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To get email alerts when someone else edits a Google Doc, open it on a computer and select Tools > Notification settings, then choose Added or removed content under Edits. In Google Sheets, select Tools > Notification settings > Edit notifications and choose which changes trigger an email and whether to receive them right away or in a daily digest. Both settings apply to one file at a time and do not notify you about your own edits. For alerts limited to particular spreadsheet values, use Sheets conditional notifications if your account supports them.

Choose the right way to monitor updates

The right method depends on whether you need a simple email, a narrow alert for selected spreadsheet values, a record of changes already made, or an automated signal for your own application.

Need Start here Important limitation
Know when someone edits a Doc Docs edit notifications Per-file alerts; your own edits do not trigger them, and busy or large documents may produce emails without every detail.
Know when a Sheet changes Sheets edit notifications Per-file alerts for broad changes or form submissions; your own edits do not trigger them.
Watch particular Sheet values Conditional notifications Availability and eligible recipients are restricted; some types of changes may not trigger an alert.
Find out what changed afterward Version history or cell edit history Version history requires edit permission; cell history omits some types of changes.
Automate spreadsheet reactions Apps Script triggers Script and API edits do not fire these triggers; quotas and execution restrictions apply.
Receive server-side change signals Drive API push notifications Requires an HTTPS webhook; the notification signals a change but does not include its details, and channels expire.

Set up edit alerts for Google Docs

  1. Open the document on a computer.
  2. Select Tools > Notification settings. The comment history panel may also link to these settings.
  3. Under Edits, choose Added or removed content.
  4. To stop edit emails, return to the same settings and select None.

The alert is for edits by other people, not your own. If a large document receives many edits, Google says the email may not include every detail. Open the Doc to inspect its current state or use version history to review earlier versions. Google Docs notification settings.

Set up edit alerts for Google Sheets

  1. Open the spreadsheet on a computer.
  2. Select Tools > Notification settings > Edit notifications.
  3. Choose Any changes are made for general edits, or A user submits a form if you only need form-submission alerts.
  4. Choose Email – right away or Email – daily digest.
  5. Save the notification settings.

These alerts also cover changes made by other people, not your own. Viewers can set notifications but cannot see usernames in them; editors can see usernames. Google’s notification settings documentation describes the available options.

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Watch selected values with conditional notifications

Use conditional notifications when a broad “any change” email would be too noisy and you need to watch a column or custom range for certain values. In a Sheet, select Tools > Conditional notifications, add a rule for a column or custom range, then add criteria if needed. You can enter individual Gmail or Workspace addresses or choose an email column.

  • This feature is available only for certain work or school accounts.
  • Recipients must be individual Google or Workspace addresses. Group addresses and non-Google recipients are not supported.
  • Notifications can be delayed or consolidated rather than sent instantly.
  • Changes limited to value formatting, external-data changes, and volatile formula changes while the document is closed may not trigger notifications as expected.
  • Recipients may see contextual information such as the changed value and editor, depending on their access.

Check Google’s conditional notifications guidance if the menu is unavailable or you need to confirm current eligibility.

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Find out what changed after the fact

Use version history for document or spreadsheet revisions

Open the file and select its last-edit or version-history control to browse earlier versions and editors. You need edit permission to browse older versions. In Sheets, unmodified rows may be hidden by default in version history.

For Docs, the Show editors option is limited to Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus. See Google’s version history information for the current controls and availability.

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Use cell edit history for one Sheet cell

Right-click a cell and choose its edit history option to inspect changes to that cell. This is useful for a focused question, but it is not a complete spreadsheet audit: row or column additions and deletions, formatting changes, formula-driven changes, and changes before restoring an earlier version may be absent. Google lists these caveats in its Sheets version history guidance.

Use Drive activity for file-level events

Drive activity can show events such as edits, comments, renames, moves or removals, uploads, and sharing changes. It answers a broader file-activity question, not necessarily which content changed. Do not confuse Drive’s file-version history for non-Google files with the separate version-history system for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. See Google Drive activity and file information.

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Automate spreadsheet events with Apps Script

Apps Script is appropriate when a spreadsheet event should run your own code—for example, reacting to a user changing a cell or to a structural change such as adding a sheet. Google describes an installable edit trigger as running when a user modifies a spreadsheet value.

  • A simple onEdit(e) runs when a user changes a cell value. Simple triggers have limited authorization, a 30-second maximum execution time, and an edit-event queue of up to two events.
  • An installable edit trigger covers user edits and can call authorized services. An installable change trigger responds to structural changes such as adding a sheet or removing a column.
  • Installable triggers run under the account of the person who created them and are subject to quotas.
  • Edits made by scripts or API requests do not run these edit or change triggers.

These restrictions mean Apps Script is useful for automation, but it is not a universal, lossless audit feed. Review Google’s trigger guide and installable trigger documentation before relying on a trigger for operational workflows.

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Build a server-side monitor with Drive API push notifications

For a developer who needs change signals on a server, the Drive API can watch files or changes resources. Your application must expose an HTTPS webhook and create a notification channel for each watched resource.

  1. Set up an HTTPS endpoint that can receive Drive’s POST requests.
  2. Create a watch channel for the resource you need to monitor.
  3. When a notification arrives, use the API to retrieve the relevant change details; the POST body is empty, and headers identify the channel and resource state.
  4. Track each channel’s expiration and replace it before it expires. Google does not automatically renew channels.

See Google’s Drive API push notification guide and changes.watch reference. Drive push notifications are signals, not a ready-made change log: your application must retrieve and interpret the details separately.

Do not confuse edit alerts with Drive notification preferences

Drive activity notification preferences cover events such as a new share, a comment or action-item mention, or an access request. For content-edit emails on a particular Doc or Sheet, use that file’s Docs or Sheets notification settings. Google describes the separate Drive preferences at Drive notification settings.

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ScreenshotNeo API documentation

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