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Every 15 minutes

Get a Slack summary of each new doc in a Drive folder

Every document that lands in your Drive Inbox folder is summarised and the summary is sent to you in Slack.

Runs
Every 15 minutes
Apps
Google Docs, Google Drive
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Drive read; Docs read

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: whenever a new document lands in my Drive 'Inbox' folder, summarise it and Slack me the summary.

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 director receives reports, proposals and meeting notes from her team all week, each dropped into a shared Drive folder. Most need only a quick decision, but she has to open and read each one to know which. The folder fills up and the important ones wait alongside the routine ones.

This automation reads each new document as it arrives and sends her a short summary in Slack, so she can see what each one says and decide which need her full attention.

What you get out of it

  • Know what is in a document before opening it

    A few lines in Slack tell you the point of each document, so you can decide what to read now and what can wait.

  • Faster decisions for your team

    Routine items get a quick response, which keeps work moving instead of waiting for you to work through the folder.

  • Nothing slips past unread

    Every new document produces a message, so items do not sit in the folder unnoticed.

  • Works with what people already do

    Your team keeps saving files to the same folder. Nothing about their routine needs to change.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 15 minutes ClickRuntime checks your Drive Inbox folder for new documents.

  2. It skips any document it has already summarised.

  3. It reads the text of each new document, and AI writes a short summary with any actions or deadlines.

  4. The summary is sent to you in Slack with a link to the document.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Docs
  • Connect Google Drive

What you get

RunsEvery 15 minutes
Get a Slack summary of each new doc in a Drive foldertoday, 9:00Succeeded
Slack · Direct message📝 Northwind Q4 budget proposal: asks to move £20k from events to paid search. Decision needed by Fri 7 Nov.

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
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Docs and 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.
summarise_new_docs_in_a_drive_folder.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, state, notify, ai, report_fetched

FOLDER_ID = "your-inbox-folder-id"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    creds = Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work"))
    drive = build("drive", "v3", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False)
    seen = set(state.get("seen") or [])
    files = drive.files().list(q=f"'{FOLDER_ID}' in parents and mimeType='application/vnd.google-apps.document' and trashed=false",
                               fields="files(id,name,webViewLink)").execute()["files"]
    new = [f for f in files if f["id"] not in seen]
    report_fetched(len(new))
    if not new:
        return {"new": 0}
    docs = build("docs", "v1", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False)
    for f in new:
        body = docs.documents().get(documentId=f["id"]).execute()["body"]["content"]
        text = "".join(r.get("textRun", {}).get("content", "") for c in body for r in c.get("paragraph", {}).get("elements", []))
        summary = ai.generate(["Summarise in 3-5 bullets, including actions and deadlines.", text[:60000]], max_output_tokens=400).text
        notify.slack(f"📝 *{f['name']}*\n{summary}\n{f['webViewLink']}", channel="#me")
        seen.add(f["id"])
    state.set("seen", list(seen))
    return {"new": len(new)}

FAQ

Common questions

Which types of document are summarised?
Google Docs and PDFs. Other files in the folder, such as images or spreadsheets, are skipped.
How long are the summaries?
A few bullet points covering the main point, any decisions or actions needed and deadlines. You can ask for longer or shorter summaries.
Will old documents in the folder be summarised?
No. Only documents added after you set it up are summarised.
What permissions does it need?
Drive read; Docs read. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly 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 a Slack summary of each new doc in a Drive folder” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.