---
title: "Detected Drift"
description: "See every configuration change Guardian found, and narrow it to what matters."
product: "Guardian"
edition: "Essentials"
type: "overview"
url: "https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/essentials/detected-drift/"
---
# Detected Drift

**Detected Drift** lists every change Guardian found between scans. Each item is one changed property on one CI, so you can see exactly what moved and decide whether it was expected.

## Read the page

**Detected Drift Summary** opens with whether change reconciliation is on (**Manual review** until it is), then the list. Each row shows what changed (modified, added or removed), the CI, the change request it's matched to (or **No CR**), whether it's reconciled, and when it was detected.

Open a row to see the change in full:

![A change: its value before and after](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/essentials/assets/screenshots/change-detail.png)

| Part | What it shows |
|------|---------------|
| Before and After | The property's value before and after the change. |
| Score impact | How the change moved the CI's compliance score, and which scan found it. |
| Change request | The approved change request it's matched to, with **View in ServiceNow**. If there isn't one, it says the drift isn't linked to an approved change. |
| Approval history | Every approval and reversal, who made it and why. |

**Approve** (or **Unapprove**) and **Skip** are at the bottom of the page. **Skip** moves on to the next change.

## Narrow the list

Status
:   **All**, **Unreconciled**, **Reconciled** or **No CR**, with the count of each.

Filter
:   **More filters** narrows by CI, CI group or change request. A change request filter shows just the drift reconciled to it.

Search
:   Search drift items by text. Separate terms with commas to match any of them, and start a term with `-` to exclude it. You can use up to 10 terms of each kind.

Sort
:   **Newest first** by default.

Drift on a CI's page links here already narrowed to that CI.

## Act on drift

- **Approve** drift that was expected, with a reason or a change request reference. See [Approve drift](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/essentials/detected-drift/approve-drift/index.md).
- **Unapprove** an approval made in error. You must give a reason; it's recorded in the history.
- **Reconcile automatically:** with [change reconciliation](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/essentials/change-reconciliation/index.md), Guardian matches drift to approved ServiceNow change requests for you.