Retrieve changes

For Google Drive apps that must track changes to files, the changes collection provides an efficient way to detect all file changes, including those shared with a user. If the file has changed, the collection provides the current state of each file.

Get start page token

To request the page token for the current state of the account, use the changes.getStartPageToken. Store and use this token in your initial call to changes.list.

To retrieve the current page token:

Java

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/main/java/FetchStartPageToken.java
import com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonResponseException; import com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer; import com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport; import com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory; import com.google.api.services.drive.Drive; import com.google.api.services.drive.DriveScopes; import com.google.api.services.drive.model.StartPageToken; import com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter; import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials; import java.io.IOException; import java.util.Arrays; /* Class to demonstrate use-case of Drive's fetch start page token */ public class FetchStartPageToken {  /**  * Retrieve the start page token for the first time.  *  * @return Start page token as String.  * @throws IOException if file is not found  */  public static String fetchStartPageToken() throws IOException {  /*Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for  guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */  GoogleCredentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault()  .createScoped(Arrays.asList(DriveScopes.DRIVE_FILE));  HttpRequestInitializer requestInitializer = new HttpCredentialsAdapter(  credentials);  // Build a new authorized API client service.  Drive service = new Drive.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(),  GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),  requestInitializer)  .setApplicationName("Drive samples")  .build();  try {  StartPageToken response = service.changes()  .getStartPageToken().execute();  System.out.println("Start token: " + response.getStartPageToken());  return response.getStartPageToken();  } catch (GoogleJsonResponseException e) {  // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately  System.err.println("Unable to fetch start page token: " + e.getDetails());  throw e;  }  } }

Python

drive/snippets/drive-v3/change_snippet/fetch_start_page_token.py
import google.auth from googleapiclient.discovery import build from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError def fetch_start_page_token():  """Retrieve page token for the current state of the account.  Returns & prints : start page token  Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity  for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application.  """ creds, _ = google.auth.default() try: # create drive api client service = build("drive", "v3", credentials=creds) # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member response = service.changes().getStartPageToken().execute() print(f'Start token: {response.get("startPageToken")}') except HttpError as error: print(f"An error occurred: {error}") response = None return response.get("startPageToken") if __name__ == "__main__": fetch_start_page_token()

PHP

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/DriveFetchStartPageToken.php
<?php use Google\Client; use Google\Service\Drive; # TODO - PHP client currently chokes on fetching start page token function fetchStartPageToken() {  try {  $client = new Client();  $client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();  $client->addScope(Drive::DRIVE);  $driveService = new Drive($client);  $response = $driveService->changes->getStartPageToken();  printf("Start token: %s\n", $response->startPageToken);  return $response->startPageToken;  } catch(Exception $e) {  echo "Error Message: ".$e;  } }

.NET

drive/snippets/drive_v3/DriveV3Snippets/FetchStartPageToken.cs
using Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2; using Google.Apis.Drive.v3; using Google.Apis.Services; namespace DriveV3Snippets {  // Class to demonstrate use-case of Drive's fetch start page token  public class FetchStartPageToken  {  /// <summary>  /// Retrieve the starting page token.  /// </summary>  /// <returns>start page token as String, null otherwise.</returns>  public static string DriveFetchStartPageToken()  {  try  {  /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for  guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */  GoogleCredential credential = GoogleCredential.GetApplicationDefault()  .CreateScoped(DriveService.Scope.Drive);  // Create Drive API service.  var service = new DriveService(new BaseClientService.Initializer  {  HttpClientInitializer = credential,  ApplicationName = "Drive API Snippets"  });  var response = service.Changes.GetStartPageToken().Execute();  // Prints the token value.  Console.WriteLine("Start token: " + response.StartPageTokenValue);  return response.StartPageTokenValue;  }  catch (Exception e)  {  // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately  if (e is AggregateException)  {  Console.WriteLine("Credential Not found");  }  else  {  throw;  }  }  return null;  }  } }

Node.js

drive/snippets/drive_v3/change_snippets/fetch_start_page_token.js
import {GoogleAuth} from 'google-auth-library'; import {google} from 'googleapis'; /**  * Fetches the start page token for the current state of the account.  * @return {Promise<string>} The start page token.  */ async function fetchStartPageToken() {  // Authenticate with Google and get an authorized client.  // TODO (developer): Use an appropriate auth mechanism for your app.  const auth = new GoogleAuth({  scopes: 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.appdata',  });  // Create a new Drive API client (v3).  const service = google.drive({version: 'v3', auth});  // Fetch the start page token.  const res = await service.changes.getStartPageToken({});  const token = res.data.startPageToken;  console.log('start token: ', token);  if (!token) {  throw new Error('Start page token not found.');  }  return token; }

Get changes

To retrieve the list of changes for the currently signed in user, send a GET request to the changes collection, as detailed in the changes.list.

Entries in the changes collection are in chronological order (the oldest changes appear first). The includeRemoved and restrictToMyDrive query parameters determine whether the response should include removed or shared items.

Java

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/main/java/FetchChanges.java
import com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonResponseException; import com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer; import com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport; import com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory; import com.google.api.services.drive.Drive; import com.google.api.services.drive.DriveScopes; import com.google.api.services.drive.model.ChangeList; import com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter; import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials; import java.io.IOException; import java.util.Arrays; /* Class to demonstrate use-case of Drive's fetch changes in file. */ public class FetchChanges {  /**  * Retrieve the list of changes for the currently authenticated user.  *  * @param savedStartPageToken Last saved start token for this user.  * @return Saved token after last page.  * @throws IOException if file is not found  */  public static String fetchChanges(String savedStartPageToken) throws IOException {  /*Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for  guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application.*/  GoogleCredentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault()  .createScoped(Arrays.asList(DriveScopes.DRIVE_FILE));  HttpRequestInitializer requestInitializer = new HttpCredentialsAdapter(  credentials);  // Build a new authorized API client service.  Drive service = new Drive.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(),  GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),  requestInitializer)  .setApplicationName("Drive samples")  .build();  try {  // Begin with our last saved start token for this user or the  // current token from getStartPageToken()  String pageToken = savedStartPageToken;  while (pageToken != null) {  ChangeList changes = service.changes().list(pageToken)  .execute();  for (com.google.api.services.drive.model.Change change : changes.getChanges()) {  // Process change  System.out.println("Change found for file: " + change.getFileId());  }  if (changes.getNewStartPageToken() != null) {  // Last page, save this token for the next polling interval  savedStartPageToken = changes.getNewStartPageToken();  }  pageToken = changes.getNextPageToken();  }  return savedStartPageToken;  } catch (GoogleJsonResponseException e) {  // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately  System.err.println("Unable to fetch changes: " + e.getDetails());  throw e;  }  } }

Python

drive/snippets/drive-v3/change_snippet/fetch_changes.py
import google.auth from googleapiclient.discovery import build from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError def fetch_changes(saved_start_page_token):  """Retrieve the list of changes for the currently authenticated user.  prints changed file's ID  Args:  saved_start_page_token : StartPageToken for the current state of the  account.  Returns: saved start page token.  Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity  for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application.  """ creds, _ = google.auth.default() try: # create drive api client service = build("drive", "v3", credentials=creds) # Begin with our last saved start token for this user or the # current token from getStartPageToken() page_token = saved_start_page_token # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member while page_token is not None: response = ( service.changes().list(pageToken=page_token, spaces="drive").execute() ) for change in response.get("changes"): # Process change print(f'Change found for file: {change.get("fileId")}') if "newStartPageToken" in response: # Last page, save this token for the next polling interval saved_start_page_token = response.get("newStartPageToken") page_token = response.get("nextPageToken") except HttpError as error: print(f"An error occurred: {error}") saved_start_page_token = None return saved_start_page_token if __name__ == "__main__": # saved_start_page_token is the token number fetch_changes(saved_start_page_token=209)

PHP

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/DriveFetchChanges.php
<?php use Google\Client; use Google\Service\Drive; # TODO - PHP client currently chokes on fetching start page token function fetchChanges() {  try {  $client = new Client();  $client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();  $client->addScope(Drive::DRIVE);  $driveService = new Drive($client);  # Begin with our last saved start token for this user or the  # current token from getStartPageToken()  $savedStartPageToken = readLine("Enter Start Page Token: ");  $pageToken = $savedStartPageToken;  while ($pageToken != null) {  $response = $driveService->changes->listChanges($pageToken, array(  'spaces' => 'drive'  ));  foreach ($response->changes as $change) {  // Process change  printf("Change found for file: %s", $change->fileId);  }  if ($response->newStartPageToken != null) {  // Last page, save this token for the next polling interval  $savedStartPageToken = $response->newStartPageToken;  }  $pageToken = $response->nextPageToken;  }  echo $savedStartPageToken;  } catch(Exception $e) {  echo "Error Message: ".$e;  } } require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

.NET

drive/snippets/drive_v3/DriveV3Snippets/FetchChanges.cs
using Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2; using Google.Apis.Drive.v3; using Google.Apis.Services; namespace DriveV3Snippets {  // Class to demonstrate use-case of Drive's fetch changes in file.  public class FetchChanges  {  /// <summary>  /// Retrieve the list of changes for the currently authenticated user.  /// prints changed file's ID  /// </summary>  /// <param name="savedStartPageToken">last saved start token for this user.</param>  /// <returns>saved token for the current state of the account, null otherwise.</returns>  public static string DriveFetchChanges(string savedStartPageToken)  {  try  {  /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for  guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */  GoogleCredential credential = GoogleCredential.GetApplicationDefault()  .CreateScoped(DriveService.Scope.Drive);  // Create Drive API service.  var service = new DriveService(new BaseClientService.Initializer  {  HttpClientInitializer = credential,  ApplicationName = "Drive API Snippets"  });  // Begin with our last saved start token for this user or the  // current token from GetStartPageToken()  string pageToken = savedStartPageToken;  while (pageToken != null)  {  var request = service.Changes.List(pageToken);  request.Spaces = "drive";  var changes = request.Execute();  foreach (var change in changes.Changes)  {  // Process change  Console.WriteLine("Change found for file: " + change.FileId);  }  if (changes.NewStartPageToken != null)  {  // Last page, save this token for the next polling interval  savedStartPageToken = changes.NewStartPageToken;  }  pageToken = changes.NextPageToken;  }  return savedStartPageToken;  }  catch (Exception e)  {  // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately  if (e is AggregateException)  {  Console.WriteLine("Credential Not found");  }  else  {  throw;  }  }  return null;  }  } }

Node.js

drive/snippets/drive_v3/change_snippets/fetch_changes.js
import {GoogleAuth} from 'google-auth-library'; import {google} from 'googleapis'; /**  * Fetches the list of changes for the currently authenticated user.  * @param {string} savedStartPageToken The page token obtained from `fetch_start_page_token.js`.  */ async function fetchChanges(savedStartPageToken) {  // Authenticate with Google and get an authorized client.  // TODO (developer): Use an appropriate auth mechanism for your app.  const auth = new GoogleAuth({  scopes: 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly',  });  // Create a new Drive API client (v3).  const service = google.drive({version: 'v3', auth});  // The page token for the next page of changes.  let pageToken = savedStartPageToken;  // Loop to fetch all changes, handling pagination.  do {  const result = await service.changes.list({  pageToken: savedStartPageToken,  fields: '*',  });  // Process the changes.  (result.data.changes ?? []).forEach((change) => {  console.log('change found for file: ', change.fileId);  });  // Update the page token for the next iteration.  pageToken = result.data.newStartPageToken ?? '';  } while (pageToken); }

The changes collection in the response might contain a nextPageToken. If the nextPageToken is listed, it can be used to gather the next page of changes. If it's not listed, the client application should store the newStartPageToken in the response for future use. With the page token stored, the client application is prepared to query again for future changes.

Receive notifications

Use the changes.watch method to subscribe to updates in the change log. Notifications don't contain details about the changes. Instead, they indicate that new changes are available. To retrieve the actual changes, poll the change feed as described in Get changes.

For more information, see Notifications for resource changes.