Using FileRun

File-based Activity Logs🔗

FileRun keeps an activity log for each file and folder. It lets you see the history of everything that happened to an item through FileRun: who uploaded it, who downloaded it, who renamed it, who commented on it.

This is a different thing from the user activity log that administrators read in the control panel. That one is organized by user; this one is organized by file.

The Activity panel🔗

The quickest way to see what happened recently is the Activity tab, in the panel on the right side of the interface.

• With one item selected, it shows the history of that item.
• With nothing selected, it shows the history of the folder you are looking at, including everything that happened in the folders below it.

Each entry gives the picture of the person who acted, a sentence saying what they did, and how long ago. Clicking an entry opens the folder holding the file it refers to. The list loads more entries as you scroll.

A number on the tab counts what is new to you: entries written since you last loaded FileRun, by somebody other than yourself.

If the panel is not visible, open it with the View details button on the toolbar.

The full log of one item🔗

For the complete history as a table, right-click a file or a folder and choose Information → Control panel, then Activity log. This gives you the same records with a User, Date, Action and Details column, one page at a time.

Additional details are recorded for certain actions. Sending a file by e-mail, for example, records the list of recipients. Only the user who performed the action and administrators can see these details.

Who can see the log🔗

Reading the log needs the permission User can access the files' activity logs, which is granted per user or per role, and the permission to download files. Your administrator sets both.

For a file or a folder that somebody shared with you, two more rules apply:

• The share has to give you the Contributor or the Content manager role. The other roles do not open the activity log.
• You see only what happened after the item was shared with you. Nothing from before that moment is shown.

Through a web link, the activity log is never available. People opening a shared link cannot reach it at all, so you can publish a link without the history of your actions being visible.

Some entries are hidden from users who are not administrators, and you only ever see entries about people your account is allowed to know about.

Turning it off and keeping it short🔗

The whole system is switched off in the control panel, under Files → Settings → General, with the option File-centric user activity logs. While it is off nothing new is logged, although existing records are kept and become readable again when it is switched back on. Turning it off is worth considering on a busy server where the history is not needed.

Next to it, Number of days to keep the file activity log entries decides how long records are kept. The default is 7 days. Older entries are removed by the daily scheduled task, so the Activity panel goes back only as far as this setting allows. Setting it to 0 keeps the entries for good, and nothing is ever removed.