How do I email collaborators on a folder or Word document in the New Google Drive?

Question

Google's newest version of Drive doesn't allow anymore to "email collaborators" except on files that are part of the Google Apps suite. Here's a use-case:

• I have a Word document I share with my colleagues in a Google Drive folder
• One of us updates the document, and wants to inform the others.
  • In the "old" version of Drive, there was a way to either right-click on the folder or document and "Email collaborators" (all people who share the document).
• The latest version of Google Drive only allows this feature within the menus of an opened Google document.

Is there a way, perhaps using some script functionality in Google Drive, to achieve this convenient functionality that Google has removed?

I know I can generate a link to the shared Google Drive folder, and open up the sharing list to get all the names of the collaborators, and then type an email that is manually addressed to all the collaborators. However, it's much easier to attach the document in an email addressed to all (which is what my colleagues tend to revert to...), defeating the purpose of a shared drive.

Alternatively, using the Google Drive software on Windows, could it be possible within Windows (using a script)?

Related discussion in the Google groups: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/drive/xHCk8L06b44

Answer 1

This answer comes from https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/drive/xHCk8L06b44/I9AndODcDQAJ -- it's a great answer, so feel free to vote it up at its source.

Folder Email-Collaborators Kludge (FECK)

Step-by-Step

1. Within the shared Folder in question, create a Google Doc file with the same sharing permissions as the containing Folder.
2. Name the GDoc something helpful like "Folder Collaborator Notice."
3. From the containing Folder properties (right-click menu, "Get link"), get the "share link" and paste it into the GDoc (yields a clean look to make this link the only line in the GDoc.)
4. Within the GDoc, pick "File/Email collaborators"
5. Edit the Send Message dialogue as needed then send. (For the clean look mentioned in 3, pick "Paste the item itself into the email")
6. Save the GDoc (in that containing Folder) for future and/or repeated use.