Data Change Logs Just Got Smarter!
Having visibility into what changed, when, and by whom, and being able to restore previous values is essential to every software we use nowadays. This is even more important for maintaining trust, accuracy, and control in your Quickbase apps. That’s why we are rolling out a major upgrade to our Audit Logs and particularly to Data Change Logs - giving admins a more powerful, reliable way to track and recover data changes with (almost) zero setup required. What’s New in a Nutshell All scalar fields are now tracked by default once auditing for an app is enabled - no manual enabling needed Only actual field changes are logged - cleaner, more relevant audit trails App admins can now restore changed and deleted values - right from the app audit log Existing field property repurposed - now controls presence in change logs, not logging behavior See full release notes Let’s unpack the details. Easier Setup: Track All Scalar Fields Automatically Previously, tracking data changes required manually enabling individual fields one by one. Now, all scalar fields (like text, numbers, dates, checkboxes, and more) are automatically audited as soon as auditing for an app is turned on. • Important • Automatic tracking for all data changes has been temporarily disabled. In the meantime, manually enable tracking for specific fields using the Show in data changes checkbox. Learn more on our service page and in the May 2025 release notes. We will be progressively re-enabling all realms through the end of June 2025. Realm admins can enable data change logs for a particular app from the Admin Console Apps page: As soon as data change logs for an app are enabled, we will start tracking any data changes for all scalar fields in the app. The changed data will be stored at a record level. Here’s an example data change log event for a single record (both in app and realm audit logs): Once you click on the “View data changes” link, the following modal is displayed: The pop-up will contain the previous and current values for all fields from the record where data changes have been made. That same information is also available in JSON format in the CSV export, as well as in our Audit REST API. A Smarter Use of a Field Property We’ve also updated the meaning of the Track field property (Table settings ---> Fields ---> Field Properties) Before: This determined whether the field was tracked at all: Now: All scalar fields are always tracked. The repurposed field only controls whether the field is always shown in the record change log, no matter if the field data has been changed or not: If you already have an app where data change logs had been previously enabled, we will automatically start tracking all fields. However, you may want to do a clean-up and uncheck the repurposed checkbox for some fields to avoid them being always unnecessarily present in the change log entries. You should also keep in mind that if you disable data change logs for an app that had tracking for certain fields already enabled, the setting for these fields will persist the next time you enable data change logs for that same app. Restore Changed Data Instantly This one’s a game-changer: App admins can now restore a field’s previous value directly from the app audit logs. This works both for updated and deleted records. Whether it was a bulk update gone wrong or someone changing the wrong record, app admins can recover from data mistakes in seconds - no need to dig through manual backups, contact tech support or manually re-enter data. What you need to do: Locate in the logs the record that you want to restore, click “View data changes” Select the fields you want to restore - all of them or specific ones Click “Restore previous values” Upon a successful restore, you should see a message like this: You can also restore any deleted record as a new record: • Note • Keep in mind that the data restore option is available only in the app audit log. Data change logs are available in the realm logs, but realm admins do not have the ability to restore data. This is intentional, as we would like to keep the restore closer to where the data lives. Designed to Scale Some of you generate millions of audit events every single day. As part of this change, we thoroughly evaluated the platform performance to ensure app experience and audit performance are not impacted. The new changes are not going to affect your app space entitlements – audit is a separate service. We also decided to retain the existing limit of 50 auditable apps per realm. While this may change in the future, we want to better understand your usage patterns, compliance needs, and platform behavior before potentially enabling higher app limits. The Big Picture Data change log updates are part of a broader investment in powerful, scalable audit capabilities. Read our recent blog post for details on other recent audit improvements. Try It Today If you’re already using Audit Logs, these enhancements are live now. Easy setup. Built-in restore. Smarter logs. Less noise.
