Audit Trail Export Dashboard
Audit Trail Export Dashboard is a Setup feature that provides a visual overview and export capability for the Setup Audit Trail, which logs the last six months of configuration changes made in the org.
Definition
Audit Trail Export Dashboard is a Setup feature that provides a visual overview and export capability for the Setup Audit Trail, which logs the last six months of configuration changes made in the org. It allows administrators to filter, review, and export change history for compliance and troubleshooting purposes.
In plain English
“Here's a simple way to think about it: Audit Trail Export Dashboard puts a visual layer on top of Setup changes. Charts of change volume, filter by user and section, one-click export. The page that turns 6 months of audit data into something an admin can actually scan.”
Worked example
After a production issue where validation rules were unexpectedly modified, the admin at Apex Dynamics uses the Audit Trail Export Dashboard to filter changes by the Validation Rule component type over the past two weeks. She exports the results to a CSV file, identifies that a junior admin modified three rules on Tuesday, and works with that admin to revert the incorrect changes.
Why the Audit Trail Export Dashboard is the admin's black box
Setup Audit Trail has always told you what changed in your org over the last six months - but historically as a flat, hard-to-filter list. The Audit Trail Export Dashboard puts a visual layer on top: charts of change volume over time, filters by user and section, and a one-click export for the lines that matter. When you need to show an auditor exactly what changed in the Profiles section last quarter, this is the page that produces the answer in minutes instead of an afternoon.
Past compliance, the dashboard is also a triage tool when something silently breaks. If a workflow that worked yesterday is failing today, the audit log is often the only honest record of what touched it, and the dashboard's filters are how you find that one Tuesday-evening change among six months of noise. Make a habit of exporting and archiving the audit trail beyond the platform's six-month window - once events fall off, no Salesforce support ticket can recover them.
How to set up Audit Trail Export Dashboard
Audit Trail Export Dashboard is a visual overview + export tool for Setup Audit Trail — the 6-month log of every configuration change in the org. Provides filtering, searching, and CSV download for compliance audits and forensic investigations. Newer feature; older orgs use Setup → View Setup Audit Trail directly.
- Open Setup → Audit Trail Export Dashboard
Setup gear → Quick Find: Audit Trail Export → Audit Trail Export Dashboard. May be named differently in older orgs.
- Review the dashboard's summary metrics
Total changes / changes by category / changes by user — helps spot unusual activity at a glance.
- Filter by Date Range, Section, or Modified By
Narrow to a specific investigation window. Standard filters cover most use cases.
- Click Export to CSV
Generates a downloadable CSV of the filtered audit trail entries.
- For long-term archive: schedule recurring exports
Audit Trail retention is 6 months by default. Build a recurring export job (manual or via scheduled report) to archive longer-term.
- Pair with View Setup Audit Trail for raw view
Audit Trail Export Dashboard is the visual; View Setup Audit Trail is the raw row-by-row log. Both surface the same data.
Last 24h / 7d / 30d / 6 months.
Profile / Permission Set / Apex / etc.
Per-user history.
Filtered output.
- Audit Trail retention is 6 months. For compliance regimes requiring multi-year retention (SOX, HIPAA, FedRAMP), build a recurring export to your SIEM / data lake.
- Login As actions are logged with both delegator and impersonated user. Reading the dashboard requires checking BOTH columns to understand who really did what.
- Dashboard counts may differ slightly from raw audit trail. Aggregations can roll up multiple related changes into one entry — for forensic precision, use the raw View Setup Audit Trail.
How organizations use Audit Trail Export Dashboard
Quarterly Audit Trail Export Dashboard surfaces the high-risk Profile changes; security team focuses review where it matters.
Compliance reviews use the export as evidence; date-bounded change history is reproducible.
Filtering by section finds Profile-related changes during incident response within minutes.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Audit Trail Export Dashboard.
- Monitor Setup Changes with Setup Audit TrailSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. Can a Salesforce admin configure Audit Trail Export Dashboard without writing code?
Q2. In which area of Salesforce would you typically find Audit Trail Export Dashboard?
Q3. Why is understanding Audit Trail Export Dashboard important for Salesforce admins?
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