Activity monitoring plugins are essential for troubleshooting a site when something isn’t working correctly.
Without a log of what changed on a website, you can feel like you’re on a treasure hunt with no clues.
I’ve written about WordPress plugins to track changes in the past and how they can make managing and updating a website easier.
Site tracking or activity monitoring plugins log what changes have been made to a website and what user made the changes.
Was a plugin added? A new menu? Did a widget get deleted?
The plugin can quickly show you what changed, when the change was made, and who made it.
Recently I discovered an activity monitoring plugin with a simple-to-use interface that has quickly become one of my favorite plugins.
Simple History
If you’re looking for a fully featured plugin to monitor user activity, you’ll want to look at Simple History.
Developed by Pär Thernström, Simple History offers an audit log view of changes made to a website, available in your Dashboard or on a separate page.
By default, Simple History will monitor who updated, added, or deleted:
- Posts and pages
- Categories, tags, and custom taxonomies
- Comments
- Widgets
- Plugins
- User profiles
- User logins
- Failed user logins
- Menu
- Option screens
For your convenience, you can track changes via RSS in your favorite RSS reader. Simple History will also work in WordPress multisite.
Why I Like It
Face it, there’s a lot of competition for website activity monitoring plugins.
And depending on your requirements, the two plugins I recommended a few years ago are excellent choices.
With so many other plugin options, why would I choose Simple History? Two reasons:
- I like the simple dashboard interface.
- Simple History integrates with one of my other favorite plugins, Enable Media Replace.
I’ve used other plugins and they work well. Since I use Enable Media Replace on many client sites, I’ve made the change to Simple History.
How the Plugin Works
Once the plugin is installed, you’ll be presented with a settings page.
On the settings page, you can make the following choices:
- Where you want the history (audit log) to display: on the Dashboard, separate page, or both
- How many items will display per page on the log page or the Dashboard
- Whether you want to access the log updates via RSS feed
- Option to clear the logfile
After you’ve changed and saved your settings, Simple History will begin logging changes to your site.
Here’s a screenshot of changes made while I was writing this post.
What You Need to Know
Simple History is a free plugin available in the WordPress plugin directory. In addition, here are other features for the plugin:
- The audit log will be deleted every 60 days by default
- Third-party integrations are available for several plugins, including User Switching, Limit Login Attempts, and Redirection
- An API is available so you can add custom events
Summary
Simple History provides an easy way to track what’s happening on your or your client’s website.
With multiple users on a site, you can quickly find changes that have been made. It’s especially helpful when plugin settings have been modified.
I find it to be indispensable for troubleshooting websites; Simple History has saved me lots of time tracking down site issues.
Have you used Simple History? Or are you using another plugin to track changes on websites? Share your experiences in the comments.
I haven’t tried this plugin but I’ve used others with similar functionality.
Do you find it has any negative impact on site performance?
Claire,
I tried several others and discovered issues with site performance. I haven’t noticed any with Simple History, so far. Which ones have you tried?
I use the user log tracking in iThemes Security, which I have installed on every site I do and/or manage.