Catch Accidental Deletions Before They're Gone
When a file is deleted or trashed in Google Drive, Notis immediately emails you. You have time to recover it from trash before 30 days pass.
Trigger
File Deleted or Trashed
Triggers when a file is moved to trash or permanently deleted in Drive.
Action
Send Email
Sends an email via gmail api using the authenticated user's google profile display name, requiring `is html=true` if the body contains html and valid `s3key`, `mimetype`, `name` for any attachment.
Why this helps
Files disappear without warning, and by the time you notice, recovering them becomes urgent or impossible. Accidental deletions cause panic and lost work.
- Instant awareness of deleted files
- Quick recovery window before permanent loss
- Reduce work loss anxiety
- Maintain file safety awareness
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Google Drive and Gmail to Notis.
- 2Ask Notis: 'Email me immediately when a file is deleted or moved to trash in Google Drive.'
- 3Select your notification channel.
- 4Set the trigger to 'File Deleted or Trashed'.
- 5Test by trashing a non-essential file and confirming the alert arrives.
Questions about this workflow
Can I recover files after receiving the alert?
Yes. Google Drive keeps deleted files for 30 days, so you have time to restore them from trash.
Will I get alerts for files I intentionally delete?
Yes. You can refine the automation to filter by folder if you want to exclude certain areas.
What if I don't want alerts for every deletion?
You can customize it to only alert for deletions in specific folders or by certain people.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Google Drive to Gmail. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Google Drive triggers
Gmail actions
Comment Added (Docs/Sheets/Slides)
Triggers when a new comment is added to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
Modify email labels
Adds and/or removes specified gmail labels for a message; ensure `message id` and all `label ids` are valid (use 'listlabels' for custom label ids).
File Created
Triggers when a new file is created in Google Drive.
Create email draft
Creates a gmail email draft, supporting to/cc/bcc, subject, plain/html body (ensure `is html=true` for html), attachments, and threading.
File Deleted or Trashed
Triggers when a file is moved to trash or permanently deleted in Drive.
Create label
Creates a new label with a unique name in the specified user's gmail account.
File Shared (Permissions Added)
Triggers when new sharing permissions are granted to a file or folder. Uses Drive's `changes.list` endpoint with inline `permissions` in the `fields` mask so each change carries the file's current permission set provider-atomically. We diff that against `seen_permission_keys` to identify newly added grants. Drive page tokens are the primary cursor; if Drive rejects a stored token, the trigger raises `PollingTriggerError` without clearing state rather than silently re-baselining and dropping events. Limitation: truly ephemeral permissions (added and revoked between two polls without any other file modification in between) are not detected. Drive Activity API would catch those but requires an additional OAuth scope and a different payload contract.
Delete Draft
Permanently deletes a specific gmail draft using its id; ensure the draft exists and the user has necessary permissions for the given `user id`.
File Updated
Triggers when a file's metadata or content changes in Google Drive.
Delete message
Permanently deletes a specific email message by its id from a gmail mailbox; for `user id`, use 'me' for the authenticated user or an email address to which the authenticated user has delegated access.
Google Drive Changes
Triggers when changes are detected in a Google Drive.
Fetch emails
Fetches a list of email messages from a gmail account, supporting filtering, pagination, and optional full content retrieval.
New File Matching Query
Triggers when a new Google Drive file matches a provided query. This is the legacy query-centric trigger: it preserves Drive API query config such as ``corpora`` / ``driveId`` aliases and emits the historical ``file_matching_query`` event type. ``FileCreatedTrigger`` covers the broader "new file" case and emits ``file_created``.
Fetch message by message ID
Fetches a specific email message by its id, provided the `message id` exists and is accessible to the authenticated `user id`.
Fetch Message by Thread ID
Retrieves messages from a gmail thread using its `thread id`, where the thread must be accessible by the specified `user id`.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
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When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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