how to see what changes were made in google docs

to see what changes were made in google docs, open file, version history, see version history (ctrl+alt+shift+h on windows, cmd+option+shift+h on a mac). each saved version is listed down the right with who edited it and when, and picking one highlights what changed against the version before, in each editor's colour. clicking "last edit was..." beside the title opens the same panel.

that answers "what changed" for one document, when you go and look. it does not answer the question a founder usually has at the end of a long week: across the plan, the deck and the pricing sheet, what did we actually change, and why does it matter? underway now writes that down for you, one line a day per file, from the google drive files you pick.

how to see what changes were made in google docs, the built-in ways

• version history: file, version history, see version history. every version, who made it and when, with the edits highlighted. name a version ("before the price change") so you can find it again.
• show changes: in the version history panel, keep show changes ticked, or you will see the old text without the highlights.
• suggesting mode: switch the pencil at the top right from editing to suggesting before you edit, and every change becomes a suggestion someone can accept or reject. good for a document several people touch.
• comments and notifications: tools, notification settings lets you be emailed when comments are added. it does not email you about plain edits.
• google sheets: right-click a cell and choose show edit history to see what that one cell used to say, and who changed it.

all of these are good, and free, and built in. they share three limits. they show you the change, not what it means. they work one document at a time. and they only help when you remember to go and look.

seeing what changed in google docs without opening version history

underway is a video diary for founders: once a day, whenever suits you, it interviews you about your work and cuts the answers into a numbered episode. the interview is only as good as what it knows. commits, meetings and payments say a lot. the documents where a business actually gets decided, the plan, the deck, the pricing, said nothing until now.

so underway reads the google drive files you pick, and the day one of them changes it writes one plain line saying what changed, like "pricing 2027: added an annual plan at £150 and took out the student discount". the line lands in your context for the next episode, unticked. tick it and the interviewer asks why the pricing moved. the answer is yours, to camera.

how it works

• account, connections, connect google drive. approve, and google's own file chooser opens straight away.
• pick the files underway may read: your plan, your deck, your pricing sheet, up to 25, from my drive or a shared drive. it can open those and nothing else in your drive.
• each file you pick becomes one line under documents saying what it is. after that, underway checks your files every hour, and any day one changes it writes one line saying what changed, rewritten through the day as the edits go on.
• if someone else made the edit, the line says who. if the change was only tidying, it says so in a few words.
• docs, sheets (the first tab), slides and plain text files are read in full. a pdf or an image is known by its name and date only.
• the card lists your files, with pick more files and stop reading on each. on the phone the same card opens google's chooser in the sign-in sheet.

why only the files you pick

google offers two kinds of drive permission. one lets an app read your whole drive. the other, the one underway asks for, lets it open only the files you choose in google's own chooser. the second can never wander into your bank statements, your contracts or a folder you forgot you shared. it also means google's consent screen says exactly what is happening, which is the point.

the trade is that underway cannot notice a file you never picked. if a new document starts mattering, add it with pick more files.

what it never does

it never edits, shares, moves or deletes a file. nothing in a document becomes footage or goes on your public page. the lines are facts from the file, never advice. stop reading a file and the copy underway kept is deleted; switch the card off and every copy and the sign-in go with it.