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Frontend Logs
Access, view, and download user session logs from the Data Trust frontend.
Overview
The Frontend Logs section provides administrators with access to client-side log files generated by individual user sessions in Data Trust. These logs capture browser-level events, errors, and user activity that are not recorded in the middleware logs. Logs can be filtered by user, viewed inline, downloaded for offline analysis, or copied to the clipboard for sharing. The section also exposes data retention settings that control how long frontend logs are stored.
Prerequisites
- You are logged in to Data Trust with an Admin Pro-User role.
- Admin Console access has been granted by your system administrator.
Navigating to Frontend Logs
Path: Data Trust › Admin Console › System Preferences › Frontend Logs
Figure 1: System Preferences navigation option
Navigate to Admin Console and open System Preferences to access all platform configuration tiles, including the Frontend Logs diagnostic section. You must have the Admin Pro-User role to access Admin Console and its associated configuration areas. The System Preferences page is your central starting point for all system-level administration tasks in Data Trust.
Figure 2: System Preferences — all options
The complete list of System Preferences tiles is displayed here, covering every major configuration and diagnostic area of the Data Trust platform. Locate and click the Frontend Logs tile to access browser-side session log files for diagnostic purposes. Frontend Logs are particularly useful for investigating client-side issues such as rendering errors or UI freezes that are not captured in the middleware logs.
Figure 3: Frontend Logs tile
Click the Frontend Logs tile to open the log management page where all available user session log files are listed. Each log file corresponds to a specific user session and is labelled with the username and session date for easy identification. From this page, you can view, download, or copy individual log files to support your diagnostic and support activities.
Figure 4: Frontend Logs page
The Frontend Logs page displays all available browser-side log files organised by user and session date in a sortable grid. Use the column headers to sort by user name or date to quickly find the log you need. The Data Retention link in this section allows you to control how long frontend logs are stored before automatic purging.
Downloading User-Specific Logs
- Locate the log entry for the user whose session you want to investigate.
- Click Download to save the specific user's log file locally.
- To view the log inline or download the raw file content, use the View and Download options.
Figure 5: Download specific user logs
Download individual user session logs to examine client-side errors or unexpected behaviour that was reported by or observed for that specific user. The downloaded file is a text-based log containing timestamped browser events, JavaScript errors, and user interaction records from that session. Open the file in a text editor or log viewer to search for error messages and correlate them with the time window of the reported issue.
Figure 6: View and download log file content
The View option opens the selected log file content directly in the browser, allowing quick inline inspection without saving the file to your local drive. The inline viewer supports scrolling through the log and may provide text search if your browser's built-in find function is used (Ctrl+F). Use the Download option instead if the log file is large or if you need to share it with another team member.
Figure 7: Copy log content to clipboard
The Copy to Clipboard button copies the full visible log text to your clipboard, enabling a quick paste into a support ticket, email, or collaboration tool. This is the fastest way to share a short diagnostic extract without attaching a file. Be aware that log content may include session identifiers or user-specific data — review the content for sensitivity before sharing externally.
Data Retention for Frontend Logs
- Click the Data Retention option within the Frontend Logs page to configure log retention.
- Configure the desired retention period and click Save.
Figure 8: Data Retention option within Frontend Logs
The Data Retention option within the Frontend Logs page controls how long browser-side session log files are stored on the server before they are automatically purged. Click this option to open the retention settings pop-up where you can configure the desired retention period specifically for frontend logs. Frontend log retention is configured independently from the general Data Retention setting, giving you fine-grained control over storage consumption for this log type.
Figure 9: Data Retention settings pop-up
Set the retention period in the Data Retention pop-up by selecting a number of days or a specific date cutoff that fits your diagnostic needs. Shorter retention periods reduce storage usage but limit your ability to investigate historical issues; longer periods provide more diagnostic history at the cost of greater storage. Align the frontend log retention period with your organisation's data privacy and audit policies before saving.
Figure 10: Data Retention saved successfully
A success message confirms the new frontend log retention period is now active; log files older than the configured threshold will be purged during the next scheduled cleanup cycle. The updated retention setting is displayed on the Frontend Logs page so you can verify it at any time. Note that this change does not trigger an immediate purge — existing logs outside the new retention window will be removed at the next scheduled cleanup.
Figure 11: Menu button for additional log actions
The menu button on the Frontend Logs page provides access to additional bulk actions, such as clearing all collected logs or exporting a full index of available log files. Use the clear action only when you are certain that no outstanding investigations require the existing log data. The export index option creates a summary list of all log files, which is useful for audit reporting without needing to download every individual file.