How to Get Google Drive Notification when a File is Added to the Folder

Do you want to get notified whenever a shared drive collaborator adds a new file to the folder? If yes, you have landed on the right webpage. In today’s article, I am going to share a few different methods that you can follow to get Google Drive notifications when someone adds a file to a Google Drive folder.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started –

How to Get Google Drive Notification When a File is Added to the Folder

Google Drive is one of the most popular and versatile cloud storage platforms. It is great for productivity as it supports the integration of a wide range of online apps. This includes G Suite apps such as Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets.

Now, even though Google Drive is a great platform for collaboration, it lacks some features that could have improved the user experience to the next level. One such drawback of Google Drive is that it doesn’t have any settings to notify the user whenever a collaborator uploads a new file to the shared folder.

However, that doesn’t mean you cannot get notifications whenever collaborators make any changes to files, such as uploading, deleting, or modifying files in a Google Drive folder. There are some unofficial techniques that you can follow to do that.

Here, we are going to share all of those possible techniques –

How to Get Google Drive Notification when a File is Added to the Folder using a third-party extension

The very first technique requires you to install a third-party Google Chrome extension to get notified whenever someone makes any changes in your Google Drive folder.

This method will not only notify you when someone adds a file to your Google Drive but will also notify you if a change is made to a Google Drive folder.

For this, all you have to do is follow these simple steps –

• Go to Chrome Webstore and install the Folder notifications for the Google Drive Chrome extension. You can use this link to visit the extension page directly.

• Once the extension is installed, you have to open the Google Chrome Apps page. You can go to this page by typing chrome://apps to the browser address bar.
• Here, you will see the icon of the Folder notifications for the Google Drive extension. Click on it.
• Next, click on the Review Permissions button to process further.

• A pop-up box will appear where you have to select your Google Account and allow all the permission that this extension asks for.
• Once the authorization process completes, it will redirect you to the extension’s homepage.
• Here, you have to provide the URL of the folder. Simply go to drive.google.com, copy the folder URL, and paste it into the box that asks for Folder ID or URL.
• After that, you have to click on the Add Folder button. It will add the folder, and you will be able to see the folder name below on the page.
• After that, you have to click on the Start Notifications button.

The free version of this extension offers very restricted access to users. For example, the free version only lets you track one folder for changes. Plus, it doesn’t even track the changes in the subfolders.

You will also be restricted to a time frame of 2 hours, meaning you can only get notifications after two hours. You will not be able to get instant notifications.

Read How to Stop Receiving Shared Files on Google Drive

How to get Notifications Whenever Someone Makes any Changes in Google Drive files

The aforementioned guide will help you by notifying you whenever somebody uploads a file to the shared folder, but what about changes within the file?

Google Drive supports G Suite files such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. If you share such files with someone and they make any changes to those files, it becomes quite challenging to track those changes.

So, if you want to track these files for changes, you can use this simple and free Google Workspace add-on named Onleenotification. This add-on can also be used to track changes in the folder, but that functionality is only available for premium users. But the paid membership of this tool is quite costly compared to the aforementioned Google Chrome extension.

Therefore, we recommend you stick with the free version of this notification only.

Here is how you can get notifications for any changes made in files –

• Go to Google Workspace Marketplace and search for the Onleenotification add-on. You can use this link to visit the add-on page directly.

• After that, you have to install this add-on to your Google Drive.
• Once installed, it will ask you to provide some access and permissions. You need to allow them all in order to use this add-on.
• After that, you have to go to drive.google.com.
• Here, at the right sidebar, you will be able to see Onleenotification’s icon. Click on it.
• There will be an option named “Discover Activity Stream.” You have to click on it.

That’s it. It will show you a list of the changes that have been made by you or any other user to the files you own or have been shared with you by other users. However, you can open the file and give permission to receive real-time notifications to your email.

Read How to Count Files in Google Drive Folder

Closing Comments

There you have it – a detailed article on how to get Google Drive notification when a file is added to the folder.

Google Drive is a great cloud storage platform for file sharing and online collaboration. However, keeping an eye on what changes have been made to your shared folders or files is quite difficult on Google Drive. It is because there are no official settings for that.

However, there are some third-party extensions and add-ons that you can use to add this functionality to your Google Drive and ensure that you get all the notifications of all the activities.

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