Historical Snapshots
Every completed scan is treated as a snapshot — a point-in-time view of your tenant. The Viewing picker on the right of the Explorer header lets you load any of them. Use it to investigate what existed before a change went out, or when a specific resource first appeared.
Opening the Picker
On the right of the Explorer header, click the calendar-icon button. It reads Latest Snapshot when you're on the most recent scan, or the timestamp of the snapshot you've picked (e.g., Apr 12, 2026 10:24 AM). A small grey Viewing: label above the button shows when the currently displayed scan ran.
Clicking the button opens a popover with three things: a Latest Snapshot quick button, a calendar, and a time-of-day dropdown that appears once you pick a date with multiple scans.
Picking a Snapshot
- Click the calendar-icon button in the header to open the picker.
- To jump back to live data, click Latest Snapshot. This resets you to the most recent scan and closes the popover.
- Otherwise, pick a date from the calendar. Dates without scans are disabled.
- If the date has only one scan, it's selected immediately and the popover closes.
- If the date has multiple scans, pick one from the Snapshots for date dropdown. Each option shows the scan's time and, when available, its resource count.
Deep links pre-select a snapshot
When other StratoLens pages link into Explorer (e.g., from Change Tracking, dashboard widgets, or a resource history's View at This Time button), the URL carries the snapshot to load. Sharing that URL preserves the snapshot for whoever opens it.
What Changes When You Switch
- View contents
- Columns and view tabs re-render to show the resources that existed in the new snapshot, with that snapshot's tags, properties, and RBAC.
- Detail panel
- Refetches against the new snapshot. If your selected resource didn't exist then, the panel shows Resource Not Found in This Scan.
- Filters
- Cleared. Tag values and resource types are scan-specific, so previous filter values may not exist in the new snapshot.
- URL
- The selected snapshot is encoded in the URL, so refreshing or sharing the link preserves the snapshot.
Tip
To compare two specific points in time, use Change Tracking instead of flipping snapshots. It side-by-sides the diff for you.
Defaults
- First page load
- Most recent successful scan. The button reads Latest Snapshot.
- Auto-update
- When a new scan completes, the page reloads to it — unless you've explicitly picked a historical snapshot, in which case your selection is preserved.
Older snapshots may have fewer resources
If your tenant has grown over time, older snapshots will have fewer resources than the latest one. That's expected, not data loss.
Troubleshooting
All the calendar dates are dimmed
Answer
There are no scans in your tenant yet. Run a scan first from the scans page.
My recent scan isn't appearing in the picker
Answer
The snapshot list is loaded once per session — it doesn't refresh automatically. If a scan completed while Explorer was open, refresh the page or check the scans page to verify it completed.
My resource shows "Resource Not Found in This Scan"
Answer
The resource didn't exist (or wasn't yet discovered) at the snapshot you picked. Pick a more recent snapshot, or open the resource at Latest Snapshot and click Show History to walk its full timeline.