Watch a file or folder for changes

When you work on something with other people, you can ask Eigen to tell you when it changes. Watching a file or a folder sends you a notification whenever someone else does something to it.

Start watching a file or folder

1. Find the file or folder in Drive.
2. Right-click it (or click the ⋮ button at the end of its row).
3. Choose Watch.

The same menu item now reads Stop watching. Choose it again to turn watching off.

You can also use the bell button. Click a file to open the detail panel on the right, then click the bell next to the Share button. The bell stays highlighted while you are watching. The same bell sits in the toolbar of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Stickies, and Vector, so you can start watching a document while you have it open.

Watch a whole folder

Watching a folder covers everything inside it, including files added later. You do not have to watch each file one by one.

When a file is already covered by a folder you watch, its menu shows Watching via and the name of that folder, so you can see where the watch comes from.

What you are notified about

Notifications arrive in the bell menu at the top of the screen, alongside your other Eigen notifications. You hear about it when someone else:

• creates, uploads, or copies something.
• edits a document, spreadsheet, presentation, board, or drawing.
• renames, moves, trashes, or deletes an item.
• changes who the item is shared with.
• restores an earlier version.
• writes a comment, or adds or moves a card on a board.

You are never notified about your own changes. Repeated changes to the same file collapse into one notification rather than a new one each time.

Click a notification to go to the item. For most changes this opens the file in Drive and scrolls its Recent activity into view, so you can see what happened. See See what happened to a file.

See everything you watch

1. Open Drive.
2. In the sidebar, under Sharing, click Watched.

The Watched view lists everything you watch, wherever it lives: your own drive, your team drives, and files other people have shared with you. Click an item to see its details, or click it again to open it. This view is for looking, so you cannot upload or create files in it.