How to Find SharePoint Site Viewers with Microsoft Purview Audit Log
Question details
The user needs to identify specific individuals who viewed a SharePoint site or page, as standard usage reports only provide aggregated viewing totals.
- Product
- SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Tracking detailed viewer activity and ensuring compliance across various SharePoint sites.
- Observed behavior
- SharePoint usage reports show total unique viewers and page visits but fail to identify the specific users who viewed a site or page.
Verify that your Microsoft 365 account has the necessary audit and compliance permissions (such as the View-Only Audit Logs role) to access the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
Search for Page Views via Microsoft Purview Audit Log
Utilize the Purview Audit Log to search for the 'Viewed page' activity, allowing you to identify individual users who accessed specific SharePoint content.
While native SharePoint usage reports are great for high-level metrics, they do not provide granular user activity details. The Microsoft Purview Audit Log bridges this gap by recording specific user actions, including detailed page views, across your entire tenant.
Log in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal using your administrator credentials.
In the left-hand navigation pane, select 'Audit' to open the audit log search interface.
Click the 'Activities' dropdown menu, type 'Viewed page' in the search bar, and select it to filter exclusively for page view events.
Define your desired timeframe using the 'Start date' and 'End date' fields. To narrow down the results to a specific site, enter the SharePoint site URL in the search box.
Click 'Search' to generate the report. Once the results populate, click the 'Export' button to download the detailed viewer data as a CSV file for further review.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why don't SharePoint site usage reports identify individual viewers?
Standard SharePoint usage reports are configured to protect user privacy by default. They aggregate data to show overall site performance, such as total visits and unique viewer counts, rather than exposing individual user navigation habits.
Who has permission to access the Microsoft Purview Audit Log?
Only users who have been assigned specific administrative roles in Exchange Online or the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, such as Global Administrator or Compliance Administrator, can run and view audit log searches.
How long are SharePoint page view records kept in the audit log?
Audit log retention depends on your Microsoft 365 licensing. Standard E3 or G3 licenses typically retain audit data for 90 days, whereas higher-tier licenses (like E5/G5) or custom retention policies can keep logs for up to a year or longer.
