Why Does the Azure Portal Forget My Filters and Policy Metadata?
Asked by
MellowCedar42
The Azure portal makes it frustrating to review sign-in activity. For example, I open Azure sign-in logs, set the time filter to Local time and Last 7 days, review the results, close the page, and then have to configure the same filters again when I return. Why aren't these preferences retained?
Also, Conditional Access policies would be much easier to manage if they displayed metadata such as the creator, who last modified them, and when the policy was last triggered. Are there plans to add these details?
Answers
For sign-in log queries, Microsoft Graph PowerShell is a better option than repeatedly configuring the portal. The Get-MgAuditLogSignIn command can retrieve the data consistently, and you can script the time range, filters, and output format.
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The portal has a lot of inconsistent state handling. Filters, breadcrumbs, search results, and interface preferences can disappear after navigation or refresh, which makes click-based administration tedious. For repeatable work, Azure CLI, PowerShell, or Microsoft Graph are usually more reliable than the portal.
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The missing Conditional Access metadata is another limitation of the portal view. You may need to retrieve policy details and audit activity through Microsoft Graph or the audit logs to determine who created or changed a policy and when it was used.
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A practical workaround is to build a small dashboard or script using the available APIs. That lets you save the filters and display policy ownership, modification history, and recent activity in one place instead of depending on the portal interface.
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MellowCedar42: That makes sense for repeatable tasks, but it would still be nice if the portal preserved basic filters between visits.