Activity and archive
Read the audit log of everything that happened to a document, export it as CSV, and retire documents without deleting them.
Two things keep a document defensible after it is written: a record of everything that happened to it, and a way to retire it without destroying it. Activity is the first. Archive is the second.
The activity log
Open a document and choose Activity — Audit log of all changes. It is a time-ordered feed of every recorded event, newest first, each line naming what happened, who did it, and when.
Anyone who can read the document can read its activity. There is nothing to switch on: the log is written as work happens. A brand-new document reads No activity recorded yet.
What gets recorded
The vocabulary is deliberately plain. The events you will see most:
| Area | Events |
|---|---|
| Drafting | Started a working draft · Edited the draft · Discarded the draft · Edited the content |
| Structure | Added a section · Removed a section · Reordered sections |
| Review | Requested approval · Approved the draft · Requested changes · Withdrew the approval request |
| Publishing | Published a new version · Self-published a new version · Previous version retired · Created a version |
| Metadata | Renamed the document · Changed the owner · Updated the review date · Changed the status |
| Links | Linked a framework · Unlinked a framework · Linked a control · Unlinked a control · Linked a risk · Unlinked a risk |
| Access | Viewed the document · Exported the document · Shared the document |
| Lifecycle | Created the document · Archived the document · Restored the document · Deprecated the document |
Note that views, exports and shares are logged too. The activity trail is not only a change history — it also answers "who has seen this", which is usually the question an auditor asks about a controlled document.
Two behaviours worth knowing:
- Restoring an old version does not rewrite the log. The restore appears as new work; earlier entries stay put. See Version history.
- The on-screen feed shows the 100 most recent events. Older ones are in the export.
Exporting the trail
Export CSV downloads the document's full history, not the page you can see. The file is named after the document and has one row per event with these columns:
timestamp, event_type, actor_id, actor_name, version, summary
Anyone who can see the feed can export it. Values are written so that spreadsheet software treats them as text — an event summary can never be interpreted as a formula.
Activity on a compliance record
A compliance record has its own Activity tab — a different feed that fills as that standard's control-agents run, showing verdicts such as verified, gap recorded, needs evidence and audited, attributed to a person or to a scheduled run.
Archiving a document
Archiving retires a document from day-to-day use without deleting it. Open the document and choose Archive document — Retire from use — kept, restorable.
The confirmation says exactly what happens, and it is worth reading once: the document leaves the working list but stays intact, readable and auditable — every version and every stored file is preserved.
After archiving:
- The document is read-only and carries a banner: This document is archived — read-only, with the date.
- Lifecycle actions are blocked. You cannot edit, submit for review, or publish an archived document.
- It disappears from the default working list and appears under the Archived status.
You need author rights on the document's team to archive. See Permissions.
Restoring
Find the document via Filter → Status → Archived and choose Restore — Bring back to the working list. It returns to normal, editable use, and both the archive and the restore are recorded in its activity log.
Archiving several at once
From the document list, select multiple documents and choose Archive. The result line is honest about what it skipped, for example Archived 6 · 2 skipped (control-backed or no permission).
The one refusal
A document that is the definition of a control cannot be archived from the document surface. Alchex refuses with This document is the definition of a control — manage it from the Controls page. Its lifecycle belongs to the control, so retiring it there keeps the control and its document from drifting apart.
Ask Alchex can also propose archiving a document; it arrives as an approval card that states plainly that the document is hidden and made read-only, not deleted, and you can restore it at any time.
Related
- Version history — what the document said, and when.
- Publishing — how a version reaches readers.
- External documents — controlling documents you did not author.