Audit Action Restore
Audit Action Restore
Audit Action Restore lets account owners undo a recorded change by reverting it from the team audit log. When someone edits a record, Global Watch captures the before-and-after values in the audit log. With this feature, an owner can put those changed fields back to how they were, safely and with a complete trail.
Overview
The restore capability provides:
- One-click revert - Restore the fields a recorded action changed, straight from the audit log
- Conflict protection - Blocks a restore when the record has changed since the action, so newer edits are never silently overwritten
- Owner-only access - Only account owners can restore, enforced both in the app and at the database level
- Safe scope - Limited to update actions on a small, vetted set of record types
- Full traceability - Every restore is itself recorded in the audit log and tagged for compliance
Who Can Restore
Restoring is restricted to account owners. Other team members can view the audit log but will not see a working restore action. This restriction is enforced in two places: the application checks ownership before acting, and the database independently rejects any restore requested by a non-owner. This double check means a restore cannot slip through even if the front-end check is bypassed.
The restore action is available on the team audit page (Team Settings → Audit). It is not available on the personal account audit page.
What Can Be Restored
Restore is intentionally narrow and safe. A recorded action is restorable only when all of the following are true:
| Condition | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Action type | Only update actions. Create, delete, and other action types cannot be restored. |
| Record type | The change must be on a supported record type (see below). |
| Fields | At least one changed field must be a normal content field. Identity and system fields are never touched. |
Supported Record Types
Restore is available for changes to these record types:
- Projects
- Assets
- Documents
- Inspections
- Project annotations
- Asset templates
- Template items
Changes to any other record type are not restorable in this release.
Protected Fields
Some fields are never modified by a restore, even if they appear in the recorded change. These include identity and system-managed values such as the record ID, the owning account, creation and update timestamps, and any reference (foreign key) field. A restore reverts only the regular content fields and leaves these protected fields exactly as they are.
If a recorded change touched only protected fields, there is nothing safe to revert and the restore action will report that no restorable fields are available.
How to Restore an Action
- Open Team Settings and go to the Audit page
- Find the recorded action you want to revert in the audit log
- For a restorable action, click Restore action
- Review the confirmation dialog, which describes what the restore will do
- Click Confirm to proceed
When the restore succeeds, you'll see a success notification and the audit log refreshes to show the new entry.
Conflict Protection
Before reverting, Global Watch checks that the record still matches the state captured right after the original action. In other words, it confirms nothing has changed in the meantime.
- If the record is unchanged since the audited action, the restore proceeds.
- If the record was edited after the audited action, the restore is blocked and you'll see a message explaining that the record has changed since the action was performed and cannot be safely restored.
This protection ensures a restore never silently overwrites someone else's newer work. If you hit a conflict, review the more recent changes first and decide how to proceed.
A restore that would overwrite changes made after the recorded action is rejected. This is by design, to protect newer edits.
Traceability and Compliance
Every restore is fully auditable:
- The restore produces a new audit log entry, just like any other change.
- That entry is tagged as a restore so it is easy to identify in compliance reviews.
- The entry references the original action it reverted, linking the restore back to its source.
This means a reviewer can always see that a value was restored, when, by whom, and which recorded action it came from.
Outcomes and Messages
Depending on the situation, a restore attempt results in one of the following:
| Outcome | What it means |
|---|---|
| Success | The changed fields were reverted to their previous values. |
| Record changed | The record was edited after the action; the restore was blocked to protect newer changes. |
| Not permitted | Only account owners can restore actions. |
| Action not supported | Only update actions are restorable. |
| Record type not allowed | The record type is outside the supported set. |
| Record not found | The original record no longer exists. |
| No restorable fields | The recorded change touched only protected fields. |
Related Features
- Role-Based Access Control - How owner and member roles work
- Projects - Manage projects and their data
- Assets - Track and edit forest assets