The Email Audit API lets Google Workspace administrators audit a user's
email, email drafts, and archived Google Chat 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
[the Google Data APIs](https://developers.google.com/gdata) 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
[the Google Data API as developer overview](https://developers.google.com/gdata/docs/developers-guide).

## 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
[the Google Data APIs protocol](https://developers.google.com/gdata/docs/2.0/basics), and that you're familiar
with your Google Workspace Admin console.

## Access account information

> [!WARNING]
> **Warning:** Account information isn't available in the Email Audit API as of from August 1, 2017. Use the [Reports API](https://developers.google.com/workspace/admin/reports/v1/guides/manage-audit-login#retrieve_google_apps_login_events_for_a_domain). instead.