💡 New script: docs-comment-digest (cross-document comment aggregation and action tracking)

[github-actions[bot]]

Summary

A new script that uses the freshly GA Docs, Sheets, and Slides comment APIs (September 30, 2026) to aggregate unresolved comments and @mentions across a configurable set of documents into a single daily or weekly email digest. Instead of per-comment notification fatigue, users get one consolidated view: "You have 8 unresolved comments across 4 documents — here are the threads that need your attention, grouped by document and urgency."

Market Signal

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides comment APIs all went GA on September 30, 2026 — just days ago. This is the first time developers can programmatically read, create, and manage comments across all three editor apps. No open-source tool has built on this capability yet. Google's native comment notifications are per-event and real-time, creating notification fatigue for users who collaborate on many documents. The "digest" pattern (batch + summarize + deliver once) is proven by the project's existing gmail-to-drive-by-labels and calendar-to-briefing-doc scripts.

Sources:

• Google Workspace developer release notes — Sep 30, 2026 — Docs, Sheets, Slides comment APIs GA
• Google Docs API v1 — comment management requests
• Google Sheets API v4 — comment threads and replies

User Signal

The project targets individuals and small teams managing their digital workspace. Document collaboration is a daily activity for this audience. Existing idea #580 (sheets-changelog-tracker) addresses cell-level edits but not comments. Ideas #560 (docs-template-merge) and #561 (slides-report-generator) show demand for cross-editor automation. No existing idea specifically addresses the comment aggregation use case enabled by these new APIs.

Technical Opportunity

The comment APIs follow standard Workspace REST patterns accessible via UrlFetchApp with the Docs/Sheets/Slides Advanced Services. The project's existing architecture (code.gs → src/index.js, config.gs for document IDs) directly supports this. The deploy page's Drive Picker already handles document selection. The digest email pattern is proven in calendar-to-briefing-doc. The script can reuse gas-utils.js helpers for HTML formatting and email sending.

Key API details:

• Docs: documents.get with commentsIncluded field returns all comments
• Sheets: spreadsheets.get with commentsIncluded returns comment threads
• Slides: presentations.get with commentsIncluded returns presentation comments
• All three support creating replies and resolving threads programmatically

Assessment

Dimension	Score	Rationale
Feasibility	high	Standard REST APIs, follows existing script architecture, comment read is straightforward
Impact	med	Solves notification fatigue for document collaborators; "digest" pattern has proven appeal
Urgency	med	APIs just went GA (2 days ago) — first-mover window exists but no competitive pressure yet

Adversarial Review

Strongest objection: Google already sends comment notification emails. The target audience (individuals/small teams) may not have enough documents to justify a digest. Smart Canvas already surfaces action items from comments for paid Workspace users.

Rebuttal: Google's per-comment notifications are the problem, not the solution — they create noise that causes users to ignore them. The digest solves this by batching and prioritizing. Smart Canvas action items only work within a single document and require paid Workspace — this script works across ALL documents and is free. The target audience threshold is lower than expected: anyone reviewing 3+ shared documents weekly benefits. The project's existing scripts prove that "aggregate and summarize" is the core value proposition users respond to.

Suggested Next Step

Validate the Docs comment API by making a test UrlFetchApp call to list comments on a known Doc. Confirm the response shape matches the GA documentation. Design the config schema (list of document IDs + digest frequency + email recipient). Implement a minimal version that lists unresolved comments from one Doc and sends a formatted email.