Once the Activity Log plugin is installed and active, every change on your site is recorded and displayed in a clean, sortable log. This article walks you through the main log page so you know exactly where to find things and what each column means.

Accessing the Activity Log

In your WordPress admin sidebar, click Activity Log. You’ll land on the main log page, which lists every recorded event on your site in reverse chronological order.

The Log Table

Each row in the log table represents a single event. Here’s what each column shows:

Severity — A color-coded badge showing how significant the event is (Info, Low, Medium, High, or Critical).

Date/Time — When the event occurred, displayed in your site’s local timezone. Click this column header to toggle between newest-first and oldest-first sorting.

User — The WordPress user who triggered the event, shown with their avatar and role. System-generated events show as System.

Event — A human-readable description of what happened, including the affected object. For example: Plugin “WooCommerce” activated.

Object — The name of the item that was affected — a post title, plugin name, username, or setting name. Clickable when the object still exists on your site.

IP Address — The IP address the request came from.

Source — How the action was triggered: WEB for browser requests or CLI for WP-CLI commands.

Understanding Severity Levels

Activity Log uses five severity levels to help you quickly spot what matters:

INFO (blue) — Routine events like successful logins and logouts.

LOW (grey) — Minor changes such as post updates, widget edits, and media uploads.

MEDIUM (yellow) — Notable changes including publishing posts, activating plugins, and switching themes.

HIGH (orange) — Security-relevant events: failed logins, user deletion, role changes, plugin deletion, and critical settings changes.

CRITICAL (red) — Reserved for the most serious events. Not currently in use in version 1.0 but available for future use.

The Dashboard Widget

Activity Log also adds a Recent Activity widget to your WordPress dashboard, showing the last 10 events at a glance. You’ll see the event name, the user who triggered it, and how long ago it happened. Click View All Activity → to jump straight to the full log.

Next, learn how to filter and search your activity log to find exactly what you’re looking for.