# Audit search for retained customer records Search retained contacts and conversations across chat, messaging, tickets and calls, then inspect their history. *Release 3.3 · admin, supervisor* **Settings › Audit** ## What it is **Audit** searches retained contacts and conversations. You can look for customer details, message text and conversation or ticket identifiers, then open the matching history. Export, deletion and recovery are separate permissions. ## Who uses it and why - Supervisors find a conversation when investigating a customer issue. - Administrators locate retained customer records and use authorised privacy actions when needed. ## Where to find it With the **Audit** role, open **Settings**, then **Audit**. The search workspace contains **Contacts**, **Chats**, **Tickets**, **Text** and **Call** tabs. **Recover** appears separately when your Audit permissions include **Recover Deleted Items**. ## How it works 1. Select the website whose records you need. 2. Open **Audit** and enter a distinctive word, customer detail or record identifier in **Search everything...**. 3. Set **From** and **To** to narrow the dates. The selected end date includes the whole day. 4. Choose the result tab. Apply its available filters, such as **Type**, **Status**, **Contact...**, **Operator...**, **Team** or **Subsite**. 5. Open a matching contact or conversation to inspect its details and retained history. Search updates as you change text, tabs or filters. Use **Clear Search** to clear the current search filters. Social messaging conversations appear under **Chats**, with **Type** choices for the supported messaging platforms. SMS conversations have the separate **Text** tab; email uses **Tickets**. ## Configure it Someone with the **Settings** or **Manager** role can review your **Audit** role at **Settings › Account › Operators**. The role's permissions separately control **Export**, each deletion action and **Recover Deleted Items**. Search filters affect the results shown. They do not change the retention period or restore deleted data. ### Permissions | Permission | Lets you | |---|---| | Audit | Search contacts and historical conversations in Audit. | | Export | Make Audit export actions available within the Audit role's permissions. | | Delete Contacts | Make contact deletion available in Audit. | | Delete Chats | Make chat deletion available in Audit. | | Delete Texts | Make text conversation deletion available in Audit. | | Delete Tickets | Make ticket deletion available in Audit. | | Delete Calls | Make call deletion available in Audit. | | Recover Deleted Items | Make the Recover view available for recoverable deleted items. | ## Limits and good to know - Audit searches recent activity and older retained history. Text matching can differ between recent and older results; use full distinctive words or an identifier if a partial search misses a record. - Search badges are navigation aids. Do not use them as unique customer or conversation totals for performance reporting. - Filters differ between tabs. For example, ticket **Status** is not a universal filter for every record type. - Ordinary search excludes deleted records in the relevant search paths. Use **Recover** only for items that remain recoverable and that you are permitted to access. - Record availability depends on retention and deletion. Audit is not a promise that all past conversations remain available. - Opening a record does not grant permission to export or delete it. Deletion tools can affect a contact and associated conversations, so check the action's scope before proceeding. ## Depends on and works with ### This feature uses - **Configured in** [Roles and permissions](ADM-008.md): The Audit role and its separate action permissions control the available tools. - **Configured in** [Website, channel and subsite access](ADM-009.md): Website access determines the website being searched. - **Configured in** [Customer data deletion and recovery](SEC-019.md): The deletion recovery period determines which deleted items remain available in Audit Recover. - **Configured in** [Personal data retention and automatic deletion](SEC-021.md): Retention determines how much history remains searchable. - **Works better with** [Conversation history and search](CHAT-024.md): Conversation history provides transcript inspection from search results. - **Works better with** [Messaging conversations](CHN-002.md): Social platforms appear within Chats with a Type filter. - **Works better with** [SMS number and channel setup](CHN-022.md): The Text tab searches SMS conversation history. - **Works better with** [Incoming email and ticket replies](CHN-025.md): The Tickets tab searches retained email conversations. - **Works better with** [Customer contact details](CRM-001.md): Contact profiles provide identity details shown with search results. - **Related** [Operator Log](REP-022.md): Operator Log shows recorded actions, while Audit searches customer and conversation records. - **Related** [Email verification for protected exports](SEC-013.md): Audit exports use personal-data email verification, separately from report export verification. - **Related** [Permanent deletion of retained customer data](SEC-020.md): Permanent deletion removes the retained copy that Audit Recover would otherwise restore. ### Used by - **Required by** [Personal data export](SEC-014.md): Audit search provides the contact and visitor records used to start an export. - **Required by** [Customer data deletion and recovery](SEC-019.md): Audit provides the record search and recovery workspace. - **Required by** [Permanent deletion of retained customer data](SEC-020.md): Audit Recover provides the retained-item list and Permanent Delete action. - **Related** [Operator Log](REP-022.md): Audit searches retained customer records when an investigation needs the affected conversation. ## FAQ and troubleshooting ### Why can I search but not export? Your **Audit** role may not include **Export**. Ask someone with the **Settings** or **Manager** role to review that permission at **Settings › Account › Operators**. ### Where are WhatsApp or Messenger conversations? Use **Chats** and select the appropriate **Type**. The **Text** tab is for SMS. ### Why does an old conversation not match part of a word? Recent and older history can use different matching rules. Try a complete distinctive word or the conversation identifier and check the dates. ### Why is Recover missing? It requires **Recover Deleted Items** within your Audit permissions. Even with that permission, permanently erased or expired data cannot be assumed recoverable. ### Where can I see who changed an account setting? Use **Reports › General › Operator Log**. Audit search is for customer and conversation records.