Following a Sale Step by Step — Trace Logs

TL;DR

Every sale TORO rings up leaves a step-by-step record behind it, called a trace: every item scanned or removed, every discount, every payment attempt, and how the sale ended. To read one, go to the Dashboard, click the Transactions tab, and open View Transaction Trace Logs. Browse by date, or press Search by Id if you already have a Trace Id, Transaction Id or Tab Id. Double-click a sale to see every step in order. Old traces are cleared out automatically, so if you need to keep one, flag it. A flagged trace is never deleted.

A receipt only tells you how a sale ended. When you need to know what actually happened on the way there, that's what trace logs are for. Maybe a customer swears they were charged for something they put back. Maybe a sale vanished, or a discount looks bigger than it should. Or the drawer is short and you want to see what was rung and then taken off.

TORO writes the trace as the sale happens, so it covers the steps that never made it onto the receipt too.

Opening the Screen

Go to the Dashboard, click the Transactions tab, and click View Transaction Trace Logs. You can also type "trace logs" into the Dashboard search.

The window that opens is called Transaction Trace Logs. Like every Dashboard tool, who can open it depends on your access levels.

Finding the Sale You Want

There are two ways in.

Know the Id? Use Search by Id

If you already have a number for the sale, this is the fastest route. Press Search by Id. TORO asks which kind of number you have:

Trace Id: the trace's own number. It's printed on a tab printout next to the Tab ID, and it's listed in the Transaction Cancellations report in Advanced Reporting.
Transaction Id: the number of a completed sale.
Tab Id: the number of a tab.

Pick one and type the number. TORO opens that sale straight away, and the list behind it shows just that one row. If there's no trace for that number, TORO tells you "No trace log was found for…" along with the number you typed.

Browsing by Date

When you don't have a number, work from the list.

Filter by Date Range: set a Start and End. The screen opens on the last seven days.
Filter by Employee: press Choose to see only sales started by one employee. Clear puts it back to Everyone.

Then use the checkboxes under Narrow the List:

Unclosed Only: only sales that never finished as a completed sale. This one is ticked when the screen opens, because unfinished sales are usually what you're hunting for. Untick it to see every sale.
Tabs Only: only sales that were on a tab.
Ignore Admin Users: hides sales started under administrator logins. It's ticked when the screen opens.
Show Flagged Only: only the traces you've flagged.
With at least this number of logs: shows only traces with at least as many steps as the number in the box next to it (it starts at 2), so near-empty traces stay out of the way. TORO remembers whether you leave this ticked.

The list updates as soon as you change anything. If nothing matches, the screen says "No traces in this date range match these filters." Try widening the dates or unticking a box.

Reading the List

Each row is one sale:

Trace Id and Timestamp: when the sale was started.
Employee who Started Trans: who rang it up.
Tab Id and Transaction Id: blank if the sale was never on a tab, or never finished.
Closed Properly: whether the sale finished as a completed sale.
Flagged: whether you've flagged it to keep.
Total.

Click a row and the bottom of the window tells you how many log entries it has.

The buttons along the bottom work on the row you've selected:

View Logs: opens the full step-by-step record. Double-clicking the row does the same.
View Tab: opens the tab the sale was on. If that tab was canceled, TORO asks whether you want to reopen it. Only say Yes if you really want the tab back on your open tabs window.
Print: prints the trace, step by step, on your receipt printer.
Toggle Flag: flags the trace, or unflags it.

Inside One Sale

Opening a sale brings up a window titled with its trace number, like Trace #1234.

Across the top are summary cards:

Date & Time: when the sale was started.
Started By: the employee who rang it up.
Tab and Transaction: the numbers, or None.
Total.
Closed Properly: YES in green means the sale finished properly. NO in red means it didn't. It may have been canceled or walked away from, it may still be sitting on an open tab, or the register may have been interrupted partway through.
Flagged: YES in green means this trace is being kept for good.

Below the cards is the log itself, one row per step, oldest first. The columns that matter most:

User and Timestamp: who did it, and when, to the second.
Action: what happened. You'll see things like Transaction Started, Item Added, Item Removed, Item Quantity Changed, Item Discounted, Payment Type Selected, Card Terminal Request Canceled by Cashier, Cardholder Canceled at Terminal, Transaction Canceled and Transaction Completed.
Item, Line # and Quantity: which item the step was about.
Discount Dollars and Discount Percentage: any discount given on that step.
Line Item Total and Transaction Total: the running totals at that moment.
Details: anything extra TORO noted.

Read it from top to bottom and you'll see the sale unfold exactly as it happened, including anything that was added and then taken off again.

The buttons at the bottom:

View Tab: opens the tab. If there wasn't one, TORO says "This sale was never put on a tab, so there is none to open."
View Transaction: opens the finished sale. If it never finished, TORO says "This sale never finished, so there is no completed transaction to open."
Toggle Flag: flags the trace, or unflags it.
Close.

Flag Anything You Might Need Later

TORO clears old traces out automatically to keep your system quick. At the bottom of the Trace Logs window you'll see a reminder: "Trace logs are deleted after 6 months (a year for tabs). Flag a trace to keep it for good."

An ordinary sale that wasn't on a tab can be cleared after six months. A sale on a tab is kept longer: it stays while the tab is still open, and for a year after its last activity once the tab is closed.

A flagged trace is never deleted. That's the whole reason to flag one. If a sale is part of a dispute, a chargeback, an employee conversation, or anything else you might have to show someone months from now, flag it the day you find it. Press Toggle Flag in either window. In the sale's own window, the Flagged card turns to a green YES so you know it's safe.

When to Reach for Trace Logs

A customer disputes a charge. See exactly which items were rung, which were removed, and how it was paid.
The drawer is short. Tick Unclosed Only for the day and look for sales that were started and never finished.
A card payment went wrong. The log shows each payment step, including whether the cashier or the customer canceled at the card machine. For charges that went through without a matching sale, use Find & Fix Duplicate Charges.
Support asks for it. If TORO support asks for a trace, a Trace Id, Transaction Id or Tab Id is all we need. See Getting Help and Support.