Enable automatic notifications to multiple users in Google Docs?

Question

If you are collaborating between multiple users, how do you enable Google Docs to send automatic notifications to all users when a document is added / modified or removed?

Answer 1

Apparently it is possible to set notifications in Google Spreadsheets, at least...

1. Click Share at the top right of the spreadsheet and select Set Notification Rules.

2. In the window that appears, select when and how often you want to receive notifications:

   • When changes are made to the entire spreadsheet
   • When changes are made to a specific sheet
   • When changes are made to specific cells
   • When collaborators are added or removed
   • When changes are made to forms
   • By 'daily digest' or 'right away'

3. Click Save.

For other non-spreadsheet document types, subscribe to RSS feeds of all Google Doc documents.

Answer 2

With a little workflow you can use RunMyProcess to provide notifications, or any "next actions" when documents are added or removed. If you make "modification" a process, notifications can be performed as well (this works a bit like version control, saving files as different names, whilst not using Google's inbuilt history).

If you wish to use just Google products and need more flexibility than Google Docs provides natively then you can also use Google Script.