The activity log
The activity log is the record of everything that was done through the server: every change that was applied, every change that was only previewed, and every one that failed. Nothing has to be switched on for it, and no setting removes rows from it.
There are two pages, and they look the same:
- My activity shows what you did. Everyone has it.
- All activity shows what everyone did. Only an administrator has it.
Overview also shows your last few rows under Recent activity.
Open the log and find a change
- Open My activity. An administrator who wants to see another person's work opens All activity instead.
- The newest rows are at the top. The page shows the newest 200 that match the filters.
- Narrow the list with the filters above it: see Filters.
- Click a row to open it. Click again to close it.
- Press Reload to fetch rows that were added since you opened the page.
You can also ask your AI client:
What did I change in Google Ads today?
Show me my last ten changes, with the previews.
It reads the same log. You get your own rows; an administrator gets everyone's.
What a row shows
Each row has these columns:
| Column | What it is |
|---|---|
| When | The date and time, in your browser's time zone. |
| Change | What was done, in words, such as "Update campaign budget". Under it, in small type, what it was done to. |
| Account | The account it was done on: an ad account, a Page, an Instagram account. |
| Person | The username. On All activity only. |
| Outcome | Applied, Dry run, Preflight or Failed: see the next part. |
Click a row and it opens to show, where the row has them:
- A link to the platform, such as "Open this campaign in Google Ads": see The link to the platform.
- Error: for a failed row, why it failed.
- Asked for: what the request asked the platform to do.
- Before: what was there before the change. For something deleted, this is the thing as it was.
- Changed: what came back: the platform's answer, or for a preview, what would change.
- Tool: the name of the action that was recorded, which is close to the name of the tool that ran. Quote it when you report a problem.
The details are shown as the server recorded them, in a technical form. You do not need to read all of it: Before and Changed are the two that answer "what happened".
The three outcomes
Every row is one of three things, and the row shows which without your having to read a word: the bar down its left edge is solid for a change that was applied, hollow for a preview, and red for a failure.
Applied
Applied means the change was made on the platform. A few rows are Applied although nothing changed on a platform, because they record something else that the server did for you: leads that were read (where they were read from and how many, never the leads), a hashtag that was looked up, an account you asked the server to watch, a batch of leads pushed to your own system.
A preview: Dry run or Preflight
A preview changed nothing. It is in the log so that you can see what was looked at before a change, and what was looked at and never applied. The page uses two labels for it:
| Label | Where you see it |
|---|---|
| Dry run | Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn and LinkedIn Ads rows. |
| Preflight | Facebook and Instagram posts, comments and messages; watching an account; lead feeds; alert rules, budget plans and scheduled reports; and the three Google Ads actions that Google cannot check without doing them. |
Preflight always means the platform did not see the change: the server checked it by itself.
Dry run does not always mean the platform checked it
On a Google Ads row, Dry run means Google itself checked the change. On a LinkedIn or LinkedIn Ads row, it is still only this server's own check, because LinkedIn has no way to check a change without making it. On a Meta Ads row it depends on what was changed. The table in How it keeps you safe says who checks what.
Failed
Failed means the change was not made. Open the row and read Error: it is the reason, either the server's own refusal (a limit, a switch that is off, a missing permission) or the platform's. A preview can fail too, and a failed preview is also shown as Failed.
A refusal over a limit or a switch names the management page where an administrator changes it. See Troubleshooting.
The link to the platform
Where the thing a row is about can be opened on the platform itself, the open row has a link to it. The link opens in a new tab, and you need to be signed in to the platform there.
| Row | Where the link goes |
|---|---|
| Google Ads | The campaign, the ad group, or the ad group that a keyword or an ad is in. For anything else, the account. Shown on previews and failures too, because the campaign is there to look at either way. |
| Meta Ads | The campaign, ad set or ad in Ads Manager; for an audience, the ad account's audiences. Shown on previews and failures too. A lead form has no link. |
| LinkedIn Ads | The list in Campaign Manager that holds the campaign group, campaign or ad; a conversion opens by itself; an audience opens the ad account. |
| Facebook and Instagram | The post, or your reply to a comment. Only on an applied row, and only while the post exists: a preview, a failure and a deleted post or discarded draft have no link. For some Instagram rows the link opens the account. |
| The published post, or the post a reply is under. Only on an applied row. A draft, a discarded draft and a deleted post have no link. |
Rows about watching, lead feeds, alert rules and reports have no link: there is nothing on a platform to open.
Google asks which account on the way
A Google Ads link reaches the right account, but Google first asks which login and which account. To skip both, open Google connection, and under Opening an account directly paste an address from the Google Ads site once for that account, then press Remember this account. The address is only read, never opened. See Google.
Filters
| Filter | Choices | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Person | Everyone, or one username | On All activity only. The list includes people who have since been deleted. |
| Outcome | Anything, Applied, Checked only, Failed | Checked only shows the previews that passed. |
| Mode | Live and dry runs, Live changes only | Live changes only hides every preview, the failed ones too. Use it to see only what really changed, or was really tried. |
When nothing matches, the page says "Nothing matches."
What is in the log, and what is not
In the log:
- every change, applied or failed;
- every preview;
- a few reads that are recorded because of what they touch: reading leads, and looking up a hashtag.
Not in the log:
- ordinary reading: reports, lists, figures. They change nothing and are not recorded;
- what the server reads by itself for History, the checks of your alert rules, and the building of a scheduled report. Reports have their own list on Reports;
- anything of a lead, a private message or a customer record. A row for those holds ids and counts only. See What is never stored.
What a row does keep is your own content: the text of a post you made or deleted, the budget before and after. A Facebook or Instagram comment that you replied to, hid or deleted through the server is kept in that row too.
Who sees what
- You see only your own rows on My activity, whichever token or AI client made them. The server decides this from your sign-in; nothing you type can show you another person's rows.
- An administrator sees everyone's rows on All activity, with the Person column and filter.
- Your AI client can read the log for you. It gets your rows, or everyone's if you are an administrator.
Rows stay when a user is deleted, so the record of what they changed is not lost.