---
title: Add notes to activity logs and reports
description: "Watchful automatically records important website activities, including software updates, uptime events, security warnings, and changes to critical files. You can also add custom notes to your site's Activity Logs to document maintenance tasks and other work that Watchful does not…"
url: "https://watchful.net/docs/add-report-notes/"
updated: "2026-10-26"
category: "Reports & Insights / Reports & activity logs"
tags:
  - logs
  - notes
  - reports
---

# Add notes to activity logs and reports

Watchful automatically records important website activities, including software updates, uptime events, security warnings, and changes to critical files.

You can also add custom notes to your site's Activity Logs to document maintenance tasks and other work that Watchful does not track automatically.

These notes become part of your site's activity history and can be included in client reports, helping you provide clients with a more complete record of the work performed on their websites.

## Adding a custom note

To add a custom note to a website:

1. Log in to your Watchful account.
2. Open the `Sites Dashboard` and locate the website you want to add a note to.
3. Expand the `site drawer` by clicking the arrow beside the site's name.
4. Click `Add note to logs` in the site drawer.
5. Enter your note in the text field.
6. Click `Save` to add the note to the site's Activity Logs.

A confirmation message appears when the note has been saved.

Each custom note is automatically assigned a timestamp corresponding to when you click `Save`. The note becomes part of the site's Activity Logs alongside the events recorded automatically by Watchful.

## Viewing custom notes

You can view your custom notes alongside other activity recorded for your website.

To view notes for a specific site:

1. Open the `Sites Dashboard`.
2. Expand the `site drawer` for the website.
3. Click `Activity Logs`.
4. Review the list of recorded events, including your custom notes.

You can also access your Activity Logs from the `Logs` menu in the left-hand navigation menu.

From there, you can filter the records by website, log type, date range, or keyword to find specific entries.

## Including custom notes in client reports

Custom notes can also be included in your Watchful client reports.

This is particularly useful when documenting maintenance tasks that Watchful does not automatically record, such as:

- Troubleshooting and resolving website issues.
- Making design or content changes.
- Optimizing website performance.
- Providing technical support.
- Completing custom development or maintenance tasks.

When configuring a client report, ensure the appropriate activity log type is selected so your custom notes are included.

Only notes within the report's selected date range and available log history can appear in the report.

For instructions on configuring and generating reports, see [Create client reports](https://watchful.net/docs/create-client-reports/).

## Retention of custom notes

Custom notes are stored as part of your site's Activity Logs. Their retention period depends on your Watchful subscription plan:

| Plan | Retention period |
| --- | --- |
| Free | 31 days |
| Legacy | 4 months |
| Premium | 24 months |

Once a custom note reaches the end of its retention period, it is automatically removed from Watchful.

To preserve notes beyond their retention period, include them in regularly generated client reports or export your Activity Logs before the records expire.

For more details on retention times, please review [Activity Logs and data retention](https://watchful.net/docs/activity-log-retention/).