Investigate with Field History Explorer
After completing this unit, you'll be able to:
- Explain the purpose of Field History Explorer.
- Filter historical data by user, field, or date.
- Describe the benefits of investigating data changes in a centralized view.
- Export filtered results to facilitate compliance audits and external reviews.
Visualize Your Data Lineage
Now that you understand how to capture data using Field History Tracking, and how to retain it for the long term using Field Audit Trail, you also need to learn how to read it.
In the past, analyzing massive amounts of retained field history often required complex queries or API exports. This could be time-consuming for admins who needed quick answers during an investigation. Field Audit Trail solves this with the Field History Explorer (FHE).
What Is the Field History Explorer?
Field History Explorer (FHE) is a dedicated Shield App UI that enables you to explore field-level changes across records without writing a single line of code. While Field Audit Trail works in the background to secure long-term retention, Field History Explorer is the tool that helps you investigate data changes, troubleshoot issues, and support compliance audits.
FHE is a visual layer on top of your retained data, providing a filterable view of historical changes.
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Intuitive visualization: It provides a simple view of historical changes, enabling you to filter by user, field, and by date.
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Single view: You get a single view of all changes for a specific record.
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Audit readiness: Use FHE results for external reviews or compliance audits.
By combining the robust back-end retention of Field Audit Trail with the front-end visibility of Field History Explorer, you can ensure that your organization remains compliant, secure, and ready for any audit.
Access the Explorer
To access the tool, you must have the Salesforce Shield App and the proper permissions assigned to your user profile. Once configured, you can simply navigate to the App Launcher, select Shield, click the Field Audit Trail tab, then click Field History Explorer.
Filter to Find Forensic Data
When a critical value changes unexpectedly, you need to find the “who, what, and when” immediately. Field History Explorer offers intuitive visualization by enabling you to filter historical data to isolate specific modifications.
You can filter the data by:
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User: See all changes made by a specific system admin or integration user.
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Field: Drill down into specific data points, such as Risk Rating or Annual Revenue.
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Date (timeline): View changes that occurred during a specific timeframe, such as last quarter or during a specific system outage.
These filtering capabilities reduce the risk during investigations by helping you quickly pinpoint the exact moment a data integrity issue occurred.
Summary
Together, Field Audit Trail and Field History Explorer give you a complete audit solution: robust back-end retention and intuitive front-end visibility. With these tools in place, your organization is equipped to investigate data changes quickly, support compliance audits confidently, and maintain a reliable record of your data history.