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The Email Audit API lets Google Workspace administrators audit a user's
email, email drafts, and archived Hangouts chats. In addition, a domain
administrator can download a user's mailbox. You can use the
Email Audit API only for lawful purposes in accordance with your
Customer Agreement. The Email Audit API only
applies to Google Workspace, Education, and ISPs accounts. You can't
use it with a Google Workspace or Gmail account that isn't
hosted by the Google Workspace products.
The Email Audit API supports the
Google Data API protocol. The Google
Data API conforms to the Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub) publishing and
editing model. The AtomPub HTTP requests use the Representational Set Transfer
(RESTful) design approach to web services. For more information, see the
Google Data APIs developer overview.
Audience
This document is intended for programmers who want to write client applications
that, for lawful auditing purposes, can audit a Google Workspace
user's mailbox.
This document assumes that you're a Google Workspace domain administrator
and that you understand the general ideas behind the
Google Data API protocol, and that you're familiar
with your Google Workspace Admin console.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-04 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Email Audit API overview\n\nThe Email Audit API lets Google Workspace administrators audit a user's\nemail, email drafts, and archived Hangouts chats. In addition, a domain\nadministrator can download a user's mailbox. You can use the\nEmail Audit API only for lawful purposes in accordance with your\nCustomer Agreement. The Email Audit API only\napplies to Google Workspace, Education, and ISPs accounts. You can't\nuse it with a Google Workspace or Gmail account that isn't\nhosted by the Google Workspace products.\n\nThe Email Audit API supports the\n[Google Data API](/gdata) protocol. The Google\nData API conforms to the Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub) publishing and\nediting model. The AtomPub HTTP requests use the Representational Set Transfer\n(RESTful) design approach to web services. For more information, see the\n[Google Data APIs developer overview](/gdata/docs/developers-guide).\n\nAudience\n--------\n\nThis document is intended for programmers who want to write client applications\nthat, for lawful auditing purposes, can audit a Google Workspace\nuser's mailbox.\n\nThis document assumes that you're a Google Workspace domain administrator\nand that you understand the general ideas behind the\n[Google Data API protocol](/gdata/docs/2.0/basics), and that you're familiar\nwith your Google Workspace Admin console.\n\nAccess account information\n--------------------------\n\n| **Warning:** Account information isn't available in the Email Audit API as of from August 1, 2017. Use the [Reports API](/workspace/admin/reports/v1/guides/manage-audit-login#retrieve_google_apps_login_events_for_a_domain). instead."]]
