes one update per row, before and after changes in separate columns, and consistent formatting across all change events, including the removal of JSON formatting. The table below describes each column in the audit log and what they represent.
Audit log column | Column description |
Timestamp (UTC) | Datetime of an update in ISO 8601 format and UTC timezone |
User | Username for the account that made the update. This could be a person or service account |
Transaction ID | ID that groups related updates initiated by the same action |
Event Description | Overview of the update, including the audited object type |
Action | The object property that was updated |
Old Value | If an update is made, the previous value is stored. If a deletion occurs, the removed value is stored |
New Value | If an update is made, the new value is stored. If a creation occurs, the added value is stored |
Item | Name of the updated object |
Item Developer ID | Object API ID |
Item ID | Benchling ID For example, Registry ID, Experiment ID or barcode |
Item Type | Type of object |
Parent Item 1 Parent Item 2 Parent Item 3 | Related objects that help identify where the update happened Note: An updated object can have up to three parents, but often has fewer or none. For example, a Result table row has the following parents: Parent Item 1: the Result table where the row is found Parent Item 2: the entry where the result table (and relevant row) is found |
Parent Item 1 Developer ID Parent Item 2 Developer ID Parent Item 3 Developer ID | API ID for corresponding parent |
Parent Item 1 Type Parent Item 2 Type Parent Item 3 Type | Object type of corresponding parent |
Delegate User | Benchling team member acting as Benchling Support on the tenant |