Record auditing in Dynamics 365 is vital for maintaining data accuracy and compliance. It’s a systematic way to track and manage changes to data within your system. As well as auditing records, the Dynamics audit log also records user access.
- Record auditing allows you to monitor and record every alteration made to your data.
- It provides a detailed audit trail for Dynamics, documenting who made the changes, what modifications were made, and precisely when they occurred.
How to enable record auditing in Dynamics 365
Go to settings > Administration
Select System Settings and then select the Auditing tab
Click Start Auditing and choose what you’d like to audit
- User access. Tracks when a user accesses your Dynamics 365 system
- Common Entities. Tracks common entities like Account, Contact, Product, and User
- Sales Entities. Tracks specific sales entities like Competitor, Opportunity, Invoice, Order, and Quote
- Marketing Entities. Tracks the Campaign entity
- Customer Service Entities. Tracks activity on Cases, Contracts, Queues, and the Service entity
How to change which entities are audited in Dynamics
You can have much more granular control over which fields and tables are included in the audit
Go to Advanced Settings > System > Auditing
Choose Entity and Field Audit Settings
In the pop up, expand Entities and select the entity you’d like to change the audit settings for
In the General tab look for the Data Services section. Check or uncheck the Auditing field.
Click Save (the disk icon), then Publish
You can also control which fields are audited in Dynamics using Power Apps.
- Find your Dynamic instance in PowerApps
- Choose the table you’d like to be audited
- Click Properties (the cog icon)
- In Advanced options on the overlay screen, choose the check box Audit changes to its data box
How to control which fields are audited in Dynamics
- In PowerApps, choose your Dynamics environment
- Click Tables, and choose a table
- Choose Columns and select the Column (field) you’d like to change the audit settings for
- Under Advanced options, choose Enable auditing
- Click Save
How to view record audit logs in Dynamics
There’s two main ways to view record audit information in Dynamics.
Method 1: If you know which record you’re looking for and it still exists
- Open the record
- Choose the Audit history tab (it may be hidden in the Related drop down)
You’ll now see a list of changes which have been made to the record. You can filter by a specific field if you’d like more focused results.
Click on the Event name to view a pop up with details about each field change
Method 2: If you don’t know which record you’re looking for or it’s been deleted
Log in to your Dynamics 365 account. From the main cog menu, select Advanced Settings
From the Settings dropdown menu, choose System > Auditing
In the Auditing section, select Audit Summary View
- You’ll now see a list of the most recently changed records. This includes entries for
- Creating a record
- Updating a record
- Deleting a record
- Many more events specific to different entities
- Use the Enable Filters button to narrow your search. You can filter by
- Date of event
- Event type
- User who made the change
- Entity
To find out which fields have been changed (if appropriate), click the event name and a popup will appear, showing
- Field name
- Date
- Old value (for updates)
- New value (for updates)
- The user who made the change
Logging user access in Dynamics 365
To enable user access logging, refer to the How to enable record auditing in Dynamics 365 section above and select Audit user access
To read the user access log
- Access the Audit Summary View as in Method 2 above
- Filter on Entity = user
- You’ll see details of access per user
There’s more broader details about user access and usage statistics in our Dynamics 365 Usage Statistics blog post
Your questions
How do I find who deleted a record in Dynamics 365?
Follow method 2 above and filter on event = delete. You can also filter on entity. Scroll through the list to find the deleted record. Often the record name isn’t visible until you click for more details.
How can I see when a contact’s email address was changed in Dynamics 365?
Follow method 1 above, and filter on the field name = email address
How do I find what changes were made to an opportunity in Dynamics 365?
Follow method 1 above, and open the opportunity in question
Can I track when a field was last updated in Dynamics 365?
Yes use method 1 and filter on the field name you’re interested in
How do I see the previous value of a field?
Use Method two for the record, and Filter on the field name. You’ll see all updates to the field in date order.
Is there a way to track changes to custom fields in Dynamics 365?
Yes, custom fields can be audited like any other field in Dynamics. The settings are identical
How can I see when the price of a product was changed in Dynamics 365?
Find the product and open the audit log as in method 1, then filter on price.
Can I see a record’s creation date in Dynamics 365?
Yes the audit log can show you this. Use method 1 and look for Event = Create (usually the first entry!) or simply look for the CreatedBy field on each record.
How do I review review user activity in Dynamics 365?
For high level statistics about user activity, see our our Dynamics 365 Usage Statistics blog post
How do I find out what a specific user has done in Dynamics?
Use Method 1 and filter on the changed by column
What actions are logged in the Dynamics 365 audit log?
When the record is created, updated or deleted. There are often more detailed entries for how a record is updated.
Can I retrieve deleted records from Dynamics 365 using the audit log?
If you know the time when the record was deleted you can use Method 2 above and search for all Delete events, then look around the time you think the record was deleted. You won’t see the name of the record, but if you click on Delete in the Event column you can see all the data which was deleted.
There are also more sophisticated tools, like XRM Toolbox’s Restore Deleted Records. These tools are designed for developers and should be used with caution
How to export audit log data in Dynamics 365?
There is no option to export audit log data directly in Dynamics 365. If you want to export the data, you can use Microsoft Purview ( Formerly Compliance) to export the data. From the Activities – friendly names drop down, choose All Dynamics 365 activities
Can I see which IP address updated a record in Dynamics 365?
Yes, you can use Microsoft Purview as above. You’ll see IP address listed in the data fields
