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Every 10–15 minutes

Get told when files change in key folders

You hear about new or edited files in the folders you care about, with who changed them.

Runs
Every 10–15 minutes
Apps
Google Drive
AI
Not needed
Access
read (drive.readonly)

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 15 minutes, check my Client uploads and Contracts folders and email me any new or changed files with who changed them and a link.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A project manager keeps client deliverables in five Drive folders, and teammates edit them all day. Nobody announces what changed, so she opens each folder, sorts by Last modified and tries to remember what was different. A revised proposal gets overwritten without comment, a contract is edited after sign-off, and she hears about both from the client rather than from her own team.

Every 10 to 15 minutes, ClickRuntime queries the folders you chose for files whose modifiedTime is later than the last check. For each match it lists the file name, who edited it and a link, and sends that by email or to chat right away, or collects the changes into a weekly digest. It then remembers where it stopped so nothing repeats.

It suits compliance teams, agencies with client folders, and anyone responsible for documents other people edit.

What you get out of it

  • Unexpected edits are noticed quickly

    A contract altered after approval is the kind of change worth catching in minutes. Seeing who edited it and when lets you ask the right question while the person remembers the reason.

  • No need to check folders by hand

    Opening five folders and sorting by date is slow and easy to skip. A message that arrives only when something moved means attention goes to the files that changed, not to the ones that did not.

  • A digest for quieter folders

    Not every folder deserves an instant message. A weekly summary of added and edited files keeps archives and reference material in view without adding one more notification to a crowded day.

  • Shared work stays accountable

    Naming the editor on each change builds a trail of who touched what. In a team where several people can edit a document, that is useful when something breaks or a client asks about a revision.

  • Better handoffs between teammates

    When a colleague uploads a finished file, you hear about it right then and can start the next step. Work waiting for someone to notice it adds days to a project over a year.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 10 to 15 minutes ClickRuntime checks the Google Drive folders you care about, such as Client uploads and Contracts.

  2. It finds files that were added or edited since its last check.

  3. You get an email listing each file with its folder, who changed it and a link to open it.

  4. It remembers the time of its last check, so each change is only reported once.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Drive

What you get

RunsEvery 10–15 minutes
Get told when files change in key folderstoday, 9:00Succeeded
Email · 2 Drive files new or changedNew in Client uploads: acme-logo-pack.zip by Dana Park https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xYz/view

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Drive steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
new_and_changed_files_alert_or_digest.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from clickruntime import on_trigger, report_fetched, credentials, state, notify

FOLDERS = {"client-uploads-folder-id": "Client uploads", "contracts-folder-id": "Contracts"}

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    drive = build("drive", "v3", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    since = state.get("since") or datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
    lines = []
    for fid, label in FOLDERS.items():
        files = drive.files().list(q=f"'{fid}' in parents and modifiedTime > '{since}' and trashed = false",
                                   fields="files(name,createdTime,modifiedTime,lastModifyingUser,webViewLink)").execute()["files"]
        for f in files:
            what = "New" if f["createdTime"] > since else "Changed"
            who = f.get("lastModifyingUser", {}).get("displayName", "someone")
            lines.append(f"{what} in {label}: {f['name']} by {who}\n{f['webViewLink']}")
    report_fetched(len(lines))
    state.set("since", now)
    if lines:
        notify.email_me(f"{len(lines)} Drive files new or changed", "\n\n".join(lines))
    return {"files": len(lines)}

FAQ

Common questions

Does it show what was changed inside a document?
It reports that a file was added or modified, who did it, and a link. It does not compare the text itself. For the detail of an edit, open the link and use version history in Google Docs, which shows each earlier revision.
Does it include files in subfolders?
It checks the folders you name, and it can include their subfolders if you want that. Big nested structures are best given as specific folders to watch, so the alerts stay focused on the places where changes actually matter.
How do I tell instant alerts from digest folders?
When it is set up, you assign each folder to alerts or to the digest. For example, contracts could alert right away while a shared reference library is summarized weekly. You can move a folder between the two later.
What permissions does it need?
read (drive.readonly). Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Get told when files change in key folders” from your assistant

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