Clip Library
The Clip Library is a powerful feature in IntuneLogWatch that allows you to save, organize, and manage important policy execution events for future reference. Think of it as a personal archive of significant Intune policy events that you want to preserve and revisit.
- What is the Clip Library?
- Why Use the Clip Library?
- Saving Clips
- Viewing Your Clips
- Managing Clips
- Clip Storage Location
- Tips and Best Practices
The Clip Library is a dedicated workspace within IntuneLogWatch where you can save snapshots of policy execution events. Each saved "clip" preserves:
- The complete policy execution details
- All associated log entries
- Policy metadata (type, status, timing, errors)
- Your custom notes and annotations
- The exact state of the policy at the time it was clipped
Clips are stored locally on your Mac and persist across app sessions, log reloads, and even system restarts.
The Clip Library is useful for:
- Troubleshooting: Save problematic policy executions to compare with later runs
- Documentation: Build a library of examples for training or reference materials
- Issue Tracking: Preserve evidence of failures or errors for support tickets
- Analysis: Compare policy behavior across different time periods
- Collaboration: Share specific policy execution data with team members
- Audit Trail: Maintain a record of specific policy events for compliance or review
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Navigate to a policy in the main IntuneLogWatch interface by selecting a sync event and then a policy
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Click the "Save to Clip Library" button (scissors icon) in the Policy Actions section
- The Clip Event Dialog opens, allowing you to customize your clip:
- Custom Name (optional): Enter a descriptive name for this clip. If left empty, the policy's display name will be used
- Notes (optional): Add context, observations, or any information you want to remember about this event
- Click "Save to Library" to save the clip
The policy execution is now preserved in your Clip Library with all its log entries and metadata.
Access the Clip Library from:
- Menu Bar: Window → Clip Library
- Bottom Action Bar: Click the "Clip Library" button
- Keyboard Shortcut: ⌘L
The Clip Library window uses a split-view design:
The sidebar displays all your saved clips as a scrollable list. Each clip row shows:
- App Icon: Visual identifier for the policy type and application
- Policy Name: Either your custom name or the policy's display name
- Status Indicator: Color-coded dot (green=completed, red=failed, orange=warning, blue=running)
- Event Date: When the original policy execution occurred
- Clipped Date: When you saved this clip
- Notes Preview: First line of your notes (if any)
- Error/Warning Indicators: Icons showing if the policy had errors or warnings
When you hover over a clip in the list, action buttons appear:
- Reveal in Finder (folder icon): Opens Finder and selects the clip's JSON file
- Delete Clip (trash icon): Removes the clip from your library
When you select a clip, the detail view shows:
- Your Notes Section: Your custom title and notes
- Complete Policy Information: All the details from the original policy execution
- Policy Metadata: Type, status, timing, policy ID
- Log Timeline: All log entries in timeline or raw log view
- Action Buttons: Same actions available in the main policy detail view (Clipping button not available for a Clip)
The search bar at the top of the sidebar lets you quickly find clips:
Search looks through:
- Policy/clip names (both custom and original)
- Notes content
- Policy IDs
Search behavior:
- Case-insensitive
- Real-time filtering as you type
- Automatically scrolls to show matching results
- Clear search with the × button
Use the Sort By dropdown to organize your clips:
Available sort options:
- Clipped Date (Newest First) - Default, most recently saved clips first
- Clipped Date (Oldest First) - Shows your earliest clips first
- Event Date (Newest First) - Sort by when the policy actually executed (newest first)
- Event Date (Oldest First) - Sort by when the policy actually executed (oldest first)
- Name (A-Z) - Alphabetical by policy/clip name
- Name (Z-A) - Reverse alphabetical
You can update a clip's custom name and notes at any time:
- Select the clip you want to edit
- Click the "Edit" button in the top-right of the detail view
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Modify the information:
- Update the custom title
- Add, edit, or remove notes
- Click "Save" to apply changes or "Cancel" to discard
The changes are reflected immediately in both the list view and detail view.
There are two ways to delete a clip:
Method 1: Hover Action
- Hover over the clip in the sidebar
- Click the trash icon that appears
Method 2: Detail View
- Select the clip
- Click the "Delete" button in the top-right
Both methods show a confirmation dialog before permanently removing the clip.
Clips are stored as JSON files on your Mac at:
~/Library/Application Support/IntuneLogWatch/ClippedEvents/
The bottom of the sidebar shows:
- Total clip count
- Total storage size of all clips
- Folder icon: Click to reveal the ClippedEvents folder in Finder
Since clips are stored as individual JSON files, you can:
- Back them up by copying the ClippedEvents folder
- Share clips by sending the JSON files to colleagues
- Archive old clips by moving them to another location
- Import clips by copying JSON files into the ClippedEvents folder
Now includes a Quick Look Extension to preview content of .ilwclip files. These are the files you create when saving a log event to your Clip Library.
This is an easy way to preview the content of the file before importing, or launching the IntuneLogWatch application.
Use descriptive custom names to make clips easier to find:
- ✅ "Company Portal - Installation Failure - Dec 2024"
- ✅ "MDM Profile - First Deployment Success"
- ❌ "test1" or "clip"
Make your notes valuable for future reference:
- What happened: Brief description of the event
- Why it matters: Why you saved this clip
- Context: User, device, or environmental factors
- Resolution: How the issue was resolved (if applicable)
Example:
Installation failed with error 0x87D13B95.
User: john.doe@company.com
Issue: Missing dependency (MS Edge) on fresh Mac
Resolution: Installed Edge manually, then policy succeeded
Reference: Ticket #12345
By Issue Type:
- Save failed installations separately from successful ones
- Group by error code or failure reason
By Time Period:
- Use Event Date sorting to track changes over time
- Compare "before and after" for troubleshooting
For Documentation:
- Save examples of each policy type
- Preserve both success and failure cases
- Include notes about configuration details
- Review periodically: Delete outdated clips that are no longer relevant
- Monitor storage: Large clip libraries can take up disk space
- Export important clips: Back up critical examples outside the app
- The Clip Library can handle hundreds of clips efficiently
- Very large clip libraries (1000+ clips) may take longer to search
- Each clip preserves all log entries, so file sizes can vary significantly
Q: Do clips survive log file reloads? A: Yes! Clips are independent of the source log files and persist permanently.
Q: Can I edit the actual policy data in a clip? A: No. You can only edit the custom name and notes. The policy execution data is read-only.
Q: What happens to clips if I uninstall IntuneLogWatch?
A: Clips remain in ~/Library/Application Support/IntuneLogWatch/ unless you manually delete them.
Q: Can I export clips to share with others? A: Yes! Each clip is a standalone JSON file that can be copied and shared. Recipients can place them in their ClippedEvents folder.
Q: Is there a limit to how many clips I can save? A: No enforced limit, but very large libraries (1000+) may impact search performance.
Q: Can I save the same policy multiple times? A: Yes! You might want to clip the same policy at different times to compare behavior.
- Policy Detail View: Where you can save clips from
- Log Export: Export policy logs to files (different from clips)
- PDF Export: Generate PDF reports of policy executions
Need Help? If you encounter issues with the Clip Library, please open an issue on GitHub.