files

POST /files/{fileId}/watch

Changed on Nov 8, 2026

Subscribes to changes to a file. For more information, see Notifications for resource changes.

Request

Base URL
https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3
Auth
- OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.appdata
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.appdata
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.meet.readonly
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.meet.readonly
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata.readonly
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata.readonly
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.photos.readonly
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.photos.readonly
- or OAuth 2 and OAuth 2
  Implicithttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly
  Authorization codehttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth
  Token URLhttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
  Scopeshttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly

Path parameters

fileIdstring required

The ID of the file.

Query parameters

acknowledgeAbuseboolean

Whether the user is acknowledging the risk of downloading known malware or other abusive files. This is only applicable when the alt parameter is set to media and the user is the owner of the file or an organizer of the shared drive in which the file resides.

includeLabelsstring

A comma-separated list of IDs of labels to include in the labelInfo part of the response.

includePermissionsForViewstring

Specifies which additional view's permissions to include in the response. Only published is supported.

supportsAllDrivesboolean

Whether the requesting application supports both My Drives and shared drives.

supportsTeamDrivesboolean

Deprecated: Use supportsAllDrives instead.

Request body

addressstring

The address where notifications are delivered for this channel.

expirationstring int64

Date and time of notification channel expiration, expressed as a Unix timestamp, in milliseconds. Optional.

idstring

A UUID or similar unique string that identifies this channel.

kindstring

Identifies this as a notification channel used to watch for changes to a resource, which is api#channel.

paramsobject

Additional parameters controlling delivery channel behavior. Optional.

payloadboolean

A Boolean value to indicate whether payload is wanted. Optional.

resourceIdstring

An opaque ID that identifies the resource being watched on this channel. Stable across different API versions.

resourceUristring

A version-specific identifier for the watched resource.

tokenstring

An arbitrary string delivered to the target address with each notification delivered over this channel. Optional.

typestring

The type of delivery mechanism used for this channel. Valid values are "web_hook" or "webhook".

Response

Successful response