Title: [Plugin: Audit Trail] CAUTION!
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# [Plugin: Audit Trail] CAUTION!

 *  Resolved [uxdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/uxdesign/)
 * (@uxdesign)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/)
 * Audit Trail is a very dangerous plug in because EVERY time ANYONE saves ANY EDIT,
   Audit Trail inserts a new record in your database to copy the entire post. So,
   for example, if you have a single page or post that has been simply saved 20 
   times (including auto saves), you will have 21 full copies of the post in your
   db for that single page or post! Therefore those using Audit Trail will adversely
   affect db/WP performance. Except, perhaps, for those very very low activity WP
   sites. The “exclude users” feature does NOT work (values submitted are not saved
   in db for some reason). And there is NO db cleanup if you deactivate or remove
   the plugin; you will have to do it all MANUALLY via phpMyAdmin or other db admin
   method. It sort of works but I suggest great _CAUTION_ and absolute certainty
   that Audit Trail is necessary for your site (rogue users?), BEFORE install/activation.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Thread Starter [uxdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/uxdesign/)
 * (@uxdesign)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1879973)
 * Follow up: having “manually” cleaned up the database and removed all plugin files,
   I find it continues to “log” (clone entire posts) every saved edit! BIZARRE!!
   
   Did I mention the need for extreme caution when using this plugin?? Yes, EXTREME….
 *  Plugin Author [John Godley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/johnny5/)
 * (@johnny5)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1880106)
 * To follow up here, none of the above was true – uxdesign was in fact referring
   to WordPress post revisions.
 *  Thread Starter [uxdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/uxdesign/)
 * (@uxdesign)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1880122)
 * True, that. Also true: the exclude user feature does not work (isn’t stored),
   for myself and others who’ve posted same. If I could still edit my first entry
   above that is what it would now say.
 * And based on Audit Trail’s own plug-in description, perhaps it is clear why I
   thought it, and not WP itself, is entering the records: “Audit Trail is a plugin
   to keep track of what is going on inside your blog. It does this by recording
   certain actions (such as who logged in and when) and storing this information
   in the form of a log. Not only that but it records the full contents of posts(
   and pages) and allows you to restore a post to a previous version at any time.”
   Which is what WP Post Rev’s feature does. More accurate would be to describe 
   Audit Trail as adding a diff/comparison and edit high-lighting (also useful) 
   feature to WP’s own Post Revisions feature? I’d say so, yes.
 * Forgive me for taking the description literally, and not knowing about wP>2.6
   Post Rev’s feature before hand, please.
 *  [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/)
 * (@claytonjames)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1880124)
 * > the exclude user feature does not work (isn’t stored), for myself and others
   > who’ve posted same.
 * This feature seems to work for me. I exclude Admin from my activity log. Admin’s
   user ID is “1”.
 * I entered a “1” followed by a comma ( 1, ) in the exclusion field and it seems
   to save just fine. It also seems to be excluding the Admin activity as anticipated…
   So, just in my own personal experience, it seems to be working okay.
 *  Thread Starter [uxdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/uxdesign/)
 * (@uxdesign)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1880153)
 * Great tip! Will give it a try. Thanks.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘[Plugin: Audit Trail] CAUTION!’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/audit-trail/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=1030046)
 * [Audit Trail](https://wordpress.org/plugins/audit-trail/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/audit-trail/#faq)
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 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/audit-trail/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/audit-trail/reviews/)

 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [uxdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/uxdesign/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-audit-trail-caution/#post-1880153)
 * Status: resolved