Changes View Overview
The Changes view compares two past Azure scans and lists every resource that was added, modified, or deleted between them. Open Changes from the left sidebar. The page header reads Scan Comparison.
On This Page
Changes compares historical scans, not live Azure state
To see what's running in your tenant right now, run a fresh scan first, then open the Resource Explorer. The Changes view always works against snapshots already in your scan history.
The Snapshot Model
Every completed scan is a stored, immutable snapshot of your tenant at a point in time. The Changes view picks two of those snapshots and computes the diff between them. The Older Snapshot is your baseline, the Newer Snapshot is what you're comparing it against.
The Older Snapshot doesn't have to be the previous scan
Compare a scan from six months ago with one from today, useful for incident retros, change-review meetings, and compliance evidence.
What You Can Do
From the Changes page you can:
- Pick any two scans to compare. The Older picker enforces that the baseline is older than the comparison.
- Filter to only Added (green), Modified (amber), or Deleted (red) resources.
- Drill into a single resource and see a property-by-property diff with old and new values side by side.
- Toggle Show Ignored to surface property changes that default ignore rules are hiding.
- Open Ignore Metrics Analysis from the {N} changes ignored button to see aggregated noise across every scan in the comparison range.
- Switch the result layout between Subscription, Resource Type, Region, or Region by RG.
Header Controls
- Older Snapshot
- Dropdown to pick the baseline scan. Cannot pick a scan newer than the Newer Snapshot.
- Newer Snapshot
- Dropdown to pick the comparison scan. Cannot pick a scan older than the Older Snapshot.
- Change Type
- Multi-select dropdown. Deselect any type to hide it.
- Show Ignored
- Checkbox toggle. Off by default, ignored changes are hidden until enabled.
- Ignore metrics
- Compact button reading {N} changes ignored. Opens the Ignore Metrics Analysis modal. Only appears when at least one change in the range is ignored.
- Management Groups
- Outlined button with a warning icon. Only appears when management group changes occurred in the comparison range.
- View Mode
- Switches the result layout: Subscription, Resource Type, Region, or Region by RG. Persists per-page.
Defaults and Behavior
Defaults
- Default scan pair
- The two most recent completed scans. Latest is set as Newer, second-latest as Older.
- Change Type filter
- All three types selected.
- Show Ignored
- Off.
- Default ignore rules
- Around 35 rules ship out of the box, covering Azure platform metadata (etag, provisioning state, last-modified timestamps).
Latest is hidden from the Older picker
You can't set the latest scan as the Older Snapshot. This prevents picking the same scan on both sides.
Ignore Metrics aggregates the whole range
Picking scans 30 days apart compares those two scans, but the Ignore Metrics Analysis aggregates across every scan that fell inside the range, not just the endpoints. That's why the metrics button can show a higher count than the diff itself.
Ignored changes are filtered, not deleted
Toggling Show Ignored brings them back instantly without re-running anything.
Prerequisites
- At least two completed scans. New customers should run an initial scan, then either wait for the next scheduled scan (the default cadence is every 8 hours) or trigger a second scan manually before the Changes view becomes useful.
- A role with read access to scan data, to view the page.
- A role with write access to ignore rules, to add or remove rules from the diff. Most users have this; viewers may not.
Troubleshooting
The page says "No changes to display" but I know things changed
What to check
Start with the Change Type filter, you may have only one type selected. Then check Show Ignored.
Many real changes (provisioning state, last-modified timestamps, etag values) are silenced by default ignore rules. Toggle Show Ignored to verify.
I only see two scans in the picker
What to check
The picker shows your full scan history. If only two scans appear, only two scans have completed. Open Scan History to confirm.
I don't see the Management Groups button
What to check
That's expected. The button only appears when management group changes occurred in the comparison range.
The diff is huge and most of it is noise
What to check
That's the problem ignore rules solve. Open Comparing Scans for the eye-slash workflow that hides a noisy property in one click.