What Is an Audit Trail?
An audit trail is an automatic log of all activities related to documents: who accessed, who modified, who downloaded, who deleted, when, and from which location. It's the "black box" of your document management system.
Why Is an Audit Trail Mandatory?
- GDPR: you must know who accessed personal data
- Archival law: document integrity must be provable
- ISO standards: ISO 27001 requires access logging
- Tax audits: inspectors may require proof that a document wasn't altered
What Does an Audit Trail Record?
| Activity | Recorded Data |
|---|---|
| Document access | User, time, IP address |
| Document modification | User, time, what was changed |
| Download | User, time, download format |
| Deletion | User, time, reason (if provided) |
| Sharing | User, recipient, access level |
Practical Examples
Example 1: An employee claims they never saw the contract — the audit trail shows they opened the document 3 times.
Example 2: An inspector requests proof that an invoice wasn't altered — the audit trail confirms integrity from the moment of creation.
Conclusion
Arhivix automatically logs every activity on documents. Complete access, modification, and deletion records — with zero extra work. Legal compliance out of the box. Try it free.
