See what happened to a file

Eigen keeps a record of what happens to your files: who created one, who edited it, who changed the sharing, and who left a comment. You can read that record in Drive, or in more detail inside an editor.

Recent activity in Drive

1. Open Drive and click a file or folder to select it.
2. Look at the detail panel on the right, under Shared with.

The Recent activity block lists the five most recent things that happened. Each line shows the person's avatar, what they did, and how long ago. Your own actions are shown as You.

For a folder, the list covers everything inside it as well, so you can see activity on a whole project without opening each file.

The block only appears once there is something to show. A file nobody has touched since it arrived has no Recent activity section.

What the lines mean

The wording follows the action:

• created or uploaded, with the file size for an upload.
• edited, for a change inside a document, spreadsheet, presentation, board, or drawing.
• renamed, with the old and new name.
• moved, copied, trashed, or deleted.
• updated sharing, with the people added or removed underneath.
• restored a version, with the name of the version.
• commented, with a short preview of the comment.
• added a card, moved a card, or removed a card, for a board in Stickies.

Click a line to go to what it describes. A comment line opens that comment, a card line opens that card, a sharing line opens the Share dialog, and the rest open the file.

The Activity panel in an editor

Docs, Sheets, Slides, Stickies, and Vector have a fuller view of the same record.

1. Open the file in its editor.
2. Click the Activity button in the toolbar. The toolbar buttons are icons, and each one shows its name when you point at it. On a narrow screen, open the ⋮ menu in the toolbar and choose Activity.

The panel opens beside the document and lists up to 50 entries, newest first. Lines that refer to a comment or a card open it in the document when you click them. If nothing has happened yet, the panel says No activity yet.

Click Activity again to close the panel.

Keep up without checking

If you would rather be told than go and look, watch the file or the folder it lives in. See Watch a file or folder for changes.