Google Drive adding new ‘Activity’ feed for comments, requests

Google Drive on the web is getting a new “Activity” feed that “shows all pending access requests, recent comments, and approvals.”

Google says “Activity” will let you quickly see recent file activity and then take action directly on the page (when possible).

The file name appears in the left column with the activity (brief summary that notes who and when) next to it. It’s split into Access requests (if any are available), Approvals, and Recent comments. At the right, blue buttons let you Manage (grant) access, Review, and Open comment.

The comments section spans 30 days, and items will “appear if you are 1) subscribed to notifications, 2) participating in the specific comment thread, or 3) mentioned in a comment within that file.”

This is a standalone page that will appear in the sidebar between “Priority” and “Workspaces.”

Activity in Google Drive is rolling out over the coming weeks and is “Available to all Google Workspace customers.” The page will be particularly helpful for Google Drive users who have to triage a lot of file-related actions. It’s definitely more unified than email and/or push notifications.

More on Google Drive:

• Bard Extensions let Google access your Gmail and Docs to get things done
• Google Docs eSignature system now in beta for Workspace Individual
• Docs for Android defaulting to paginated mode
• Dropbox integration with Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides is changing